3D Cities for Falcon…
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Searching about “Instancing” seems DX9 can also perform this with shader model 3.
Or “Shader Instancing” seems to be able to perform by Shader model 2https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/bb173349(v=vs.85).aspx
https://msdn.microsoft.com/ja-jp/library/bb174602(v=vs.85).aspx(I could not find english page, try google translate)
http://crashy.cartman.free.fr/SOC/Instancing.pdf
http://memeplex.blog.shinobi.jp/xna/xna%E3%80%80%E8%A4%87%E6%95%B0%E3%81%AE%E3%83%A1%E3%83%83%E3%82%B7%E3%83%A5%E3%82%92%E4%B8%80%E5%BA%A6%E3%81%AEdraw%E3%81%A7%E6%8F%8F%E7%94%BB%EF%BC%88%E3%82%B7%E3%82%A7%E3%83%BC%E3%83%80%E3%83%BC%E3%83%BB%E3%82%A4%E3%83%B3%E3%82%B9%E3%82%BF%E3%83%B3%E3%82%B7%E3%83%B3%E3%82%B0%EF%BC%89(Again its japanese reference but you may can read the code)
Sorry, I’m posting without knowing what DX coding would be like…what I can code is only MATLAB.
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Arty bravo!
You made night texture, but I do not like how the whole wall lights!
It is better to use separate textures for day and night.
Something like this-
day:night:
Link to this object: http://www.mediafire.com/?00kun878ghaev11
You can replace an apartment in DB and see how it works.
I made it quickly to test, texture is slightly modified from DB, there is only one LOD (no damaged….etc)Cheers,
EghiAnd who said that the two DDS files? Look at the texture of the package, there is one for day and night, just painted for the day / night.
Check it out-
mapping for day:mapping for night:
Press “space” on your keyboard;)
Remember, this is one texture for one object. Go ahead, you can make one texture for multiple objects with painting night and day, easy.
Or, you can use several to one building, your choice (and fps).
How does the switch? It’s simple, you need to do two of the same objects (clones) of different mapping (day / night) switch changes into one another (go again day / night)
So you need to do something as this:Two clones with different texture (mapping). Now just add the switches, set the municipal happened at the same X / Y two blocks and exported to the LOD. So you have two objects packed in one LOD.
Why texture lit up at night, you already know … Ptype … etc…
Ok, I’m not an expert 3ds, but maybe this will help you understand how it is done:
It’s all in a nutshell, it can be done in many other ways…
Cheesr,
EghiAs I’m having trouble with a model day night switch… I believe I mast export each part and redo the switches cause it doesn’t work either I see the night texture - model day and night or the day model day and night.
In the exported lod there are 2 switches. In LE in the feature settings i set it as it has 2 switches or one?
Secondly watching the video and seeing the LOD you uploaded in apartments I believe the switches are oposite.
In the video you have off the switch for day model and on for night model but in LOD Editor in apartments lod it’s the opposite I believe. I observed the ptypes of the nested (childs) of the switch and I see for day the switch is on ON and for night is set to OFF.So how come? which is the correct for Day and which is for Night?
I tried in my model both ways, also setting in LE as 0 switch as 1 switch as 2 switches nothing works as it should. Again most probably the 3dsmax file got porked with the links. I see the links in viewport and in Schematic view in 3ds max and they are fine.
Small tip that might be the issue. I select all objects at once and link to the switch. This might be the problem? In LE it looks ok.
Another small tip: In 3dsmax I renamed the switches to distinguish them between day and night. Could this be the trouble? Again in LE they look ok.So any help please???
Edit: I created from scratch one plane just to test bur same result. Also to add I use 2 different textures. One for day one for night… Could this be the issue? it must be one texture?
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- Just thinking - I’m really not sure if it makes sense to use real cities. Infrastructure evolves constantly so you never have 100% accuracy anyways. Say you gonna do a 80s theater - half of the infrastructure and enviroment looked different back in the days. Imho a combination of a “could be realistic” tile with matching buildings and real landmarks would work as well.
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OK Guys I found the error.
The switches displayed in the video by Eghi are ok.
My error was I was using two different textures. It must be only one.Sorry for bothering you.
Sphynx Soon you will see some results I’m sure of 3d cities and I’m sure u will change your mind.
On the other hand you can create generic city blocks as the falcon generic city tiles and go along with those. This will be easier but repetitive.
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OK Guys I found the error.
The switches displayed in the video by Eghi are ok.
My error was I was using two different textures. It must be only one.Sorry for bothering you.
Sphynx Soon you will see some results I’m sure of 3d cities and I’m sure u will change your mind.
On the other hand you can create generic city blocks as the falcon generic city tiles and go along with those. This will be easier but repetitive.
LOL Finally it seems it’s not ok!!!
