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LarryEllis

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Everything posted by LarryEllis

  1. I noticed that just recently (4.4) the engine supports terrains as big as 8192x8192 if you Set exterrain=1 in the Leadwerks.cfg Awesome! Im just curious if this affects the terrain detail? Does it simply double the scale of the terrain and therefore reduce the detail by half, or does the resolution remain the same? Also, I read that the engine has not supported terrain shadows since about LE2.5, is this true? Not having terrain shadows is kind of a deal breaker for me, is there any chance this will return in the future? Thank you!
  2. My project is based around one very large 4096x4096 size terrain, and quite often ive wondered how i could control work flow if several different people are working on the same map file. If a local network is not available the only option is to transfer files between the team, which not only takes a long time, but it also causes problems if two (or more) people want to edit the same map at the same time. My idea involves being able to set zones that can be named or numbered and possibly even locked, to restrict development to only one area of the level. The zones could also be imported into your own version of the map file. So if you send your map off to a team member so they can detail a certain area, you can lock all zones bar the one they will be working on. When they are finished and email you the changes, you can then import the changes from that zone only, so any changes you made in the mean time wont be lost. This could be with a menu option, "update zone from file" or "import zone data". You then navigate to the map file and a dialog asks what zone you wish to import the data from. Which could default to a particular zone if its the only one unlocked. I dont know how difficult such a feature would be. I'm no programmer, but to me it doesn't sound like it would be too difficult. The set up of zones could be via a grid overlay, that you can subdivide to add more zones. The points could be moved to alter the zone shapes slightly too. I dont know if such a feature exists in other engines, but i think it could be pretty handy for many reasons. Cheers.
  3. How do you know its not a real time feed? He might suffer from the same condition as Jerri Blank's dad on Strangers with Candy http://fourfour.type...es/jerridad.jpg
  4. Thanks for all the feedback guys! Will take it all on board when i have a decent library.
  5. I'm not sure what you mean by washed out. Perhaps its because they contain no shadow information and are being displayed with flat lighting? All shadows were removed from the diffuse textures because they will be applied in game. If i get a chance, ill import a few into an engine and put some light on them.
  6. You mean like concrete walls with overgrowth? Or all natural, dirt / rock walls with overgrowth? Overgrowth can only be taken so far. Moss and creeping vines are okay, but leaves can look pretty bad, even with displacement mapping. Displacement mapping is best used for terrains, because it can cause problems when around sharp corners and edges. The player generally never gets any lower to the ground then crouching height, so little issues with the textures aren't as noticeable as when they are at head height on a wall. Bricks with recessed mortar channels are a good example of this. Its still early stages yet, i've got a lot of textures im yet to start work on. I'll take all suggestions on board though for when im out with my camera next. I've updated the above images with better quality png's. The jpegs were terrible! Here's a sandy pebbly texture:
  7. There's not much i can do about the lighting, Mudbox is pretty limited. But thanks for pointing out the clipped highlights. I just realized ive uploaded shots of the wrong diffuse and wrong displacement maps! I'll update the shots shortly.. Edit: All done. The images i had posted were of displacement maps using very directional displacement in CrazyBump. They look really good from one angle,with nice popping details, but unfortunately it all vanishes when viewed from the opposite angle. The new ones don't pop quite as much, but the detail is visible from all angles.
  8. I should point out, the above image is of only the diffuse and displacement. The normal map adds quite a bit more detail to the stones, its nice and sublte but its hard to capture in Mudbox, i have to use a harsh lighting preset: Here are some more examples of my work. These two are only 2048x2048, diffuse + displacement only. Flat lighting used, so the normal map isn't visible. I have 4096 versions but they are on my other HD which is currently not connected. All my textures tile perfectly with no seams and they are edited considerably to reduce the effect of repeating details. I like textures that make good use of displacement maps / POM so you don't have to use models to increase the detail of your terrains.
  9. Hi guys and gals, just after some feedback regarding texture packs. Do many people still rely on texture packs for their projects or do most people produce their own / hire an artist to do it? I'm more curious about the originality side of things, how many people actually use textures that might be in hundreds of other projects too? I'm considering making a super high res texture pack and releasing it here. My project is a long way off yet and while i wait for some programming help i wouldn't mind contributing some work elsewhere. Also, im currently unemployed, so if there's a chance i could sell some work to raise some funds, it would be great. Can anyone sell in the assets store or only Leadwerks staff? As a photographer, i find it quite easy taking photos that are usable for textures, and applications like MudBox and CrazyBump make it all to easy to get them ready for in game use. Here's a sample of a texture made from photos i took on Sunday: 4096x4096 and includes normals, displacement, occlusion, specular and of course diffuse. Is there a particular format people prefer? What kind of textures do people want? Thanks.
  10. I thought long and hard before bumping this as im sure you're sick of being asked, but i really need to know. How far away do you think Leadwerks3D is Josh? I'm not about to hold you to you're word, just an estimate. 2nd quarter? 3rd quarter?
  11. Thanks again Josh! I did some tests and found that with the fog turned on i actually lose about 1-1.5 fps. I did a stress test with everything maxed and absolutely flooded the island with trees, using only one LOD step (billboards). The trees are all high detail for a kilometre and shadowmaps visible for a kilometre also. I think the engine did an amazing job, considering my CPU is quite a bottle neck and im sure that if i used my own models with several LOD's, that i could get the frame rates a lot higher. I do have a concern with the shadow map details though, because as i set the lowest shadow detail to 1000, it dramatically affects the quality of closer shadows. Due to the fact my project is based entirely in one level, an island roughly 2.5x4 kilometres, i really need the shadows visible for at least a kilometre. Terrain shadows were not enabled though, so i can imagine once they are, i might be able to pull the shadow distance back a little. Is there a way to enable terrain shadowing within the editor? Or does it need to be enabled elsewhere? I'm eagerly awaiting more news on Leadwerks3D and it was great to read that you have decided to stick with Newton physics, as PhysX would have been limiting for large environments.
  12. Ahh excellent! Thanks Josh! Being able to see almost all of the terrain is very important for my project as it takes place on an island with a primary summit towards one end. Setting the draw distance to 3000 is more then enough and considering my CPU is several generations old, the engine is handling it amazingly well! Realism is paramount for my project and although the summit is the only place where this kind of draw distance is required, its a highlight in the game and is something everyone will look forward to. I can only assume the engine uses some line-of-sight culling so that objects behind hills are not drawn? Thanks again!
  13. Thanks! Worked a treat! Just one more question, is there a way to increase draw distance? I'm just Importing my Terrain, its a 4096 heightmap and i want to see how well the engine handles it. I'm very impressed with the engine so far, so if it can draw the distance i want ill be more then happy to stick with it. Thank you.
  14. Hello everyone, my first post here for many years. I was a Leadwerks user around 5 years ago but due to real life getting in the way of my digital life, i just didnt have time to continue. I have a quick question that i hope someone can answer, im sure its a simple one. When i import a heightmap into the Leadwerks Editor, the terrain is very flat and the features are almost non existent. In CryEngine there is an option to hit Normalize and the terrain will come good, is there a way to tweak my heightmap within the editor? Thank you!
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