# Objective
- Fixes: https://github.com/bevyengine/bevy/issues/14036
## Solution
- Add a world space transformation for the environment sample direction.
## Testing
- I have tested the newly added `transform` field using the newly added
`rotate_environment_map` example.
https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/2de77c65-14bc-48ee-b76a-fb4e9782dbdb
## Migration Guide
- Since we have added a new filed to the `EnvironmentMapLight` struct,
users will need to include `..default()` or some rotation value in their
initialization code.
# Objective
- Followup to #13548
- It added a list of all possible labels to documentation. This seems
hard to keep up and doesn't stop people from making spelling mistake
## Solution
- Add an enum that can create all the labels possible, and encourage its
use rather than manually typed labels
---------
Co-authored-by: Alice Cecile <alice.i.cecile@gmail.com>
Co-authored-by: Rob Parrett <robparrett@gmail.com>
# Objective
- The default font size is too small to be useful in examples or for
debug text.
- Fixes#13587
## Solution
- Updated the default font size value in `TextStyle` from 12px to 24px.
- Resorted to Text defaults in examples to use the default font size in
most of them.
## Testing
- WIP
---
## Migration Guide
- The default font size has been increased to 24px from 12px. Make sure
you set the font to the appropriate values in places you were using
`Default` text style.
## Objective
Use the "standard" text size / placement for the new text in these
examples.
Continuation of an effort started here:
https://github.com/bevyengine/bevy/pull/8478
This is definitely not comprehensive. I did the ones that were easy to
find and relatively straightforward updates. I meant to just do
`3d_shapes` and `2d_shapes`, but one thing lead to another.
## Solution
Use `font_size: 20.0`, the default (built-in) font, `Color::WHITE`
(default), and `Val::Px(12.)` from the edges of the screen.
There are a few little drive-by cleanups of defaults not being used,
etc.
## Testing
Ran the changed examples, verified that they still look reasonable.
Implement visibility ranges, also known as hierarchical levels of detail
(HLODs).
This commit introduces a new component, `VisibilityRange`, which allows
developers to specify camera distances in which meshes are to be shown
and hidden. Hiding meshes happens early in the rendering pipeline, so
this feature can be used for level of detail optimization. Additionally,
this feature is properly evaluated per-view, so different views can show
different levels of detail.
This feature differs from proper mesh LODs, which can be implemented
later. Engines generally implement true mesh LODs later in the pipeline;
they're typically more efficient than HLODs with GPU-driven rendering.
However, mesh LODs are more limited than HLODs, because they require the
lower levels of detail to be meshes with the same vertex layout and
shader (and perhaps the same material) as the original mesh. Games often
want to use objects other than meshes to replace distant models, such as
*octahedral imposters* or *billboard imposters*.
The reason why the feature is called *hierarchical level of detail* is
that HLODs can replace multiple meshes with a single mesh when the
camera is far away. This can be useful for reducing drawcall count. Note
that `VisibilityRange` doesn't automatically propagate down to children;
it must be placed on every mesh.
Crossfading between different levels of detail is supported, using the
standard 4x4 ordered dithering pattern from [1]. The shader code to
compute the dithering patterns should be well-optimized. The dithering
code is only active when visibility ranges are in use for the mesh in
question, so that we don't lose early Z.
Cascaded shadow maps show the HLOD level of the view they're associated
with. Point light and spot light shadow maps, which have no CSMs,
display all HLOD levels that are visible in any view. To support this
efficiently and avoid doing visibility checks multiple times, we
precalculate all visible HLOD levels for each entity with a
`VisibilityRange` during the `check_visibility_range` system.
A new example, `visibility_range`, has been added to the tree, as well
as a new low-poly version of the flight helmet model to go with it. It
demonstrates use of the visibility range feature to provide levels of
detail.
[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ordered_dithering#Threshold_map
[^1]: Unreal doesn't have a feature that exactly corresponds to
visibility ranges, but Unreal's HLOD system serves roughly the same
purpose.
## Changelog
### Added
* A new `VisibilityRange` component is available to conditionally enable
entity visibility at camera distances, with optional crossfade support.
This can be used to implement different levels of detail (LODs).
## Screenshots
High-poly model:
Low-poly model up close:
Crossfading between the two:
---------
Co-authored-by: Carter Anderson <mcanders1@gmail.com>
