|
|
Uhm, I have this little Island . . .
About Truespace Archives
These pages are a copy of the official truespace forums prior to their removal somewhere around 2011.
They are retained here for archive purposes only.
Uhm, I have this little Island . . . // Work in Progress
Post by butterpaw // Sep 14, 2007, 4:35am
|
butterpaw
Total Posts: 831
|
Edit: I built an island in Vue5 Infinite more than a year ago - then could not find a way to modify it directly using that software.. so it's been stuck in limbo for quite a long time.. I anticipate that trueSpace will allow me to modify it in all the ways I had hoped to, originally, and perhaps in some other ways I have not yet thought of.
However, I think I started this thread too soon and there isn't much for anyone to discuss..:o
so I'll wait a while, and share when I've done something more that just build an island...
^_^ |
Post by 3dvisuals dude // Sep 14, 2007, 3:15pm
|
3dvisuals dude
Total Posts: 1703
|
Edit: I built an island in Vue5 Infinite more than a year ago - then could not find a way to modify it directly using that software.. so it's been stuck in limbo for quite a long time.. I anticipate that trueSpace will allow me to modify it in all the ways I had hoped to, originally, and perhaps in some other ways I have not yet thought of.
However, I think I started this thread too soon and there isn't much for anyone to discuss..:o
so I'll wait a while, and share when I've done something more that just build an island...
^_^
This sounds interesting Butterpaw.
What format is the model file in (vob, obj, 3ds)?
Also in what ways were you looking to modify it which Vue couldn't achieve?
I only have Vue4, so your Vue is light years ahead of my Vue! LOL
- 3dvisuals dude |
Post by butterpaw // Sep 15, 2007, 5:49am
|
butterpaw
Total Posts: 831
|
Thankds 3dvd,
I found it disconcerting in Vue5 infinite (don't know about other versions), that while I could build a beautiful and detailed island suitable for still rendering, I (apparently) could only use generally manipulative tools, and couldn't seem to edit on the mesh level, making choices about where I would do some reduction of polys (which I thought must be necessary for realtime 3D). Actually, on the issue of poly counts and realtime 3D generation, I've received so much conflicting input from all directions that it's been hard to know just what I should be doing with this. At any rate, I could not seem to discover what I needed to know from the Vue manual or from their support forums. This may have been because I didn't know the right questions to ask, and if I were to go back to it now, I might have better success with it. For a while, the exigencies of creative directing of our game project pulled me in other directions, but recently I've felt I can again begin to provide direct input beyond gamestory script and concepts, and thought I would like to work on it in trueSpace.
I think when using 3DGameStudio, we'd probably just import a heightmap and let the A7 engine take care of generating the landscape .. so for that ... poly (or verts) count would not really be the issue (I think). (Nevertheless, I did reduce it to about 10% of the original).
However, looking at this again, and in light of what I've been reading about truePlay and Spaces I began to think about about what possibilities that might offer ... and this looks like turning into a different discussion, which I'd like to pursue, but maybe not in the WIP thread. (pm me, or let me know where to pursue that?)
So, moving on with the island topic... even if it will be imported into 3DGameStudio as a heightmap, I would like to have it in my trueSpace. The I can go ahead and model \the objects (buildings, gardens, whatever) in trueSpace and place them onto the island and try them out ^_^
Here is the image I had put up at first.. had converted it to a 3ds and then imported into the model space through the trueSpace6 part of the program. (Originally, in Vue, I thought it had looked rather gorgeous, heh heh, but now it's reduced, and without good material,)
A lot of it is supposed to be very rocky, and weather snowy, and most game play is on the plateau or down the front cliff face. Here are screenies from workspace and model.
It is supposed to be a little under 1km sq, and 150m. high so I hope I got my numbers about right.
(http://forums1.caligari.com/truespace/attachment.php?attachmentid=8416&stc=1&d=1189863552) |
Post by Jack Edwards // Sep 15, 2007, 7:18am
|
Jack Edwards
Total Posts: 4062
|
Butterpaw, is it UV mapped? If it is you can drop a texture on it.
Something to consider is that you may get better results using a custom shader that blends multiple materials based on slope and height. Of course you'd have to have your graphics programmer code that into your game engine as well.
There were some posts on "splatting" a while back that you might find useful.
-Jack. |
Post by Norm // Sep 15, 2007, 7:23am
|
Norm
Total Posts: 862
|
Inside trueSpace7.5 library: Objects - Script objects, you will find the LandScape generator object. It has a material you may wish to explore. I know in past I harvested the material portion of the LandScape generator and used with other objects. It stands to reason that same may apply to your lil'island scenario. |
Post by butterpaw // Sep 15, 2007, 8:06am
|
butterpaw
Total Posts: 831
|
Great suggestions, Jack, Norm - I will look into these! :)
many thanks,
^_^ |
Post by W!ZARD // Oct 2, 2007, 11:13pm
|
W!ZARD
Total Posts: 2603
|
Hi BP - I would have answered this a long time ago but I've been rather busy
What I can tell you is this; I have Vue 5 Esprit and this will actually export terrains as .cob files complete with UV at whatever resolution you specify. It will also export .3ds and .obj files which trueSpace will happily read.
The export diqaloge allows you to determine the overall mesh resolution and gives you the resulting file size in kB's, Vertices and polys.
If you have assigned a Vue material to the landscape you can also export that as a bitmap/jpeg etc and a Bumpmap file as well at what ever resolution you desire.
I've had good results exporting a medium res mesh (say 500x500) and a high res material map and have used them in trueSpace with excellent results.
Once in trueSpace 7.5 you then have the option of dramatically reducing your file sizes with the poly reduction and Normal Map tools which can give brilliant results - ie, highly detaile4d and textured landscape objects in tS with surprisingly small file sizes.
Of course you also then have access to all of tS modeling tools as well.
Just let me know if youbwant anymore specific suggestions.
HTH |
Post by butterpaw // Oct 3, 2007, 12:33am
|
butterpaw
Total Posts: 831
|
Thanks so very much, W!zard, that's a very detailed and helpful answer!
I'll try out these possibilities very soon. :)
^_^ |
|
