Interface IRenderLayer

A render layer is an abstract grouping of objects with similar rendering properties. A render layer has a "Z" property for sorting which takes precedence over specific objects "Z" property. This means that if you have a UI render layer which is configured to be in front of a Background render layer, all objects which are associated with the UI layer will always be in front of the objects that are associated with the background layer. In addition, render layers add support for assigning different parallax speeds, to create beautiful parallax effects.

AGS comes with a few built in layers that are used by default (Background, Foreground, UI and Speech). Speech layer is in front to ensure that displayed text can always be seen. This is the default layer used for Character.Say. UI layer is next, to ensure that it can always be seen (unless obstructed by text). This is the default layer used for all UI controls. This is followed by the Foreground layer, which is the default for all non UI objects. And lastly the Background layer, which is the default for the room's background graphics. You can assign those layers yourself, using AGSLayers static class:

cEgo.RenderLayer = AGSLayers.UI; //The player is now on the UI layer!

Namespace: AGS.API

Assembly: AGS.API.dll

Syntax

public interface IRenderLayer

Properties

IndependentResolution

A custom virtual resolution that will be used for all objects in this layer, different than the default game's virtual resolution. Null means that the layer does not have a custom resolution and uses the game's resolution.

Declaration

Size? IndependentResolution { get; }

Property Value

Type	Description
System.Nullable<Size>	The independent resolution.

Examples

Let's assume the game resolution is (320,200): The character is using the game's resolution, but the house in the room is in a layer with a (640,400) resolution. This means that if the character's position is (100,100) and the house's position is (200,200) they will actually be drawn in the same location.

ParallaxSpeed

Gets the parallax speed associated with the layer (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallax). The speed is the factor by which the location is changed based to the normal speed. Giving different speeds for different layers creates the parallax effect which gives the illusion of 3D depth. This is mostly effective in scrolling screens, as the objects move in relation to the camera. If the room scrolls horizontally (the majority of scrolling rooms), you'd like to change the X value of the parallax speed. If the room scrolls vertically (rare but can happen), you'd like to change the Y value of the parallax speed. All the default layers have parallax speed of 1 (i.e normal speed), so you'll need to create your own layers to enable the parallax effect. The closer the object is to the front, the faster it should go, so it should have a bigger parallax speed.
Objects in the foreground should have values larger than 1, and objects in the background should have values smaller than 1.

PointF parallaxSpeed = new PointF (1.4f, 1f); //all objects in this layer will move at a faster horizontal speed than the rest of the objects.
AGSRenderLayer parallaxForegroundLayer = new AGSRenderLayer(-50, parallaxSpeed); //This layer is positioned before the foreground layer and behind the UI layer.

myObjInFront.RenderLayer = parallaxForegroundLayer;

Declaration

PointF ParallaxSpeed { get; }

Property Value

Type	Description
PointF	The parallax speed.

Z

Gets the Z ordering for the layer. The smaller the number, the more visible the layer gets.

Debug.WriteLine("Z value for the background layer is: " + AGSLayers.Background.Z);

Declaration

int Z { get; }

Property Value

Type	Description
System.Int32	The z.