Hello, I am making a pipe block and I wanted to render fluids through the pipes, but just thinking about it, there just doesn't seem like there is a relativity easy way, that does not require a whole ton of math, to do this. Is there some sort of api that helps out with this or should I just make my pipe opaque and call it a done deal and not even bother with it.

Why would it require a ton of math? Just bind a texture if there is a fluid in it (nbt tag?), and dont bind it otherwise.

Is this pipe a custom rendered block that connects when placed next to another? or is it a full 1x1x1 block?

 

Also, do you mean that depending on the amount of fluid in the pipe, a different height of fluid is rendered? (kind of like BuilcCrafts pipes) If so, then there would be a little bit of maths to do this, not a tone though, really just getting the currently stored amount, dividing it by fluid capacity of the pipe, and multiplying it by height of the maximum amount to be rendered (I am not 100% sure of this, but it will be something along those lines). Also, you would need a custom block renderer to do this in.

 

You would also need a method in the renderer to get the current texture of the fluid in the pipe. I can't tell you how to do this at the moment (I am on a school pc, and don't have access to my code at home to make sure if I am correct, and I don't want to be giving wrong answers) but will do later if nobody already has by then.