Images from our Torque 3D game
by Konrad Kiss · 09/21/2012 (2:22 am) · 23 comments
I'll keep it short this time. I am planning to write more in a later blog about the models and how we worked with Dexsoft to optimize them for Torque. Also about how the terrain and all objects, lights are in fact procedurally generated and placed, but right now unfortunately I'm really short on time.
I only wanted to share these with everyone, especially the new guys (Welcome!) who are thinking about giving the now free Torque 3D a try. You guys just found the best game dev community. ;)
These images are from Xenocell. (Some of them are exclusive to this blog even!) As far as the visuals go, this is stock Torque 3D tech, though some of the models use our Sahara extension.
More info about Xenocell and Sahara:
Xenocell
Sahara
Facebook: Xenocell Testers group
Thanks for reading - as always, comments are very much appreciated! :)
-- Konrad
@konradkiss
KonradKiss @ GitHub
konradkiss.com
I only wanted to share these with everyone, especially the new guys (Welcome!) who are thinking about giving the now free Torque 3D a try. You guys just found the best game dev community. ;)
These images are from Xenocell. (Some of them are exclusive to this blog even!) As far as the visuals go, this is stock Torque 3D tech, though some of the models use our Sahara extension.
More info about Xenocell and Sahara:
Xenocell
Sahara
Facebook: Xenocell Testers group
Thanks for reading - as always, comments are very much appreciated! :)
-- Konrad
@konradkiss
KonradKiss @ GitHub
konradkiss.com
About the author
http://about.me/konrad.kiss
#4
09/21/2012 (5:40 am)
Looks great Konrad. Great update. 
#5
09/21/2012 (6:50 am)
Hey Konrad, this is looking pretty sweet. And can I just say that these shots do a great job of showcasing Sahara. Well done. 
#6
Now that sounds interesting - and all your procedural generation too.
09/21/2012 (7:48 am)
Great looking stuff Konrad. :)Quote:
I am planning to write more in a later blog about the models and how we worked with Dexsoft to optimize them for Torque
Now that sounds interesting - and all your procedural generation too.
#7
09/21/2012 (7:57 am)
looking awesome! 
#8
Looks great!
09/21/2012 (11:12 am)
I've enjoyed seeing these the past several days this week and was wondering when folks around here would get to see them :DLooks great!
#9
09/21/2012 (1:20 pm)
Looking Good Konrad! Sahara is great... must get around to using it :)
#10
09/21/2012 (1:25 pm)
Thank you very much, guys! :) 
#11
09/21/2012 (1:34 pm)
How did you do that grass? That's not GroundCover, is it? 
#12
09/21/2012 (2:00 pm)
Konrad, I signed up and have the latest build according to your updater. Nice job, just let me know when you need a tester and I am ready.
#13
09/21/2012 (2:37 pm)
Go Konrad! Excellent work man :)
#14
@Novack: Thanks! :)
@Daniel: It unfortunately is Groundcover. I have a version that has shapes with shadows, but not in the build I made these in. These are shapes that eventually become z-billboard shapes and then billboards in different LODs. as part of that shape. Groundcover billboards are very buggy and lack many features. Even if you only want a billboard, you are better off making a shape as a single billboard, that way you can at least avoid all the depth sorting and transparency issues that haunt it. I'll see if I can come up with something better for my first pull request. :)
09/21/2012 (2:42 pm)
@John: Thank you! I need a time machine in a loop more than anything, that would help the most right now. :)@Novack: Thanks! :)
@Daniel: It unfortunately is Groundcover. I have a version that has shapes with shadows, but not in the build I made these in. These are shapes that eventually become z-billboard shapes and then billboards in different LODs. as part of that shape. Groundcover billboards are very buggy and lack many features. Even if you only want a billboard, you are better off making a shape as a single billboard, that way you can at least avoid all the depth sorting and transparency issues that haunt it. I'll see if I can come up with something better for my first pull request. :)
#15
09/21/2012 (9:50 pm)
When game artwork actually looks like "a work of art". Very nice work!
