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Johnr777

Moderator
Shouldn't trees be pointing up, and not follow terrain? You could always do that and then randomize rotation on X/Y axis slightly. Great feature of Mario's tools :nerd:
 

Pixelchaser

Well-Known Member
Shouldn't trees be pointing up, and not follow terrain? You could always do that and then randomize rotation on X/Y axis slightly. Great feature of Mario's tools :nerd:
hmm. not tried his scripts yet on trees, can u use his script on premade objects ? .. , im not sure why they are following tbh. is there a way to just re align a z axis on the pivots and then align object to pivot... only way I see resets x and y also... very annoying.

btw im using a 4 quad face and reverse side for each billboard tree is this overkill.? should I just use a single quad for a BB tree ?
 
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Johnr777

Moderator
hmm. not tried his scripts yet on trees, can u use his script on premade objects ? .. , im not sure why they are following tbh. is there a way to just re align a z axis on the pivots and then align object to pivot... only way I see resets x and y also... very annoying.

btw im using a 4 quad face and reverse side for each billboard tree is this overkill.? should I just use a single quad for a BB tree ?
His tools work on anything with a pivot point :lol:. Yeah, not sure what your object paint tool is doing, but as long as “follow z normal” is unticked, trees should point up.

The more quads you have, better normal effect you are going to have, but could be unnecessary. I’m pretty sure I use 2 quads, so a split in the middle...
 

Pixelchaser

Well-Known Member
yeah that would half the weight, which is about 600K polys :lol:. I painted the forrrest and trees 6 times yesterday, another wont matter :) (only takes an hour)

I don't like them presently. way too much darkening around the bottom. utterly hate that, destroys the artwork, its silly, might as well just leave the light static and point normal up myself. not sure what to do with it tbh, its the backing objects , still to have more detailed trees in front of them.
 
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Pixelchaser

Well-Known Member
seems halfing the cards quarters the polygon weight(weird?). so can get it down to 130K for the main forests. seems very little for the mass of trees I have made over 4x4km area :lol:.

I had a thought about how the block transform works, maybe it aligns normals so that movement over them is in line with the sun direction ?? and whilst being pointed up and down ?
 

Johnr777

Moderator
Probably much simpler than that, normals closer to the pivot point are pointed down and the rest probably up. Dont think it does anything "on the fly"
 

Pixelchaser

Well-Known Member
repainted everything today, and placing the Y trees and the front line super trees. the over hanging effects im getting are amazing I think. just max most basic renders here ,content wise its looking great I think. a satisfied demand for the most natural green wild looking race track in America. really glad to get this most important item scenery wise.. done.. 350 K poly.




 
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acfastfab

Member
Hello.
Some update on progress.
First to answer a previous question. When you place the trees using the paint object of 3ds Max, you need to untick "align to normal" in the "Align option". It will paint the tree without them following the slope. ;-)
align to normal.jpg


On my side I finished cleaning the mains meshes of the ground and road.
I've been a bit further than expected to be sure there is no holes.
I unified all the mesh under one and fixed it until I have a STL check without errors, then re separated it into its different meshes. It was no small task :).
I also fixed UV on ground object (visual road, grass terrain etc...) where I could.
I also organised the max file with layers.

I made the small cabin next to the finish line (it needs a little bit more work but the main stuff is there).
cabin_finish_line.jpg


I also made the concrete block along the pit lane. They don't have the right size (I stupidely made each block a littlle bit longer than they are in reality) but I will fix that. I have a 4 textures variance along them (under one texture of course).
concrete_separation.jpg


Today I'm working on making the physical wall around the track with simple mesh to stop using the visual barriers as colliders (and save a lot of cpu ressources...)
 

