Work on refactoring basic voxel types.

Also, this will probably cause a compile error on Linux but I'm committing anyway so I remember to investigate it...

examples/OpenGL/Shapes.cpp

@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ void createSphereInVolume(LargeVolume<MaterialDensityPair44>& volData, float fRa
 				//then we make it solid, otherwise we make it empty space.
 				if(fDistToCenter <= fRadius)
 				{
-					volData.setVoxelAt(x,y,z, MaterialDensityPair44(uValue, uValue > 0 ? maxDen : minDen));
+					volData.setVoxelAt(x,y,z, MaterialDensityPair44(uValue, uValue > 0 ? maxDen : VoxelTypeTraits<MaterialDensityPair44>::MinDensity));
 				}
 			}
 		}

library/PolyVoxCore/CMakeLists.txt

@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ PROJECT(PolyVoxCore)
 SET(CORE_SRC_FILES
 	source/ArraySizes.cpp
 	source/AStarPathfinder.cpp
+	source/Density.cpp
 	source/GradientEstimators.cpp
 	source/Log.cpp
 	source/MeshDecimator.cpp

library/PolyVoxCore/include/PolyVoxCore/Density.h

@@ -83,23 +83,70 @@ namespace PolyVox
 		DensityType m_uDensity;
 	};
 
-	typedef Density<uint8_t> Density8;
+	// These are the predefined density types. The 8-bit types are sufficient for many purposes (including
+	// most games) but 16-bit and float types do have uses particularly in medical/scientific visualisation.
+	typedef Density<int8_t> DensityI8;
+	typedef Density<uint8_t> DensityU8;
+	typedef Density<int16_t> DensityI16;
+	typedef Density<uint16_t> DensityU16;
 	typedef Density<float> DensityFloat;
+	typedef Density<double> DensityDouble;
+
+	// These types are here for backwards compatibility but they are a little ambiguous as the name doesn't indicate
+	// whether the values are signed. We would recommend using one of the 8 or 16 bit predefined types above instead.
+	typedef Density<uint8_t> Density8;
+	typedef Density<uint16_t> Density16;
 	
-	template<typename Type>
+	// We have to define all the min and max values explicitly here rather than using std::numeric_limits because we need
-	class VoxelTypeTraits< Density<Type> >
+	// compile time constants. The new 'constexpr' would help here but it's not supported by all compilers at the moment.
+	template<>
+	class VoxelTypeTraits< Density<int8_t> >
 	{
 	public:
-		const static Type MinDensity = 0;
+		const static int8_t MinDensity = -127;
-		const static Type MaxDensity = 255;
+		const static int8_t MaxDensity = 127;
+	};
+
+	template<>
+	class VoxelTypeTraits< Density<uint8_t> >
+	{
+	public:
+		const static uint8_t MinDensity = 0; 
+		const static uint8_t MaxDensity = 255;
+	};
+
+	template<>
+	class VoxelTypeTraits< Density<int16_t> >
+	{
+	public:
+		const static int16_t MinDensity = -32767;
+		const static int16_t MaxDensity = 32767;
+	};
+
+	template<>
+	class VoxelTypeTraits< Density<uint16_t> >
+	{
+	public:
+		const static uint16_t MinDensity = 0;
+		const static uint16_t MaxDensity = 65535;
 	};
 	
+	//Constants for float defined in .cpp file as they are not integers.
 	template<>
-	class VoxelTypeTraits< DensityFloat >
+	class VoxelTypeTraits< Density<float> >
 	{
 	public:
-		const static float MinDensity = -1000000.0f;
+		const static float MinDensity;
-		const static float MaxDensity =  1000000.0f;
+		const static float MaxDensity;
+	};
+
+	//Constants for double defined in .cpp file as they are not integers.
+	template<>
+	class VoxelTypeTraits< Density<double> >
+	{
+	public:
+		const static double MinDensity;
+		const static double MaxDensity;
 	};
 
 }

library/PolyVoxCore/include/PolyVoxCore/Voxel.h

@@ -39,10 +39,10 @@ namespace PolyVox
 	class Voxel
 	{
 	public:
-		//We expose DensityType and MaterialType in this way so that, when code is
+		// We expose DensityType and MaterialType in this way so that, when code is
-		//templatised on voxel type, it can determine the underlying storage type
+		// templatised on voxel type, it can determine the underlying storage type
-		//using code such as 'VoxelType::DensityType value = voxel.getDensity()'
+		// using code such as 'VoxelType::DensityType value = voxel.getDensity()'
-		//or 'VoxelType::MaterialType value = voxel.getMaterial()'.
+		// or 'VoxelType::MaterialType value = voxel.getMaterial()'.
 		typedef DenType DensityType;
 		typedef MatType MaterialType;
 		
@@ -53,6 +53,16 @@ namespace PolyVox
 		void setMaterial(MaterialType /*uMaterial*/) { assert(false); } 
 	};
 	
+	// Various properties of the voxel types can be expressed via types traits, similar to the way std::numeric_limits is implemented.
+	// This has some advantages compared to storing the properties directly in the voxel class. For example, by using traits it is possible
+	// to also apply these properties to primative types which might be desirable (the Volume classes do accept primative types as template
+	// parameters). Also, properties such as MinDensity and MaxDensity would be difficult to represent though class members because they
+	// depend ont the type (float has a very different range from int8_t for example).
+	//
+	// The properties are currently exposed as constants because we need access to them at compile time. Ideally we would like to make them
+	// functions flagged with 'constexpr' as we could then make use of the max() and min() functions in std::numric_limits, but this is not
+	// widely supported by compilers yet. We may change this in the future.
+	//
 	// Syntax for templatised traits classes: http://stackoverflow.com/q/8606302/849083
 	template <typename Type>
 	class VoxelTypeTraits

library/PolyVoxCore/source/Density.cpp

@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+/*******************************************************************************
+Copyright (c) 2005-2009 David Williams
+
+This software is provided 'as-is', without any express or implied
+warranty. In no event will the authors be held liable for any damages
+arising from the use of this software.
+
+Permission is granted to anyone to use this software for any purpose,
+including commercial applications, and to alter it and redistribute it
+freely, subject to the following restrictions:
+
+    1. The origin of this software must not be misrepresented; you must not
+    claim that you wrote the original software. If you use this software
+    in a product, an acknowledgment in the product documentation would be
+    appreciated but is not required.
+
+    2. Altered source versions must be plainly marked as such, and must not be
+    misrepresented as being the original software.
+
+    3. This notice may not be removed or altered from any source
+    distribution. 	
+*******************************************************************************/
+
+#include "PolyVoxCore/Density.h"
+
+#include <cfloat> //Can't use <limits> as we need compile time constants.
+
+namespace PolyVox
+{
+	const float VoxelTypeTraits< Density<float> >::MinDensity = FLT_MIN;
+	const float VoxelTypeTraits< Density<float> >::MaxDensity = FLT_MAX;
+
+	const double VoxelTypeTraits< Density<double> >::MinDensity = DBL_MIN;
+	const double VoxelTypeTraits< Density<double> >::MaxDensity = DBL_MAX;
+}