Aces High Bulletin Board

General Forums => Terrain Editor => Topic started by: Waffle on March 02, 2005, 08:52:28 AM

Title: Piiiiiii-neeeeeeeerrrr.....in the pines (pic)
Post by: Waffle on March 02, 2005, 08:52:28 AM: (http://www.dangreve.com/airfeild/pines.jpg)
Title: Piiiiiii-neeeeeeeerrrr.....in the pines (pic)
Post by: hitech on March 02, 2005, 08:55:31 AM: How?
Title: Piiiiiii-neeeeeeeerrrr.....in the pines (pic)
Post by: DREDIOCK on March 02, 2005, 08:59:05 AM: Now that looks cool
Title: Piiiiiii-neeeeeeeerrrr.....in the pines (pic)
Post by: Easyscor on March 02, 2005, 10:02:55 AM: :lol I sure hope that's real because I want those tiles.:)
Title: Piiiiiii-neeeeeeeerrrr.....in the pines (pic)
Post by: Waffle on March 02, 2005, 10:11:16 AM: Quote
Originally posted by hitech
How?

You want me to give away my secrets? :)

I need some "hows" answered too....lol
Like how to get the shadows of trees transparent...
I'm having all sorts of issues with the "materials.ac" file...and them loosing the material properties through the conversions.
Was there ever an "materials.ac" file released?

Can read more here: http://hitechcreations.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=144167

One more thing...
When building terrain tiles - when you click "display terrain in background" it displays the tile 4 times(subtile positions) Now say I choose terr0005 as background and place objects on all four quadrants. Now I do the same for terr0105. So now if terr0005 is the top left subtile, and terr0105 is the top right subtile -Objects now should be corresponding with the tiles/terrain objects created in the OE, or will it just use the objects from the first terr0005 tile over all 4 quadrants.

Reason im asking this, is on the farm land objects (terr0003), I can get the ter0003 objects to show up, but if I take the exact same OE built terrain and change the name to ter0103 - the TE will flash white where the objects are supposed to be, and then they're gone. I haven't tried on other terrain types, just the farm.

As far as the pines go - they're using a 4 stage LOD with
Total objects: 25 surfaces: 92 vertices: 354

as compared to the stock "trees1" file
Total objects: 12 surfaces: 59 vertices: 234

I'm using 5 Horizontal planes - the top 3 are textured with gradually larger circles as you go down - lower 2 layers are just filler -

then just vertical planes extending which has the tiled pine tree profile textured.

I'll still not happy with them yet from above, but if I can get the materials working correctly on my end - I think it'll come out nice.
I can send you the ac3c / texture if you want to look at it.
Title: Piiiiiii-neeeeeeeerrrr.....in the pines (pic)
Post by: Superfly on March 02, 2005, 10:50:31 AM: can you post some shots of those trees from different angles?
Title: Piiiiiii-neeeeeeeerrrr.....in the pines (pic)
Post by: Octavius on March 02, 2005, 10:57:23 AM: Holy!

Looks like Operation Flashpoint :)
Title: Piiiiiii-neeeeeeeerrrr.....in the pines (pic)
Post by: hitech on March 02, 2005, 10:58:38 AM: You can't just rename shp files. You would need to rename the .til file and rebuild.

And here is our material file.

Try material 29 for a shadow.

http://www.hitechcreations.com/hitech/material.ac

HiTech
Title: Piiiiiii-neeeeeeeerrrr.....in the pines (pic)
Post by: Easyscor on March 02, 2005, 11:13:56 AM: Waffle, this is from my notes (paraphrased), I hope it helps in some way, those are really nice trees!

TRANSPARENCIES

Per asw:

Create a bitmap for the object then create another one named similar but appended with a "_a.bmp" i.e. “objectname_a.bmp”.

This file is not referenced in anyway to the ac file created in AC3d I just made it the same size and made sure the name is the same but with the _a added to the end of the file name. Both images are an 8 bit bmp(256 color)..
Black (0,0,0) is tranparent, white(255,255,255) shows the texture map.. shades of gray in between the two seems to affect the level of transparency

Per hitech:

You can also have a transparent index file.

To make terrain tiles show up in the TE you might need to empty your cache/stdshps folder.

