Animated trees

[johnwhelan]

Are now available in OpenBVE. I think they look rather nice.

Could we do it in Trainz? I'm thinking more in terms of TRS2006/TC3 level rather than TRS2009 since that version seems more stable than TRS2009.

Cheerio John

 

[Davie_UCF]

Which OpenBVE route are they in? Birmingham X city is supposed to have new animated stuff but its not out yet? Unless it is!

 

[johnwhelan]

http://vr-blog.blogspot.com/

http://openbve.trainsimcentral.co.uk/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dzh8df0suo&feature=related

There are a number of youtube videos showing the animated trees.

Cheerio Joht

 

[Euphod]

Wow...very nice effects in those videos. I can't imagine that much animation in Trainz!

 

[WindWalkr]

Could we do it in Trainz? I'm thinking more in terms of TRS2006/TC3 level rather than TRS2009 since that version seems more stable than TRS2009.

You'd be better off looking at TS2009 for this kind of thing. You will need the LOD and stitching features to gain decent performance if there are a large number of such trees in the scene.

Can it be done? Easily - you make the tree as a standard animated object at the high LOD, and drop it back to a static object as it moves further away to retain performance.

cheers,

chris

 

[johnwhelan]

You'd be better off looking at TS2009 for this kind of thing. You will need the LOD and stitching features to gain decent performance if there are a large number of such trees in the scene.

Can it be done? Easily - you make the tree as a standard animated object at the high LOD, and drop it back to a static object as it moves further away to retain performance.

cheers,

chris

But I thought TRS2009 was treeless?

Cheerio John

 

[WindWalkr]

But I thought TRS2009 was treeless?

Hardly. It's the nice high-poly trees that we're short on.

The same tree models used in that BVE video would work fine in TS2009. Personally I'm not really a fan - they're rather low poly, and while the animation is nice, it's a little overdone (or, it's very windy) and feels like a billboard - but yes, the technique will work fine in TS2009.

chris

 

[WindWalkr]

Slightly off-topic, but related enough:

We can't do the animated catenary splines though, and that would be a nice addition.

chris

 

[johnwhelan]

Hardly. It's the nice high-poly trees that we're short on.

The same tree models used in that BVE video would work fine in TS2009. Personally I'm not really a fan - they're rather low poly, and while the animation is nice, it's a little overdone (or, it's very windy) and feels like a billboard - but yes, the technique will work fine in TS2009.

chris

I've obviously been missing something, I was under the impression that there was no tree solution for TRS2009. Are you saying that the BVE style trees could be used in TRS2009? To me the animation if toned down a little adds sufficiently to the realism that I can live with low poly trees or even at this stage any trees for TRS2009.

Cheerio John

 

[WindWalkr]

I've obviously been missing something, I was under the impression that there was no tree solution for TRS2009.

I've certainly never said anything like that. Other people may have, for various reasons of their own. It's trivial to make a tree for TS2009 - how good it looks depends on the techniques used, the skill of the artist, and is obviously somewhat subjective.

TS2009 shipped with an example TS2009 tree. I don't think anybody would claim that it's best-of-breed, but it certainly demonstrates the basic techniques involved.

Are you saying that the BVE style trees could be used in TRS2009?

Yes. I haven't seen the source models, but from the youtube link above I see no techniques that would make them incompatible with TS2009 native mode.

To me the animation if toned down a little adds sufficiently to the realism that I can live with low poly trees or even at this stage any trees for TRS2009.

Simple trees are better than no trees. Animated trees are better still. I'd still love to see some real "best-of-breed" trees, but I'm not an artist so I can't help with that directly.

chris

 

[Snowhill]

JVC is doing some nice subtle animated trees and grasses that work in 04 and TC3 and they are on DLS
Snowhill

 

[NICKEL]

Well I think somebody should source out a couple of those tree models from BVE and see how they are done or can be adapted to 2009 because I thought they were very well done. They outshine anything I have seen in 2009 so far for all ranges. We have some very nice closeup tree done for 2009 but as they move down in LOD resolution they don't tansition well as it is a flash to the next level with great lose of looks.

I liked the long distance looks of them also and didn't see any transition with distance.

 

[PerRock]

kenichiro has some animated flora on the DLS. check it out! off the top of my head I know he has some animated bamboo 'clumps' and I believe a tree or two. however I cannot say of they work in 09.

peter

 

[angelah]

Black boards?

Why have the trees in the second video got black boards behind them? Don't like that much!
The first video is probably exactly that, a video of each tree placed as an object.
There are some similar assets on the DS, look for whitewater3 user ID 78193.
I have used some in the new route I am building, see the screenies in the UK screenshots thread.

Angela

 

[johnwhelan]

kenichiro has some animated flora on the DLS. check it out! off the top of my head I know he has some animated bamboo 'clumps' and I believe a tree or two. however I cannot say of they work in 09.

peter

There seems to be an issue if you create in Blender that you can't use normal maps on the animated part. I'm not certain if this applies to other creation software.

Cheerio John

 

[falcon500]

If it's so "trivial" to make tree for 09, how come even jankvis has had problems with this? May be easy enough to make one sample tree, but if if it's as as easy as Mr Windy suggests there should be a whole host of trees available for 09 by now, is there?
angelah, have used these assets on a US route really good water fall and rapids effects.

 

[zuluking]

EA Games Rail Simulator trees look good from a distance but close up reminds me of BVE trees.
What method do they use for making trees.

 

[Lo_Poly]

What method do they use for making trees.

I do believe they use "face-me" technology for the floral parts. In layman's terms, it's a 2D plane that changes position so that from whatever angle you view it from, you're facing the front of it.

I'm not sure what it's technical term is. Someone enlighten me if possible.

 

[bnsf50]

I do believe they use "face-me" technology for the floral parts. In layman's terms, it's a 2D plane that changes position so that from whatever angle you view it from, you're facing the front of it.

I'm not sure what it's technical term is. Someone enlighten me if possible.

Trainz has that feature for corona's, it's the directional tag in the config file. That's how a flat corona looks round. But as far as I am aware its not avalible for objects.

 

[JCitron]

I do believe they use "face-me" technology for the floral parts. In layman's terms, it's a 2D plane that changes position so that from whatever angle you view it from, you're facing the front of it.

I'm not sure what it's technical term is. Someone enlighten me if possible.

They are called flipboards because the flip around to always face the camera view.

John