I want to create a isometric tile map editor just like the one shown in the images ( pictures are from the game Zoo Tycoon ). I know how to render the tiles when there is only one Z value ( zero ), but I have no clue how I could archieve something like in the pictures where you can raise certain tiles in 1/2 unit steps, either creating a sharp edge/cliff or a smooth transition.
Can anyone give me some good reference materials or help me out here? Thanks in advance :)
Oh yea and you can also rotate the view by 90 in any direction like this:
EDIT :
I am using SFML with C++ for this project. There I am creating an array of vertices, 4 of which represent an quad/tile in the map. In SFML each vertex has two main properties, a position in space and a position in the texture mapped to it. I adjust the first one based on the simple projection formula. The textures are represented in a simple tileset. I simply calculate the corresponding 4 edges of a tile in the texture based on a level data array that contains the number of the tile in the texture, starting from 0.
Here's a very very simple tileset that I made myself
Here's how this looks so far:
Oh yea and this is how far I come with rendering different z values. The 4 tiles on the top right are raised 1 unit. But as you can see the faces of the blocks are incomplete. I don't know how I draw them yet.
UPDATE : I managed to display sharp edges correctly now, even though it's really unoptimised (I am drawing every front-facing face of the blocks, even the ones that are covered by others. Any tips on how I can prevent this?)