Highly detailed DTS object
by Shayne Gelo · in Torque Game Engine Advanced · 01/24/2006 (8:53 am) · 4 replies
The game starts with a view of the entire globe and slowly zooms into an area of interest where the game will take place.
Since atlas terrain is flat, I'm assuming I'll have to do some sort of a trick to achieve the transition between looking at an actual spherical model and the real terrain. My problem so far is how to get a globe model with a reasonable amount of detail such that it can zoom in for a ways before doing some sort of transition.
I've tried using a DTS object, and that looks good enough from far away, but the 1024 pixel height limit on textures prevents it from looking very good once the camera gets closer. Is there some way to use LOD options to do better? Should I use a DIF instead? What is the reasoning behind the 1024 limit?
It's crunch time for me, so any responses would be greatly appreciated.
Since atlas terrain is flat, I'm assuming I'll have to do some sort of a trick to achieve the transition between looking at an actual spherical model and the real terrain. My problem so far is how to get a globe model with a reasonable amount of detail such that it can zoom in for a ways before doing some sort of transition.
I've tried using a DTS object, and that looks good enough from far away, but the 1024 pixel height limit on textures prevents it from looking very good once the camera gets closer. Is there some way to use LOD options to do better? Should I use a DIF instead? What is the reasoning behind the 1024 limit?
It's crunch time for me, so any responses would be greatly appreciated.
#2
Eventually you'll have to use something like the trick above to transition between the fake DTS and the real terrain.
01/24/2006 (9:57 am)
Another idea. Use LOD. The distant planet is half of the sphere. This means you double your texture res. The next closer one swaps when the planet occupies the entire screen and it's just a smaller portion of the sphere surface that is visible. Again since your spreading the 1024 over a smaller portion of the model you get more resolution.Eventually you'll have to use something like the trick above to transition between the fake DTS and the real terrain.
#3
For now, we may be able to get away with a pre-rendered movie. However, I thought the Theora container wasn't ported yet. Eventually, the user does need to be allowed to spin the globe, so we can't cheat with the half-globe trick you mentioned. I'm thinking we may end up going with a fly into clouds followed by a transition to a different mission. I'm not really sure how to go about this one since I didn't think volumetric fog support was in yet.
So, 2 questions:
1. Is it possible to play movies from within TSE currently?
2. How might we render clouds that we can fly into for a transition?
01/24/2006 (10:03 am)
Thanks for the replies, Tom. The procedural planet project looks very cool, but we definitely don't have the time for that.For now, we may be able to get away with a pre-rendered movie. However, I thought the Theora container wasn't ported yet. Eventually, the user does need to be allowed to spin the globe, so we can't cheat with the half-globe trick you mentioned. I'm thinking we may end up going with a fly into clouds followed by a transition to a different mission. I'm not really sure how to go about this one since I didn't think volumetric fog support was in yet.
So, 2 questions:
1. Is it possible to play movies from within TSE currently?
2. How might we render clouds that we can fly into for a transition?
#4
I would use typical faked clouds. Fly a bunch of large cloud particles at the camera. If you layer them well it should look really good.
01/24/2006 (10:12 am)
Don't know of Theora is ported yet, but it shouldn't be too difficult of a job. If you do it and submit the patch back to GG it would be much appriciated by the community.I would use typical faked clouds. Fly a bunch of large cloud particles at the camera. If you layer them well it should look really good.
Associate Tom Spilman
Sickhead Games
If things must be dynamic then you could go as extreme as implementing this.