This thread between TexMurphy and Hitech seems to explain how to do that:

[url]http://www.hitechcreations.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=142394&highlight=Hitech[url]
Title: Piiiiiii-neeeeeeeerrrr.....in the pines (pic)
Post by: Waffle on March 02, 2005, 11:58:53 AM: Superfly -

I just started a rebuild of the pines and am redoing the top 3 layers of textures - had a little revelation on how to make it look better from viewed from above. I also need to clean up a few things. I'll post a few of those as soon as I'm done.

Thx for the materials HT - will see what happens...

BTW - is there a material that is not affected by the game light?
is that the ambient? Was thinking that would help blend in some of the vertical planes that change color so much with different light direction.

also can there be more than 3-4 LODs?
Title: Piiiiiii-neeeeeeeerrrr.....in the pines (pic)
Post by: detch01 on March 02, 2005, 12:12:22 PM: Very very cool Waffle :aok

Cheers,
asw
Title: Piiiiiii-neeeeeeeerrrr.....in the pines (pic)
Post by: Raptor on March 02, 2005, 12:23:54 PM: you know you did something right when hitech wants to know how you did it. Absolutely amazing:eek:
Title: Piiiiiii-neeeeeeeerrrr.....in the pines (pic)
Post by: Furball on March 02, 2005, 12:44:34 PM: awesome job, hows the FPS hit compared to normal tree's?
Title: Piiiiiii-neeeeeeeerrrr.....in the pines (pic)
Post by: Waffle on March 02, 2005, 01:58:23 PM: Superfly
- heres some pics of the rework in progress.
I dropped one of the "filler" layers and changed it to circles.
I still have work to do on adjusting the heights of the layers, as well as more texture work, but you can get an idea of what's going on.

BTW - any word on if more than 4 LODs can be used on an object?

(http://www.dangreve.com/airfeild/pine2.jpg)
(http://www.dangreve.com/airfeild/pine2.jpg)
Title: Piiiiiii-neeeeeeeerrrr.....in the pines (pic)
Post by: Waffle on March 02, 2005, 04:36:57 PM: Some more pics after "roughing up" the edges and adjusting some heights of polys. Still have to do some color teaking and optimization (LODS). You'll have to excuse the antialising...looking at the pics makes me dizzy too...lol
(http://www.dangreve.com/airfeild/pine4.jpg)
(http://www.dangreve.com/airfeild/pine5.jpg)
(http://www.dangreve.com/airfeild/pine6.jpg)
Title: Piiiiiii-neeeeeeeerrrr.....in the pines (pic)
Post by: NUTTZ on March 02, 2005, 05:17:43 PM: Waffle, to break up the "dizziness" change one layer of one of the lod's Rather than just making the pine circles smaller change up the pattern completely, I did this before the new editor was out and it worked fine for my winter trees.

NUTTZ
Title: Piiiiiii-neeeeeeeerrrr.....in the pines (pic)
Post by: zmeg on March 02, 2005, 07:26:05 PM: Is it just the trees causing the 920M of memery used or do you have a lot of other custom stuff too?
Title: Piiiiiii-neeeeeeeerrrr.....in the pines (pic)
Post by: Waffle on March 02, 2005, 07:47:41 PM: I'm running high res with all skins/textures preloaded...
Title: Piiiiiii-neeeeeeeerrrr.....in the pines (pic)
Post by: Higgins on March 03, 2005, 01:05:55 PM: Ok Waffle!

I don't post on this board that often, but I've been an AH member for years. I have to say I'm pretty impressed with your terrain for sure. My biggest thing I'm wishing for AH is immersion. Terrain is a major factor and HT has done a great job on graphics improvement. Your Pines look great! Can you please post more pics of them and any other cool terrain effects you are working on so I can look forward to what is down the road? I look checking stuff like that out. Again, Great Job! More pics?

Warmest Regards,

Higgins_Mskt
Title: Piiiiiii-neeeeeeeerrrr.....in the pines (pic)
Post by: Paul on March 04, 2005, 02:30:44 PM: Quote
Originally posted by hitech
How?

LMAO!!!! HiTech, I have gained an even greater respect for you.

And waffle: Kick-ass job man! Kick-ass...

-Paul
Title: Piiiiiii-neeeeeeeerrrr.....in the pines (pic)
Post by: Zixieo on March 08, 2005, 01:31:08 AM: Waffle when are you going to actualy make a map lol?

