[jr2]

Can't wait to blow up some tanks!

And a chopper or two.  And any MiGs stupid enough to close within AIM-9 or GAU-8 range.  

[Commander Zane]

Well as the Peregrine resembles the real X-36 (Which is bland) and not the XFA-36A Game from AC3: Electrosphere (I know we've discussed it before and it's not likely to aquire), the VF-1 is indeed better against the current Peregrine.

[Androgeos Exeunt]

...I just needed some lame excuse to post some background screenie )

Uh, you don't need an excuse. If it's a saliva-dripping background in FreeSpace, it's still FreeSpace and more than welcome to be shown off here.

[jr2]

 
 

Some of you may already be familiar with the limitation of cube-shaped skyboxen; the ugly seams visible between the cube faces. The technical issue behind the problem is a rather deep one and suffice to say, perfect solution is not available without DirectX 10 level of rendering engine if I recall correctly. However, things can be done to get over this issue, and today, after an IRC discussion on the subject, blowfish put together a model that uses a bit different mapping than the typical face=texture style that would seem logical and most straightforward to use. As a result, skyboxes with no seams can now be used with a generic skybox model, with a negligible texture resolution sacrifice.

This model can be, if desired, put inside the mediaVP starfield skysphere, and with alpha blended textures pretty much limitless amount of options is now available. Things like being in atmosphere, or having rings of a planet reach behind you, are now possible without seams and with supreme quality.

The mapping scheme used is as follows: When using texture resolution of 2048^2, the actual part of the texture mapped to the side of the cube is now 2040^2. The remaining edge of the texture space is used to border the texture with the corresponding edges from the textures next to it, which will negate the issue that caused the seam edge issue to begin with.

Here is a sample image of how to edit the textures to get the correct results in-game:



This is a 1024^2 texture, so the area used by the actual texture is 1020^2 and the two pixel border between is filled with adjacent sides' textures, as you can see from here. The darkened areas are shown here just for clarity.

In-game screenshots just for the hell of it (this skybox isn't especially high quality, since I just put it together for the purpose of testing the seamless skybox model):







DOWNLOADS HERE

Here is a simple version to get the skybox and a batch of test maps:

generic-skybox-redist.7z

And here is a more complete version that contains .xcf files (native GIMP format, PSD can be provided if requested) and the source 1024^2 textures for the sample skybox:

generic-skybox-dev.7z


Credits:

Model: blowfish
Maps: Hipshot @ www.zfight.com, edited by Herra Tohtori, source image available at http://www.zfight.com/misc/images/textures/envmaps/stormydays_large.jpg.

Enjoy your new seamless skyboxen, everyone!

 

[Woolie Wool]

Well as the Peregrine resembles the real X-36 (Which is bland) and not the XFA-36A Game from AC3: Electrosphere (I know we've discussed it before and it's not likely to aquire), the VF-1 is indeed better against the current Peregrine.

If you can find someone willing to re-UV and retexture the hideous POF of the Game I have, that's the only way it's ever getting into Wings. The texturing is horrific.

[Androgeos Exeunt]

CUT

I'm sure the pilot of that Loki must be dying of happiness in his cockpit.

[ShadowGorrath]

Didn't I already show that skybox with the Su-37 BEFORE Herra's "fix/upgrade"?

Anyway...

[Herra Tohtori]

Didn't I already show that skybox with the Su-37 BEFORE Herra's "fix/upgrade"?

Very much possible, haven't kept so close track on it.

At any rate I must again emphasize that I copied it from the interwebz and simply put it in-game, not as an eye catcher but proof of concept regarding the lack of them nasty cage effect seams.

Nice. I like the airplane more than the background since I know how strange non-moving clouds would appear in-game...

[Androgeos Exeunt]

We need to see that texture pattern more often.

[ShadowGorrath]

Sorry for the techlab shot, but...



Cookies to those who notice the 2 changes

[Commander Zane]

A glowmap and an actual internal to the canopy?

The Su-27 looks really nice.

[Scotty]

 

Methinks you have this thread confused with another thread.

[SpardaSon21]

Well, he really should post an FS2-compatible model of the Normandy SR-2 to make it FS-related.

[Droid803]

This thread needs more pictures of spaceships.


Protector Cruiser Model by Shade (not from this site I don't think), re-UVed and converted to FS2 with help from ShadowGorrath.

[Black Wolf]

This thread needs more pictures of spaceships.

Agreed. Give the aeroplanes a rest for awhile - make a new thread if you have new stuff to post.

[General Battuta]

Very cool ships, Droid803. EndWar?

[Droid803]

Depends if SG wants to use them for EndWar

[General Battuta]

The design's fantasmic. Where are they from originally?

[Droid803]

The original creator of the model made it for his webmovie, which according to the readme that came along with the model, is WIP.

[ShadowGorrath]

I don't remember.

And no, doesn't really seem like it could fit in with anything that End War needs. Can we borrow a texturer?