Alright folks, lemme tell ya ’bout this little thing I messed around with today: a red dot crosshair. Sounds simple, right? Well, kinda was, but always somethin’ to learn along the way.
First off, I was thinkin’, “How hard can it be? Draw a red dot!” But then I wanted it to be a proper crosshair, you know, with the lines and all. So, I started scribblin’ down some ideas on a notepad. Basically, I figured I’d need to draw four lines, all meetin’ in the middle where the dot would be.
Next up, jumped into my usual dev environment. I’m not gonna bore you with the specifics ’cause everyone’s got their own setup, but I’m usin’ a game engine. Created a new scene, slapped in a camera, and then got to work on the script. The core of it was all about drawin’ those lines.
Here’s where I got a little stuck. I wanted the crosshair to always be dead center on the screen, regardless of resolution. After some fiddlin’ around, I figured out how to get the screen’s center coordinates and use those as the start and end points for my lines. Basically, each line would start just off-screen and run to the center point.
Then came the fun part: making it look like a crosshair. I wanted the lines to be short and sweet, not stretchin’ across the entire screen. So, I just subtracted and added a bit from the center coordinates to get the right length for each line. Played around with the numbers ’til it looked just right.
And then, of course, the red dot! Just drew a small filled circle right smack in the middle of the crosshair. Changed the color to a nice, vibrant red, and bam! Red dot crosshair.
But I wasn’t done yet. I wanted it to feel a bit more dynamic. So I added a tiny bit of bloom, just to give the red dot a subtle glow. Makes it pop a little more, y’know?
Finally, I wanted to make sure it was performant. Didn’t want this little crosshair tanking my frame rate. So I optimized the draw calls a bit, makin’ sure I wasn’t overdoing it. Ran some tests, and everything seemed smooth as butter.
Lessons Learned? Even the simplest tasks can have little challenges hidden in ’em. Don’t be afraid to experiment and tweak things ’til you get the look you’re after. And always, always think about performance!
- Started with a simple idea: a red dot crosshair.
- Figured out how to draw lines from off-screen to the center.
- Adjusted line lengths to create a proper crosshair shape.
- Added a red dot in the center.
- Included a bloom effect for visual appeal.
- Optimized for performance.
Overall, a fun little project. Might use it in somethin’ down the line. Who knows?