I canot wait for one of your maps to come out.. HURRY LOL.
Title: Piiiiiii-neeeeeeeerrrr.....in the pines (pic)
Post by: Waffle on March 08, 2005, 04:33:26 PM: - got one part i'm already not looking forward to....

"water not zero" :)
Title: Piiiiiii-neeeeeeeerrrr.....in the pines (pic)
Post by: F1Bomber on March 08, 2005, 09:58:08 PM: Simple suggestion and wish you would email me.

water not zero, happens when you have water above 0. Though last time i check it doesnt matter if its on high land, it just a engine limitation that pt boats cannot drive on it above 0 feet.
Title: Piiiiiii-neeeeeeeerrrr.....in the pines (pic)
Post by: Waffle on March 08, 2005, 11:32:04 PM: oh i know what it does - just not looking forward to having to level out the edges of the waterways by hand...lol
Title: Piiiiiii-neeeeeeeerrrr.....in the pines (pic)
Post by: JB73 on March 09, 2005, 09:49:35 AM: IIRC there was a "fix" button or something, i just went to next verticie or whatever and one click all was good.

mind you my one map i did make never worked for gameplay LMAO
Title: Piiiiiii-neeeeeeeerrrr.....in the pines (pic)
Post by: Skuzzy on March 09, 2005, 12:14:41 PM: Easy to fix the 'water not zero' error, and it is an error.

Before running the check, set the elevation to 0. Then run the check. Each time it stops at the offending water, all the vertices are already selected. Just right-click and the elevation is set to 0 for those vertices.
Rinse and repeat.
Title: Piiiiiii-neeeeeeeerrrr.....in the pines (pic)
Post by: Waffle on March 09, 2005, 12:18:51 PM: hehe - got a lot of water lines - it's the rinse and repeat i dont know if i'm gonna like.... :)
Title: Piiiiiii-neeeeeeeerrrr.....in the pines (pic)
Post by: Skuzzy on March 09, 2005, 12:22:18 PM: You will be surprised how fast it will go Waffle.
Title: Piiiiiii-neeeeeeeerrrr.....in the pines (pic)
Post by: Waffle on March 09, 2005, 12:41:29 PM: Skuzzy - wanna help build a map? :)
Title: Piiiiiii-neeeeeeeerrrr.....in the pines (pic)
Post by: Waffle on March 09, 2005, 11:57:23 PM: too funny :) 3 clicks and I was done..."all vetices ok"

You're right Skuzzy - I was suprised at how quick that went....lol
Was thinking it would be around 1 or 2 clicks....
Title: Piiiiiii-neeeeeeeerrrr.....in the pines (pic)
Post by: Skuzzy on March 10, 2005, 06:45:25 AM: :D
Title: Piiiiiii-neeeeeeeerrrr.....in the pines (pic)
Post by: Higgins on March 10, 2005, 07:14:52 AM: Waffle...

going through pic withdrawl.....errr...up....mu st get more pics....err...um.....anything .....errr...ummm...help me.

HIggins
Title: Piiiiiii-neeeeeeeerrrr.....in the pines (pic)
Post by: Furball on March 11, 2005, 10:28:02 AM: Those tree's reminds me of the Ardenne's...

Would make a great Ardenne's offensive scenario map.
Title: Piiiiiii-neeeeeeeerrrr.....in the pines (pic)
Post by: Waffle on March 11, 2005, 11:44:32 AM: I finally got around to finishing up the pines. I put them on hold for abit. Starting to get rid of the "boxy" look somewhat. Gonna try a few more things with optimization, but right now they look really good from all angles. The ground war is gonna rock :)

Just hope the layout and the gameplay idea behind the MA map will pass muster with the HTC staff.

Will post some more screenshots or a small film later.
Title: Piiiiiii-neeeeeeeerrrr.....in the pines (pic)
Post by: Waffle on March 12, 2005, 02:09:53 PM: posted a film in general discussion -

or you can grab it here

pine film (http://www.dangreve.com/airfeild/pines2.zip)
Title: Piiiiiii-neeeeeeeerrrr.....in the pines (pic)
Post by: 214thCavalier on March 12, 2005, 02:23:57 PM: I have to say when you leave the pines and come across the orignal stands of trees, in comparison they look pretty sad.

WE NEED THOSE TREES :D