[SOLVED] Difference between FxBrickObjectType and FxBrickAlwaysObjectType?

[Axolotl2]

Can somebody explain the difference between the two typemask types? I searched.

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[Ipquarx]

FxBrickObjectType only works if the brick has raycasting on and FxBrickAlwaysObjectType works regardless of whether or not raycasting is on.

at least, I think so.

[Axolotl2]

Nevermind.

As a most basic definition, a typemask is a category into which a physical object fits. They are similar to classnames in this way but they are much more flexible.

To get more in depth, typemasks are binary numbers. Looking at them in binary makes them significantly simpler to understand, in my opinion. For example, $Typemasks::PlayerObjectType is 16384 in decimal. In binary, this number is 100000000000000. $Typemasks::VehicleObjectType is 65536, 10000000000000000 in binary.

You begin to have some insight upon examining the two brick typemasks that are defined by default, $Typemasks::FxBrickAlwaysObjectType and $Typemasks::FxBrickObjectType. These are 67108864 and 33554432, respectively. In binary, one of them has one more zero than the other. However, getting the type off of a raycasting brick returns 100663296 - neither of these! Why is that? Let's look at the three in binary:

100000000000000000000000000 $Typemasks::FxBrickAlwaysObjectType
010000000000000000000000000 $Typemasks::FxBrickObjectType
110000000000000000000000000 Typemask of a raycasting brick

What this means is that a raycasting brick is both of these typemasks. If you disable raycasting on the brick and check its type, it will 67108864 (FxBrickAlwaysObjectType).

This is one flexibility of typemasks that classnames do not have - an object can belong to multiple typemasks. Checking if an object belongs to any of several typemasks is also easier than doing the same with classnames. The typemasks are "stacked" (I have no idea what any of the binary operations are called, I'm sure they have formal names) with a single | character. You can create the typemask a raycasting brick returns with this:

%mask = $Typemasks::FxBrickAlwaysObjectType | $Typemasks::FxBrickObjectType;

And as you know two binary numbers are "compared" with a single & character. If any bit of the number preceding the & is 1 and matches a 1 in the succeeding number, the operation will return true, else it is false.

I'm sorry if this was a substantially more thorough examination than you were looking for, I just wanted to be thorough and I find the way typemasks work to be very interesting.

Thanks anyways, Ipquarx.