= Content Creation Guidelines =
== On Weapons and Spaceships ==
In order create a standardizes interface between weapons an space ships, these are some guidelines. They made sure, that the weapons fit at the mount points of our space ships without colliding with the space ship mesh. Both designers of weapons and space ships should keep this in mind when working on their models.

At the moment, we work with only one class of weapons. The weapons of this class must meet several requirements which are all shown in the following picture (click to enlarge).

[[Image(weapon_guide.jpg,400)]]

 * The '''maximum dimensions''' of the weapon mesh in x, y and z-direction are '''2, 2, 6''' (see black box in picture)
 * The muzzle of the '''weapon must point in negative z-axis''' (see arrows in picture). This convention is due to Ogre's coordinate system, where the x-axis points to the left, the y-axis points upwards and the z-axis points out of the screen accordingly. By complying with this convention, we make sure that the weapons models do not have to be rotated when attached to the ship.
 * The '''object center''' of the weapon model must be on top of the model in y-direction. In x-direction, it is centered and in z-direction is between the rear third and the center third of our maximum dimension bounding box (see red dot in the picture).