Get static mesh from CSG nodes at runtime

[sammonius]

Just a function like csg_node.construct_static_mesh(). It would fix the performance issues with CSG in most cases.

Or this might be pretty cool:

• The addition operator on 2 meshes performs a union
• The subtraction operator gets the difference or subtraction
• The "&" operator gets the intersersection (assuming "&" is an implementable operator)

Just wanted to discuss how this could be done. I think it's a super useful feature, like for adding bullet holes or digging.

[theraot]

Does calling get_meshes on your CSGCombiner3D not work for you? You can create new MeshInstance3D or CSGMesh3D and assign them the meshes you get from it.

[sammonius]

Oh thanks, I wasn't aware of that function.

[Calinou]

• This is already being tracked in Allow multiple CSG meshes to be merged into one #182.

It would fix the performance issues with CSG in most cases.

This will not improve CSG construction or rendering performance. In fact, converting to mesh after every change will likely make it even slower if you're looking to modify geometry during gameplay (which is often a bad idea with CSG, for more reasons than just performance).

The main use case for converting CSG to mesh is to use it in a MeshInstance3D, GridMap or GPUParticles3D, if you need features exclusive to those nodes.