Navigation Mesh

A navigation mesh is a navigation area which is arranged above the surface of the arbitrary mesh. In fact, the navigation mesh is the area of the specified height above the mesh polygons, which is available for pathfinding.

In contrast to navigation sectors, the navigation mesh enables the following:

Only 2D routes can be calculated within the navigation mesh.
Pathfinding can be performed within 1 navigation mesh only. Pathfinding within the following areas is not supported:
- Within several intersecting navigation meshes.
- Within the intersecting navigation mesh and sector.

Example

If you have a scene with different objects and you need to calculate a 2D route among them, you will need to add the navigation mesh to this scene as follows:

Create a flat mesh with holes in places where the objects are positioned.

The scene
The mesh created for the navigation mesh
Specify this mesh as a base for a navigation mesh within which the route will be calculated and add the navigation mesh to the world. It will be highlighted in green:

A navigation mesh based on the flat mesh
Place the navigation mesh above the scene.

The navigation mesh positioned above the scene

Notice

In this case, you can also use a navigation sector with obstacles positioned inside it instead of the navigation mesh. However, the navigation mesh is preferred for more complex cases.

On the Navigation tab of the Nodes panel, you can adjust the following parameters of the navigation mesh:

Navigation	Navigation mask. The navigation mask of the navigation mesh must match the navigation mask of the route that is calculated within it. Otherwise, the navigation mesh will not participate in pathfinding.
Quality	Quality of optimization of the route that has already been calculated. This value specifies the number of iterations that are used for taking the short cut. The higher the value, the longer the route calculation will take.
Velocity	Scaling factor for velocity of the point that moves inside the navigation mesh.
Dangerous	Danger factor that indicates if the moving point should try to avoid the navigation mesh. Notice If the danger factor exceeds the maximum danger factor set for the route, the navigation mesh will be excluded from pathfinding calculations.
Depth	Depth value. This value affects the quality of the route that is currently calculated. The larger the depth value, the better control over accuracy and speed of route calculation is provided. The depth can take integer value in range [0;4]. By default, the depth is set to 0 for a new navigation mesh. The 2, 3, 4 values are used for deeper heuristics.
Height	Distance above the mesh polygons available for pathfinding. By default, the height is set to 1 for a new navigation mesh.

Loading a New Mesh

To load a new mesh on which the navigation area will be based:

On the Navigation tab, press .
In the file dialog window that opens, choose the required mesh and press Ok.

Saving the Current Mesh

To save the current mesh on which the navigation area is based:

On the Navigation tab, press .
In the file dialog window that opens, specify a name for the mesh and press Ok.

In This Article:

See also

Creating Navigation Mesh

Example

Editing Navigation Mesh

Loading a New Mesh

Saving the Current Mesh