2009- Isn't Another Element To Be Added??
- Thread starter boleyd
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ZecMurphy
Community Assistant
There sure is a big difference between supporting and depending on. However, sometimes the latter has to be done. Especially where it comes to trying to figure out the best way to do something. In many cases, such as trees, it is good to have the community figure out things for themselves. As they can then all throw ideas between themselves.
As for current progress... There is actually progress on this again on Trainz Dev. Mind you, the current thought isn't one I think you guys are going to like I. Namely having 2 tree types. A 'high poly' tree for close up (such as Jan's trees), which has multiple LOD levels, and then a 'low poly' (billboard) tree much like what we are already using, but designed for distance and TS09. And of course, we would need the LOD to give us the betweens as well. But, at this stage, using LOD to go down to a billboard in one object just doesn't seem appropriate... This basically requires you to make a choice as to where high poly stops, and low poly begins. Still, this is being done by 3rd party (with help from Chris), so it may still be a little while before the trees start popping up.
Zec
As for current progress... There is actually progress on this again on Trainz Dev. Mind you, the current thought isn't one I think you guys are going to like I. Namely having 2 tree types. A 'high poly' tree for close up (such as Jan's trees), which has multiple LOD levels, and then a 'low poly' (billboard) tree much like what we are already using, but designed for distance and TS09. And of course, we would need the LOD to give us the betweens as well. But, at this stage, using LOD to go down to a billboard in one object just doesn't seem appropriate... This basically requires you to make a choice as to where high poly stops, and low poly begins. Still, this is being done by 3rd party (with help from Chris), so it may still be a little while before the trees start popping up.
Zec
Zec , with all due respect , but this is a very silly statement , why didn't the programmers come up with ideas prior to it's release ? Why pass it onto the users to correct ?
Zec , with all due respect , but this is a very silly 2nd statement , if we are not going to like it , why spend the time in developing it ? I am slowly thinking I have thrown my money down the toilet ? Do you have any other comments that might brighten my thoughts regarding TS2009 ?
Concerned --- ,DLR
johnwhelan
Well-known member
Quote:
Originally Posted by Zec Murphy
There sure is a big difference between supporting and depending on. However, sometimes the latter has to be done. Especially where it comes to trying to figure out the best way to do something. In many cases, such as trees, it is good to have the community figure out things for themselves. As they can then all throw ideas between themselves.
Reality is Trainz is a mixture between the programmers and the community, it always has been and probably always will be. Many of the advances have come from the community, for example normal mapping came from the programmers but many of the simplified processes to make it work have come from the community.
Cheerio John
Originally Posted by Zec Murphy
There sure is a big difference between supporting and depending on. However, sometimes the latter has to be done. Especially where it comes to trying to figure out the best way to do something. In many cases, such as trees, it is good to have the community figure out things for themselves. As they can then all throw ideas between themselves.
Reality is Trainz is a mixture between the programmers and the community, it always has been and probably always will be. Many of the advances have come from the community, for example normal mapping came from the programmers but many of the simplified processes to make it work have come from the community.
Cheerio John
ZecMurphy
Community Assistant
The programmers aren't generally artists. However, they are trying to get the most out of the program. In this case, it also means working towards higher detail. Granted, it hasn't been as easy as first thought. But we are still working on it.
By doing what has been done, it has opened up discussions between the programmers and the creators. If the change hadn't been made, well we wouldn't be trying to work out how to make higher detail trees. Instead we would become stagnant and continue using billboards. Very few, if any, new commercially released games are using billboards these days. They just don't have the detail in them, in terms of 3D. The aim was to get higher detail/res trees.
Now, I did word my comment above poorly. What I meant to say was "In many cases, such as trees, it is good to have the community work with Auran to figure things out. As they can then all throw ideas between themselves. And work towards having it work in the best possible way". Which is exactly what is happening.
And through this, a bug has been found and reported. This bug would have gone basically un-noticed as the other other assets that show it, show it at a point at which it isn't noticed.
As before, the trees haven't been as easy as first thought. But they are moving forward, again.
Now, my second 'silly' comment. I say that you guys aren't going to like it, because it isn't as easy as it used to be. We see it time and again on here. Most users don't like seeing things change. In this case, you are going to have to change your technique for building layouts. Simply by choosing how far from the tracks you want high detail trees before changing to mid/low detail trees. This is what people won't like. Changing their technique. This is just a guess of the reaction based on past reactions to change on the forums.
Basically, you will need to manually LOD your layout. Myself, I like the idea. Namely because I have control over where the low detail 'point' will be.
Mind you, the technique itself has been in use for a long while. Many users have high detail near the tracks, and then lower the detail further away. Trees further apart, less buildings, less splines, no fine detail, etc. Well, it's the same. Just you need to use 2 different trees.
Have fun
Zec
By doing what has been done, it has opened up discussions between the programmers and the creators. If the change hadn't been made, well we wouldn't be trying to work out how to make higher detail trees. Instead we would become stagnant and continue using billboards. Very few, if any, new commercially released games are using billboards these days. They just don't have the detail in them, in terms of 3D. The aim was to get higher detail/res trees.
Now, I did word my comment above poorly. What I meant to say was "In many cases, such as trees, it is good to have the community work with Auran to figure things out. As they can then all throw ideas between themselves. And work towards having it work in the best possible way". Which is exactly what is happening.
And through this, a bug has been found and reported. This bug would have gone basically un-noticed as the other other assets that show it, show it at a point at which it isn't noticed.
As before, the trees haven't been as easy as first thought. But they are moving forward, again.
Now, my second 'silly' comment. I say that you guys aren't going to like it, because it isn't as easy as it used to be. We see it time and again on here. Most users don't like seeing things change. In this case, you are going to have to change your technique for building layouts. Simply by choosing how far from the tracks you want high detail trees before changing to mid/low detail trees. This is what people won't like. Changing their technique. This is just a guess of the reaction based on past reactions to change on the forums.
Basically, you will need to manually LOD your layout. Myself, I like the idea. Namely because I have control over where the low detail 'point' will be.
Mind you, the technique itself has been in use for a long while. Many users have high detail near the tracks, and then lower the detail further away. Trees further apart, less buildings, less splines, no fine detail, etc. Well, it's the same. Just you need to use 2 different trees.
Have fun
Zec
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