I didn’t uvw map the night model… when I did… always displays the same thing…
anyway I moved the request to PinkyandBrains thread…
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Sphynx Soon you will see some results I’m sure of 3d cities and I’m sure u will change your mind.
On the other hand you can create generic city blocks as the falcon generic city tiles and go along with those. This will be easier but repetitive.
Cool - excited to see the results. I’m defintly sure that 3d cities - either way - will be a huge improvement. Don’t get me wrong - my remark was just the point of historic accuracy. You’d need to have the exact data to create a “date-wise 100% correct” enviroment, which I think will be impossible to obtain.
To avoid repetiveness we would simply just need the ability to add (a lot) more tiles. Back in the days when Lazy was doing some testtiling of the EuroTheater, that was (afaik) the limiting factor. -
For me in falcon doing something than nowadays never crossed my mind. I’m not nostalgic nor i believe textures or architexture of the past has something more to offer.
I live now i know now i have data for now.
No need to make it harder than already is. And as i know and you know its way hard.Im on the same side Spynx , cities will make our beloved more alive, harder, and better looking…
Hey mate (you know who you are) will you do the honnors please???
Meaning to show us the current state of your progress.
In case you dont want i keep the anonymity as you see and my lips are sheald.
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Well here is a fine example:
@Nuno:
http://i.imgur.com/ztUFPgM.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/i1WgJEZ.jpg
Very well done mate.!!!
A new era for falcon.
Glad you have the stamina and time to accomplish such a fine result.
Along side TomCatz and nove’s superb work, the procedure Nuno Santos has followed I believe is way easier and more effective not to mention the potential for future features…
Now please make us drull extensivly by sharing a fine video…
Nothing fancy just a fast low pass 3dpit view over the city. [emoji38]
RESPECT!!!
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@Nuno Santos
Could you please share some draft info?
Like which rule did you use?
any special thing or trick you did in 3ds max afterwords.
I’m curious kinda how did you pack the textures.
I was searching how it can be done in 3dsmax like using the materials as they come from Cityengine but not repeat them like 100 times in different places cause it makes the texturing either very low in resolution as each wall will be tiny in the uvmapping resulting in view able pixels, But have them overlap in the uvmap and at the same time not get stretched in the final outcome… Polyunwrapper must have something but didn’t had time to investigate it.
WayveDave said something that this can be done but never figured out how. Only think I had was to create dds (square textures) library and tell cityengine to use this library instead of the ones it has or whatever.About windows and night model with the switch (Or not, like same day/night but glowing at night) is doable as cityengine exports them as a different material and polygon. So it’s kinda easy to select them, isolate them and apply the texture and ptype you want to glow at night, and create beautiful variations.
Way harder than just a simple texture… but way cooler…
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:bdance:…… :bdance:
:bdance:…:bdance:
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@Nuno Santos
Could you please share some draft info?
Like which rule did you use?
any special thing or trick you did in 3ds max afterwords.
I’m curious kinda how did you pack the textures.
I was searching how it can be done in 3dsmax like using the materials as they come from Cityengine but not repeat them like 100 times in different places cause it makes the texturing either very low in resolution as each wall will be tiny in the uvmapping resulting in view able pixels, But have them overlap in the uvmap and at the same time not get stretched in the final outcome… Polyunwrapper must have something but didn’t had time to investigate it.
WayveDave said something that this can be done but never figured out how. Only think I had was to create dds (square textures) library and tell cityengine to use this library instead of the ones it has or whatever.About windows and night model with the switch (Or not, like same day/night but glowing at night) is doable as cityengine exports them as a different material and polygon. So it’s kinda easy to select them, isolate them and apply the texture and ptype you want to glow at night, and create beautiful variations.
Way harder than just a simple texture… but way cooler…
Hey mate!
Well, actually I’ve only used the very basics, from what I could retrieve and study so far from your research.
The rule was “International rule”, since I have no idea how to use or set up other rules yet
Then I exported the objects from CityEngiane and imported them in 3DSmax.
After, it was a matter of arranging the building positions by hand, uvunwrapping them and baking the textures into a single 4096x4096 one.
The result is, as you well stated above, repetitive:
So, for a city the size of Gibraltar, I’ve broken it into 3 quadrants and baked 3 textures in total for it.
I am sure the procedure can be much optimized, but this is where I went so far…
Some testing videos:Initial testing, untextured (huge building density):
Partially textured and LOD1 only:
Fully textured and 3LODs (reduced building density):
Still, for bigger cities the triangle count can be huge, so we need some more testing and research to find that sweet spot
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Now think about damaged/destroyed models, and lower LODs. Another thought, this is as one feature? So what happens if you drop bomb anywhere?
Regards
EGHI -
Now think about damaged/destroyed models, and lower LODs. Another thought, this is as one feature? So what happens if you drop bomb anywhere?
Regards
EGHISo far, 3 LODs and 3 separate features. So, if you drop a bomb, you’ll end up blowing up one entire city block :D.
