Still around
by Leslie Young · 07/18/2008 (8:56 am) · 13 comments
wow.. been a while since I've posted.
I've been bussy on Kialinra, setting up a new site and working on the first areas, in between paying projects.
Also made a move to TGEA from TGE and quite happy about it so far.
First off, check out this video on a simple mod to the GroundCover object allowing me to "paint" plants where I want 'em. Allready posted the resource so hopefully you guys can have a go at it soon.
For now a few screenshots, I'll be sure to make more posts as I progress with development.
Nice waterfall and stream.
Path up the mountain.
Visit the official site for Kialinra.
I've been bussy on Kialinra, setting up a new site and working on the first areas, in between paying projects.
Also made a move to TGEA from TGE and quite happy about it so far.
First off, check out this video on a simple mod to the GroundCover object allowing me to "paint" plants where I want 'em. Allready posted the resource so hopefully you guys can have a go at it soon.
For now a few screenshots, I'll be sure to make more posts as I progress with development.
Nice waterfall and stream.
Path up the mountain.
Visit the official site for Kialinra.
About the author
#2
07/18/2008 (9:03 am)
WOW! Nice! 
#3
07/18/2008 (9:39 am)
Very nice. Cant wait for the resource, that is exactly what I wanted to do with the groundCover system. 
#4
07/18/2008 (9:45 am)
Neat resource! 
#5
07/18/2008 (1:03 pm)
Wow, that is amazing! Great work!! 
#6
So... a question to the community... Is this what GroundCover do by default? Should the procedural ground cover placement be defined by the terrain materials?
Or is there a compelling reason to have ground cover painting separate from the terrain material?
07/18/2008 (2:44 pm)
Looks really good Leslie... nice to see people using the GroundCover code.So... a question to the community... Is this what GroundCover do by default? Should the procedural ground cover placement be defined by the terrain materials?
Or is there a compelling reason to have ground cover painting separate from the terrain material?
#8
@ Tom, should be configurable.
Doing it explicitly by had allows greatest control for the environment artist, but can be time consuming. So in the case of large MMO type environments, you should be able define its generation or lack there of based on things like terrain texture, terrain slope, water, no water, etc.
-Todd
www.shapesandlines.com
07/18/2008 (3:48 pm)
Nice Job!@ Tom, should be configurable.
Doing it explicitly by had allows greatest control for the environment artist, but can be time consuming. So in the case of large MMO type environments, you should be able define its generation or lack there of based on things like terrain texture, terrain slope, water, no water, etc.
-Todd
www.shapesandlines.com
#9
Thanks for sharing it.
07/19/2008 (7:27 am)
Wow Leslie, That's awesome. It's something I wanted to do to Ben Garneys forest pack. Thanks for sharing it.
#10
Here the link to the resource http://www.garagegames.com/index.php?sec=mg&mod=resource&page=view&qid=15075
@Tom, you could place the plants manually - takes time if there a lot of them (and you will be making a very big mission file) or you could use Replicators. With GroundCover you can specify 6 different shapes (plants for instance) that will appear in an area around the player as he moves around. You specify how far the plants should be spawned so that if you look in the distance, say beyond 300m, more plants won't spawn which speeds things up and works great for smaller plants and grasses. With the resource I created you can now specify that certain plants should only spawn on certain terrain textures cause without the resource you would just see plants spawning all over the place, in your rivers, on the footpath, over gravel, etc ;)
07/19/2008 (7:46 am)
Thanks guys :)Here the link to the resource http://www.garagegames.com/index.php?sec=mg&mod=resource&page=view&qid=15075
@Tom, you could place the plants manually - takes time if there a lot of them (and you will be making a very big mission file) or you could use Replicators. With GroundCover you can specify 6 different shapes (plants for instance) that will appear in an area around the player as he moves around. You specify how far the plants should be spawned so that if you look in the distance, say beyond 300m, more plants won't spawn which speeds things up and works great for smaller plants and grasses. With the resource I created you can now specify that certain plants should only spawn on certain terrain textures cause without the resource you would just see plants spawning all over the place, in your rivers, on the footpath, over gravel, etc ;)
#11
My question was aimed at improving the ground cover system for the future.
Originally it was written for Legions and we had a sort of painter tool attached with it. Our reasoning was that even if you only tied ground cover to the specific terrain material you would loose the ability to clear areas unless you burn a terrain material layer to do it.
If you have a painter tool then you don't get the sort of automatic placement that you feature in your video.
I've just struggled with the right design that would allow for automatic placement, but still give you a ton of control.
07/19/2008 (12:29 pm)
@Leslie - I know the GroundCover code pretty well... i wrote it. ;)My question was aimed at improving the ground cover system for the future.
Originally it was written for Legions and we had a sort of painter tool attached with it. Our reasoning was that even if you only tied ground cover to the specific terrain material you would loose the ability to clear areas unless you burn a terrain material layer to do it.
If you have a painter tool then you don't get the sort of automatic placement that you feature in your video.
I've just struggled with the right design that would allow for automatic placement, but still give you a ton of control.
#12
A proper reply on your question, now that I understand what you asked...
I think having it do this by default would be great. But more in the way I am doing it now, or - to make it simpler for the designer of a mission - you could just reference the texture set directly. So if I placed my grass in slot 2 I could select in GroundCover that this or that shape type will be drawn where ever Slot2's texture is used.
There are areas I wanted a grass texture but none of the plants that the GroundCover would draw there, so I ended up using a 2nd grass textute in those areas. So far I'm using 5 textures in my scene (2x grass, 1xdirt for paths, 2xrock).
Maybe what could be done is add another control (inhibitor) which you would place in the same way you do with replicators and allowing you to define an area it covers. In GroundCover you could then select it for each of the shape types the same way you now need to select the TWSurface. This would allow you to specify which of the shape types should not appear in those areas, so you could remove all plants from certain grassy areas or only some of the plants that the GroundCover would place.
07/20/2008 (2:07 am)
Tom, thanks for the awesome GroundCover control !! :DA proper reply on your question, now that I understand what you asked...
I think having it do this by default would be great. But more in the way I am doing it now, or - to make it simpler for the designer of a mission - you could just reference the texture set directly. So if I placed my grass in slot 2 I could select in GroundCover that this or that shape type will be drawn where ever Slot2's texture is used.
There are areas I wanted a grass texture but none of the plants that the GroundCover would draw there, so I ended up using a 2nd grass textute in those areas. So far I'm using 5 textures in my scene (2x grass, 1xdirt for paths, 2xrock).
Maybe what could be done is add another control (inhibitor) which you would place in the same way you do with replicators and allowing you to define an area it covers. In GroundCover you could then select it for each of the shape types the same way you now need to select the TWSurface. This would allow you to specify which of the shape types should not appear in those areas, so you could remove all plants from certain grassy areas or only some of the plants that the GroundCover would place.
#13
08/08/2008 (12:23 am)
Nice work Leslie... keep it up.
Torque 3D Owner Marcus Daw