Take a Guess

[serverandenforcer 33]

 

 

[+hi ho silver 179]

EEL EGGS

[serverandenforcer 33]

EEL EGGS

 

 

You wish don't ya? Try again.

[+ST0RM 145]

Early Warning radar or some other Space Command doohicky?

[FastCargo 412]

Clouds?

 

FC

[serverandenforcer 33]

Early Warning radar or some other Space Command doohicky?

 

 

Nope, here's a hint. It'll be very easy to texture (if not needing any texturs at all).

 

Clouds?

 

FC

 

 

Roger that... 3D clouds

Edited March 6, 2009 by serverandenforcer

[serverandenforcer 33]

Experimenting with creating a storm cloud...

 

 

[Lexx_Luthor 57]

THAT'S IT!!! Server seemingly small first step can, with extensive development and learning, grow into the greatest advances in combat flight sims since...

 

Recall the ancient combat flight sims, the Sims of Olde, the Sims of Reknown. They had 3D cumulus clouds, although with very few polygons. DOS Su-27 FLAKER 1.0 from 1995 for example (don't know about F-16 FLACON). But something went wrong. For some reason, The Sims developers went "textures" instead, and cumulus cloud development in The Sims stagnated for a decade.

 

3D cumulus clouds would respond to the SF sun perfectly.

 

Sunlit and shadow sides of clouds.

 

Dark flat underneath where the SF Sun don't shine.

 

Cloud polygon faces that face to the SF sun can turn gold or red in the sunset, depending on face-sun angle.

 

Yikes....this is really neat stuff.

 

:ok:

[serverandenforcer 33]

Well, obviously, for creating a nice looking cumulous cloud, you'll need more "bubbles" than what I had shown. Each bubble that I'm using has a diameter of 15 meters. So that last pic I have would probably be just a little puff floating by. The thing is though, it increases the poly count very quickly as you add in more bubbles. But without needing any textures for them, I don't know if it would be much of an issue to consider. I'll continue experimenting with poly reduction though

[Lexx_Luthor 57]

Yeah...notice the hard cloud edge. Until you get close to the cloud, the cloud has hard edges. Guess 90% of player time is far from the cloud, and so should be seen having hard edges if both are not possible to model -- multiple LOD levels? This is one reason why the old 3D solid clouds in 1990s sims -- at least Flaker 1.0 as that was the only one I played back then -- are today 14 years later a more accurate model of large cumulus clouds than today's "texture" puffs, even if they were *very* low polygons in the 1990s.

 

 

Server, is your next step a single volume 3D shape with rather chaotic polygon faces?

[Lexx_Luthor 57]

Ah, I wished I say your poast first.

 

Is it possible to craft a closed single volume object with chaotic random appearing faces? Only external polygon faces are needed. ie... you won't need to waste polygons on otherwise never seen internal sides of spheres. I was thinking if I got the 3DMAX this is what I would try to do. But money is short so all I did was theorize. Its about all I can do anyways, and I'm not good at that even.

[serverandenforcer 33]

Server, is your next step a single volume 3D shape with rather chaotic polygon faces?

 

I tried that and it's actually a lot harder to do than it sounds. I mean, how do you free build an object that has no stable form? The thing that I like about using the "bubble" method (which is basically three cylinders shaped into a simple sphere like shape, one sphere, with it's faces flipped (inverted) is smaller than the other two and is centered inside of them; the larger ones are slightly transparent but one has it's faces inverted) is that you can have a whole bunch of them grouped together (via mission editor) to form a more cloudish shape and they can be setup to move independantly from each other, making the overall cloud very dynamic. Also, I can build more than just one size bubble. Smaller or larger ones, with slightly different shapes can be made to form additonal variety of clouds. Infact, I can make a very large bubble as the main "head" for a cumulous cloud,and then have smaller bubbles grouped around them to enhance the detail figure of the cloud, yet at the same time to reduce poly count levels.

 

Is it possible to craft a closed single volume object with chaotic random appearing faces? Only external polygon faces are needed. ie... you won't need to waste polygons on otherwise never seen internal sides of spheres.

 

No idea bro. If it is possible, it's way beyond my skill level.

[Lexx_Luthor 57]

I got the idea from the giant white radomes....here is one from the SF, forgot author but its really nice... ...its here at the combatace. Can't really see the polygon faces in the dome here (I did some lighting experiments on this dome, lighting up from the missile flame). 3D clouds, much larger, would light up in a 3D way like this by, say nuc explosions. SF moon also illuminates and shadows 3D objects, like the 3D clouds you are thinking of.

 

 

[serverandenforcer 33]

Well, I'm thinking of setting up several groups of bubbles, each group an individual LOD varing in quantity of bubbles to form basic cloud shapes of various sizes. With these groups collected together through a mission editor (or maybe some other way), you can setup large cumulous cloud families. However, it might be very demanding on system resources, maybe almost on the verge of a CTD. I'm hoping that with the lack of textures being used, it will hopefully not be much of a concern. But never you know until you try.

Edited March 7, 2009 by serverandenforcer

[Lexx_Luthor 57]

Probably won't need any skins.

 

The problem with building up a large cloud out of smaller balls is wasted polys that you won't see.

 

But, that said, if you are inside a one large volume cloud (no collision points but see footnote below), it would be "clear" to the cloud boundary. Can't see beyond, but everything inside the volume would be visible. Big problem. That probably requires developer programming....and AI responding to the cloud on top of that. Smaller balls making up a large cloud can help create internal visual obstructions.

 

On the other hand, a very few large towering cumulus clouds, very widely spaced apart, can be seen as atmosphere "terrain" -- eye candy -- visual things that you fly past on missions, and visible for hundreds of miles, like that (very large) cloud the F-105 is flying towards.

 

I noticed the flat pancakes in one pic above. A flat thin 1D object might be possible, with holes in it, like a flat cloud layer. That would not cause any issues with seeing...you are either below it, or above it, but never inside it.

 

oh, yeah, that footnote:

** a small collision area, or a group of them, one for each ball, could simulate extreme turbulence inside the cloud. Only a small chance of getting hurt, but its still there. Can't randomize it though.

Edited March 7, 2009 by Lexx_Luthor

[serverandenforcer 33]

Well, here's a pick of a group of them, making a better looking cloud seen from below at a distance.

 

 

 

I changed the setup with how I'm making them. It's almost like the original setup, excep the smaller ball doesn't have it's faces inverted, and it's about 10% transparent.

[serverandenforcer 33]

Another shot with it facing the "sun".

 

 

[+Julhelm 266]

I think you might have better luck simply sculpting the clouds in say, Mudbox and then export them into Max for final export into the game engine. Because Mudbox (Like ZBrush) relies on 3d pixels you can use various brushes to define a highpoly cloud which can then be run through Max's polyreduction modifiers to the count down to something reasonable.

[serverandenforcer 33]

I think you might have better luck simply sculpting the clouds in say, Mudbox.

 

I agree, but considering the fact that it's a $745.00 program, before taxes, it's not a smart way on spending my money.

[+Julhelm 266]

Doesn't Autodesk have a trial version of it?

[serverandenforcer 33]

Doesn't Autodesk have a trial version of it?

 

 

I couldn't find one at their site.