For now, this is usefull mainly for eye candy (I mean, flight immersion ) -
(Ground crew officers discussing): Oh crap, did we loaded a mark 82, a Hades or a b61 on that mau??!!
lol
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About buildings density it can be controlled by both ways.
1. Best is zoning. This is a superb cityengine feature. U set zones by colors. A simple png with basic colors covering the build area. On those zones u can set variables like density or buildings style. Like blue color flat roof high buildings. Red low height v shaped roofs and brown for high v shaped roofs.
2. By rules by just declaring open space or sidewalks to be larger or if u use the whole lot (lot = building area).About one feature xxx buildings. First u can set only smoke from falcon editor or burn and leave it or nothing like the bomb drops, explodes but buildinds are uneffectef just as the city tiles that falcon has now. Doesnt happen anything when a bomb drops on a city tile. So i really dont understand the question if they explode, and are better than just flat tiles. U can create gaps between cityengine buildings and from falcon editor place falcon features which are one building with damaged and destroyed models.
Second you can get the cityengine model and export each building as a unique feature. Create damaged & destroyed models. Very easy with rayfire plugin for 3ds max.
Then import one by one in Falcon.
Third u can create new generic city tiles or current ones and buildings from city engine. Those buildings blocks can be generic as the city tiles are. So create xxx city blocks for those xxx city tiles.What we actually need help from 3ds max gurus is the texturing. As clearly shown by Nuno Santos pictures the texture has reapetiness of same facade (walls) in different sizes. So if same wall is used in 20 buildings it takes 20times more texture area instead of just once.
Does anyone know how to solve this?
This will result in higher resution textures and the final outcome will be breathtaking.
@Nuno all those years i gatheted many rules. I’ll pass them to you along with some tutotials and guides i have found.
I’m jealus of your result, super happy that you found the way and sad i dont have the free time to work together and blow it up.
Count me in on your side and i’ll share anything i have with you and cant be done via this forum.
For now its just unbeleavable what is achieved here.
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(Ground crew officers discussing): Oh crap, did we loaded a mark 82, a Hades or a b61 on that mau??!!
lol
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/37/86/e2/3786e2806afa8c5a6fc20f41f9cb6a17.jpg
So… What you want to do:
1- VFR flight simulator? (you already have FSX, P3D)
2- Or combat simulator? -
More dificult ways to accomplish your mission when you fly falcon flight combat sim.
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Hi guys,
it’s a great project but i think about that- analyse power of nvram
- optimize vertex with directX
- chose power cpu ou power gnu
best regards
sf
Well one building at a time ??? that ain’t gonna work… why one city will take more than one year to finish… One real city block (about 15 buildings) Some math here: one small city will have >1.000 buildings… so LOL u get it… non doable.
Another thought is this…at least one block = one building or one object… and lot’s of parks with grass, roads thicker than usual to reduce number of buildings. Also not all cities with such detail…
I get u Amraam but u see this goes to a project like the never ending story… than photoreal buildings and than project dead… lol
Now about the hitbox I can’t do anything on this… what we can do is predefine some low alt buildings as military targets inside (maybe not inside but at the city boundaries and hit only those…) also TV-Radio buildings should be City targets… that way it will be ok. Also the correct should be that bombs will not be able to pass through the buildings as they will do now…
Also troops and vehicles also shouldn’t pass through buildings as they are not there… but this is also code - path manipulation. For now that is why we should import and respect falcon paths… that way we will see troops pass through a town… but we will be able to lock them? the buildings will not block the radar? also for moving targets if I release and they stop behind a building the bomb will pass through the building?the problem will be if we deploy units inside the city than they will be vehicles inside the building making tgp undoable… In the future maybe some more detailed paths inside the city and a way to have the units movement could result in a realistic solution…
Are they issues that can be fixed in the future?
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Hi guys,
it’s a great project but i think about that- analyse power of nvram
- optimize vertex with directX
- chose power cpu ou power gnu
best regards
sf
1. We dont have a pro testbed. So we try eachother and try to keep it as low poly as posible. Its boxes afterall. And if ur hw can cope with it ok. If not sorry.
2. Can u provide more info?
3. Sorry but i cant understand what u mean. Could u rephrase or be detailed please?In general about performance the issue is to be at a poly level so that it works in LE and FE. Lodeditor Falconeditor.
Also creating tailormade rules in Cityengine is the way. Hard but will leave a legacy and super minimize garbage and polygons.
Example now with some rules when i cleared not viewed polys i ended up with 1/3 or 1/5 of polygons from the initial model. Example floors, cityengine creates them and exports them. We dont want them as the falcon gfx engine drops to its knees.
Another is windows. If u export them and set LOD1 param in detail… [emoji38] even 3dsmax has issues.Edit: to add for night tiles u can create a generic tileset and use the same for all cities. Only roads will be shown lighted.
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