A JavaScript library for 3D pathfinding on a Recast & Detour c++ library generated binary file.
This is a node-gyp addon bundle of the Detour pathfinding script. Pathfinding is frequently used and can be a bottleneck when running games. Taking advantage of the performance boost offered by a native c++ implementation is advantageous.
This library outputs a smoothed path for moving an agent across 3D space.
npm install node_detour
The workflow for using this is to create a Recast & Detour navigation mesh and export it using the .bin format.
My workflow involves building the RecastDemo application and using that to build my mesh and then exporting it using the save function. This will result in a new bin file being created in the RecastDemo folder which can be used in your nodejs application.
var NodeDetour = require('node_detour');
var detour = new NodeDetour();
var loadResult = detour.load('/full/path/to/mymap.bin');
// Returns a map {error: false} or {error: true, message: "Error message"}
var p1 = detour.findRandomPoint();
// Returns an array with 3 values for x, y, z position
var p2 = detour.findRandomPoint();
//Returns an array with 3 values for x, y, z position
var path = detour.findPath(p1, p2);
//returns a 1-dimensional array representing a series of [x,y,z,x,y,z...] points
var path = detour.findPath2d(p1, p2);
//returns a 2-dimensional array of of points [ [x,y,z], [x,y,z] ]npm run test
i5-7200U @ 2.50GHz with 8 GB of RAM: ~0.7 milliseconds to return a smooth path for paths averaging 400 waypoints
i7-2760QM @ 2.40GHz with 8 GB of RAM: ~0.8 milliseconds to return a smooth path for paths averagin 400 waypoints
This class is being used on the server side for a Unity project. In order to make pathfinding work in that environment you will need to flip the sign on the x component for the player input. Other font end environments may require you to modify the coordinate system in different ways to ensure the paths are handled in the same coordinate space.