Environment Modeling

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[llamalord]

It really only hit me today:

We know absolutly nothing about how our lovely environments are modeled,

Is it really just one big 3D model with a water line, Or is it a terrain mesh with lots of small 3D models, or is it more complicated?

I think this would give us a great insight into the minds of the modelers and finally explain to us why 99% of environment requests are refused for lack of time, or for any other reason. I'm genuinly surprised this hasn't come up before.

[Mad_Fred]

Hi llamalord,

I think this has come up before, I remember talk about the possibility of people making their own terrain and such, but it probably sunk to the bottom of the forum by now.. heh..

I don't know much about them and don't know exactly how they are made, I can only take an educated guess based upon some years of terrain creation for another game, but from what I can tell it is indeed a terrain mesh, onto which all the objects are placed, which are all custom made to resemble the real stuff you'd find or see in those harbors, etc.

And they are all textured aswell of course. So creating a port means creating all those specific objects, all the textures etc. And of course the whole terrain has to be created and textured, both above aswell as below the waterline. It has to be textured... And then there's of course a lot more to it.

A LOT of work I'd say... Months and months and months.. and maybe even some more months.. 

Mind you, apart from the generic objects, most of the objects we see in the game are very detailed and specific as they are, and thus need to be, very recognisable of course. if you think about how many objects like that you find in one port.. and then think how many ports we have that are full of them, you'll get an idea. And you know how much work proper 3D modeling is!   

Regards,
Fred

[llamalord]

The texture overlay on the 3D mesh is obviously not just a satilite image so how do you think they're made?

Sorry I'm just full of questions.

[Mad_Fred]

Well, I guess that it's tiled. But I can't say for sure.

[llamalord]

Hmmm...

How did the fight for user created environments go back in the good old days?

[Mad_Fred]

Heh..  no idea to be honest..

I think offenders got covered with marmite and were thrown in a container full of confetti..  or something like that. 

[llamalord]

Heed the 10 warning signs.
   Hold on!!!

We're about to enter "Freds World"

[Mad_Fred]

Nah, the people here are not ready for Fred's World yet. I don't know if anyone is, with the exception of Terry perhaps... 

 

[llamalord]

^{1st Mate}"Captain, We're now entering Fred's_World."

^Kirk"Set all phazers to stun and prepare for battle."



^Kirk"What's that???"

^Spack"Incoming transmition"

^Kirk"Put it on monitor one."

^Fred"You have three minutes to comply to my thousands of clones."_{-Large booming voice-}

^Kirk"It seems they've set up a hyper-Flux field around the planet, All ahead full"

^Scotty"The Engines cannot take it captain!"



Sorry, I didn't make the Fred's_World thing,

Look at this old episode of Wings at -6:33   <Link> (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnONaJDvxl8)
     If you want an extra laugh look at -4:20

Wings is the funniest show on the planet, most episodes are on you tube 8 seasons. -PM me if you like it!

[Captain Best]

Heed the 10 warning signs.
   Hold on!!!

We're about to enter "Freds World"

i thod it was Teletubby world that was Fred's World

[llamalord]

All right lets get back to Environments...

Doy toy think you could "Persuade" V-STEP into doing the final touches on an environment if you modeled the entire rest of it: Mesh, buildings, textures, objects, sounds?

My 1000^th Post

[mvsmith]

Hi, M’lord,
You could ask them for a document similar to the PDF on ship requirements, which specifies how environments need to be constructed in order that they can be integrated into the simulator. The terrestrial part is probably not much different from that in Trainz, but the water is probably what requires the magic.
Marty

[llamalord]

Hmmm...

Good idea I'll get on that and see if I can't get some written instructions.

[mvsmith]

Hi, M’lord,
You might want to look at Padstow in the ME, where you can get under the terrestrial part and get an idea of how it is made.
I think this environment is the first to use bump mapping, and differs from the others in the amount of hilly, rural, terrain.

Here is material quoted from the ship guidelines PDF:
Selected model creators will get a library of objects from us of small parts of a ship, that they may use for the new vessel, like anchors, winches, fenders, lifeboats etc.
If you want to sell your 3D model also on TurboSquid or another commercial 3D modelbank, you cannot use the items of our library, or only after explicit permission from us.
Static objects
Adding scenery objects and static ships is a whole lot easier. We encourage users with an interest in 3D modelling to create objects like ramps, jetties, static ships (to be moored or anchored), wrecks, icebergs etc.
Initially, you can send these to info@shipsim.com in the 3DS format, with accompanying texture in DDS format. Later, we may extend the mission editor to automate the process for adding static objects.
New scenery
The effort and workflow for creating new scenery for the game is time consuming and complex. We are still working on improving the internal toolset and procedure, so it is not possible to involve 3rd party developers in this process, until we have progressed this further internally.
This is rather old, so the policy may have changed.

Regards,
Marty