#16
09/22/2012 (1:36 am)
Konrad - unfortunately? It looks great! I always forget that it can match terrain textures.
#17
@Daniel: Well, yes, it's not bad at all! But it was going to be rewritten which did not happen. Tom (Spilman) was going to make it be rendered into the depth prepass - otherwise the plain billboard function is not really useful as it is not able to sort transparent materials. This causes issues such as grass behind water and far away lumps of grass in front of close lumps of grass. It also adds plenty of z-fighting-like behavior.
For grass you are better off using LerpAlpha transparency, because - unlike leaves and most other transparent textures - grass looks ugly with only AlphaRef. It's faster, but it's ugly. So since I needed LerpAlpha transparency and depth sorting I went with Groundcover shapes.
But Groundcover does not cast shadows for shapes - which makes sense, as it would probably be very expensive when not using AL. It could be expensive either way, I don't know.
All in all, Groundcover needs a solution that can sort transparent objects, optionally cast light on them and make them cast shadows, and pick up some of the terrain color of course.
It's not bad, but there's plenty of room to make it better. I am thinking about giving the old ShapeReplicator a try for the time being, that might also work, but it's been some time since I've last used it.
09/22/2012 (3:40 am)
@Frank: Thank you! Watch out, I might just quote you in our promo video! :)@Daniel: Well, yes, it's not bad at all! But it was going to be rewritten which did not happen. Tom (Spilman) was going to make it be rendered into the depth prepass - otherwise the plain billboard function is not really useful as it is not able to sort transparent materials. This causes issues such as grass behind water and far away lumps of grass in front of close lumps of grass. It also adds plenty of z-fighting-like behavior.
For grass you are better off using LerpAlpha transparency, because - unlike leaves and most other transparent textures - grass looks ugly with only AlphaRef. It's faster, but it's ugly. So since I needed LerpAlpha transparency and depth sorting I went with Groundcover shapes.
But Groundcover does not cast shadows for shapes - which makes sense, as it would probably be very expensive when not using AL. It could be expensive either way, I don't know.
All in all, Groundcover needs a solution that can sort transparent objects, optionally cast light on them and make them cast shadows, and pick up some of the terrain color of course.
It's not bad, but there's plenty of room to make it better. I am thinking about giving the old ShapeReplicator a try for the time being, that might also work, but it's been some time since I've last used it.
#18
09/22/2012 (4:00 pm)
Very cool, I especially like the night/snow area. 
#19
09/22/2012 (4:12 pm)
Awesome as usual. Now all I need to do is to get a newer computer so I can play it.
#20
@Mike: Thank you! Actually, I'm working with a 5 year old 2 core PC with a 4 year old gfx card, and with about 40 of those buildings crowded into a small area - the one you see on the last image - in fullscreen Full Hd resolution I was getting 40+ fps with almost maxed gfx (Advanced Lighting). I spent about a month optimizing it, but it was definitely worth it. In 720p resolution (windowed mode) I easily got over 80 frames per sec. I know these don't mean much without soecifics, but the rig is the ideal average rig, so I'm hopeful that the game will play well on older PCs.
09/22/2012 (4:30 pm)
@Weston: Thanks! Yeah, that's the one I like the most too. I think it's the one that is the most realistic.@Mike: Thank you! Actually, I'm working with a 5 year old 2 core PC with a 4 year old gfx card, and with about 40 of those buildings crowded into a small area - the one you see on the last image - in fullscreen Full Hd resolution I was getting 40+ fps with almost maxed gfx (Advanced Lighting). I spent about a month optimizing it, but it was definitely worth it. In 720p resolution (windowed mode) I easily got over 80 frames per sec. I know these don't mean much without soecifics, but the rig is the ideal average rig, so I'm hopeful that the game will play well on older PCs.
Torque Owner Daniel Buckmaster
T3D Steering Committee