Zoom effect within model

    During the single player of Half-life 2, Water Hazard to be exact, there was a magnifying glass that would refract the world behind it depending on your position in accordance to it. Then, would it be possible to create a spotting scope model that would zoom without having to "use" it? If so, what steps would be necessary to make it? Would the steps be in the skinning or would you have to make a few separate models that could be placed so that they appear to be attached?

    From the other side of the model, it could possibly refract the world.

    as you already mentioned: it uses a refraction shader.

    those are documentated in the valve sdk wiki. there might be a problem while using a refracting material on a scope: refractions get a little fuzzy. they are not that crisp as you might want to have them.

    another fact that i would keep in mind: refraction requires at least 2 renderpasses: regular pass and a refraction pass. in both passes the whole view will have to be rendered! this might heavily drop your fps.

    i'd do it the same way CS:S and DOD:S do!

    maybe you could just try out too and check out the performance, but i'D guess it wouldnt be that smooth as you might want to have it.

    btw: dx 8.0 doesnt support refractions (or does it?)

    Maybe it would just be best to make each lens reflective instead. It wouldn't zoom or anything, but that was just an idea anyway. It wouldn't really affect gameplay. Now, that is a very simple to make prop.

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