Pixelchaser

Well-Known Member
haha ! more pictures to look at. and thanks so much from the bottom of my heart sir ! its going to be a fantastic and nuanced track I feel with a little extra attentions to detail. :)

:lol: yeah found the check box after the 5th time painting them. it wasn't an issue really as I was just re aligning them through a pivot reset.

nice work there fabz. looking forward to seeing the building too. I have the next 5 days free, so I will make shrubbery, external wild tall grass. a long texture for the actual barrier object (ill build it too) one thing im not that happy with is full 3d barriers. so need to see about them. I did like the idea used on nordshleife which lofts them as a wall for optimisation but we not that long. I do think if we use something basic for the main barriers then at pits we still need a hi rez.
no comments for my magnificent forests ? :lol:
 
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Pixelchaser

Well-Known Member
game engine... lots good and few bits bad.... 33386 trees. I love the atmospheric distortion at work and the alpha working at full range. couldn't have asked for more realism there.
lrpttes1.jpg
lrpttes2.jpg


this is effectively what I want to achieve colour wise, not sure the trees will go there, but as close as possible. its a shot that I think would work as a good reference.
 
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Pixelchaser

Well-Known Member
built some 3d barriers and started some fencing today. many types of fence at lrp. quite a productive day :) at this rate i might even get it content complete on my side by new year

do we need more detail ? the poles will have a wood variation . do they need bolts modelled etc ?
barpic.jpg
 
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Johnr777

Moderator
built some 3d barriers and started some fencing today. many types of fence at lrp. quite a productive day :) at this rate i might even get it content complete on my side by new year

do we need more detail ? the poles will have a wood variation . do they need bolts modelled etc ?
View attachment 2939
Looks good! Have fun dealing with the ends :lol:, I think they even curve them in spots :lol:
 

Pixelchaser

Well-Known Member
look even better from behind now. it really needs a not just mirrored texture to work properly. ends, yeah, there all concealed at lrp as far as I can see.. this is the "bolt" action barrier :lol:. too many bolts ! I was just having fun sir ! :lol:, one does see the back of the rails when in the pits so maybe its not overkill....


barr4.jpg

barr5.jpg


hate the low res chain linking in fences too, heres my hi res version, have square, diagonal and barbed. just a repeated texture
bar6.jpg


edit. advertisement boards ! standard human fence, large wood posts, @luchian can you put together an advert board graphic for this site, 512x 256, landscape ??
bar7.jpg
 
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Pixelchaser

Well-Known Member
there was a lot of in trepidation before attempting this model. but **** me its worked out so well this is the fence with the 3d foliage growing in and out of it :nerd:.
fence1.jpg
fence22.jpg
 
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luchian

Administrator
Staff member
As modelling, this looks very believable, in the sense that it conveys that.. "bushy" feel, I love it.
Where I have doubts, is the texture, which looks "too lit" imo. It needs more shadows. In any case, playing with textures is the easy part in all this - so very nice progress !

PS: YES, I will make a billboard texture, thank you ! :nerd:
 

Pixelchaser

Well-Known Member
its the art that took the time really. and regards nature and trees, this way of doing 1 whole tree on 1 texture as single entity leaves it quite closed to being played around with. but make same tree from smaller trees (branches) and so much more is possible at little extra expense. I couldn't have designed a hedge to work really. but branches make hedges, its kinda really weird tbh, from 1 texture I made big tree, med, little, small bushes, hedges. and several variants possible. no extra texture memory, few extra polys. and youd think it was a separate design. playing around with afterwards is dangerous too :lol:.

in game you do battle with the darkness of the outcome of trees. when in the editor you either go big on the ambient with little or no diffuse settings to allow the sun to light the sides and tops or you balance them both at the lower darker end and never get much directional light (me preference)...its awkward. so I thought im gona have to brighten it all to get somewhere. its same texture as the trees use..

had a great voice chat with fabz today. hes a legend. he has simplified a conundrum I had regards finding the correct workflow for managing my intense grass system. so I expect to have that done more efficiently and better than before.

btw is the block transform of trees more efficient in terms of graphics performance required from trees over the standard object and non ksTREE ? or is it just an efficient light handler... anyone know ?
 
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luchian

Administrator
Staff member
The naming convention handles the grouping, therefore also the performance.

Afaik, the ksTress just auto-manages the normals so you get that uniform lighting.
 

Pixelchaser

Well-Known Member
so my 3d grass :nerd: ... believe it or not. this grid coverage is only 500 K polygons for the full track :) distance between all planes is 0.2 metres.

sheesh2.jpg
 
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