Node Based Programming?

[akilbandele]

I am an aspiring game programmer and I need to know;What is Node based programming? I have a meeting on this and I want to know at least one thing about it.

[yaustar]

In which context? AI, graphics?

[Protector one]

Ah, that'll do! He now knows 1 thing about node-based programming: it is relevant in both the contexts of AI and of graphics. :P

In all seriousness, I'd never heard of node-based programming before today, and some googling didn't make me any wiser. The only thing I found was that it seems to be paradigm in the realm of digital image composition. What it entails though... :clueless:

[DTR]

Not sure about the term but what I would understand as it would be:

Usually game engines have the scene node hierarchy consisting of nodes, that can be parents, children and siblings just like in tree structures in general. The baseclass tends to be Node from which all the different types of nodes are derived. Rendering then happens when the engine goes through the "scene" or "node tree", and draws the drawables and does whatever it does with the rest. Light, geometry, controllers, etc can be nodes, and in addition to engines own nodetypes, the programmer can usually create his own ones simply by deriving fro base class.

Someone who actually knows this stuff for sure would do well to correct or supplement my explanation. Might be a bit wonky to make a presentation based on my ramblings.

[Claxon]

Indeed, I've never heard of it as a programming technique in itself either. akilbandele I hope you'll enlighten us as to what you discover about it in your meeting. Like the other say it could be an AI Navigation Node graph (for pathfinding), or handling rendering (BSP trees use nodes).

[ccontinisio]

Originally Posted by Protector one

The only thing I found was that it seems to be paradigm in the realm of digital image composition. What it entails though... :clueless:

Maybe what we're talking about is something like node-based rendering? It's a feature of a lot of 3D and Video Programs, like Shake, 3D studio, Maya, XSI, After, Combustion (sometimes hidden). You build a render with building blocks called nodes.
Like, for example, you start with an Image node (in which you choose the starting image) and then add effects and modifying nodes. They could be Image Processing effects, like blur, sharpen, distort, or they can be something like Displacement (in 3d programs) and so on.
It's a bit generic, I know... Something like this: http://matthieu3d.free.fr/TutoVira2/...odesnuages.jpg

I guess that this applied to games is to program the behaviour of those nodes, what do they accept as input and what do they output (sometimes nodes are multiplier, so they output numbers, not images).

[Claxon]

LOL! I'm glad we could clear that up for you!

[akilbandele]

thanks for your help everyone! I will be sure to update you on what more i learn about it. Thanks again!