[Spicious]

I've started on an insignia editor for PCS2. If you have suggestions for how you'd like it to work, post them here.

[Vasudan Admiral]

Ooh wow, that'd be awesome to see - good luck man.

My suggestion would be to make it as visual-based as possible. Perhaps do it like this: (from an end-user perspective)

1) Pick a projection vector (ie, the simple version would be [+/-] direction, [x,y,z] axis, but if possible any vector would be best) and a radii from which the locations of the verticies in the insignia polygons can be projected (ie, they get projected from that vector till they hit the hull)
2) Define a level of subdivision for the projected plane. Basically this would either be 0 or 1 where 0 means you get a two-polygon plane, and 1 means you get an eight-polygon plane. Each vertex of the plane is projected separately so the idea is the plane follows the contours of the hull at the specified area.

[Colonol Dekker]

Keep it simple.
Have a choose poly, centre by default. Scale, rotate, flip normal. And XY adjustment.
 
That's all anyone will ever need
 
 
Also . . . . . . . . I love you.

[Galemp]

Go Spicious Go!

[Spicious]

1) Pick a projection vector (ie, the simple version would be [+/-] direction, [x,y,z] axis, but if possible any vector would be best) and a radii from which the locations of the verticies in the insignia polygons can be projected (ie, they get projected from that vector till they hit the hull)
2) Define a level of subdivision for the projected plane. Basically this would either be 0 or 1 where 0 means you get a two-polygon plane, and 1 means you get an eight-polygon plane. Each vertex of the plane is projected separately so the idea is the plane follows the contours of the hull at the specified area.

Interesting idea. Are you suggesting that it start with a square comprised of a predetermined set of triangles and then try to project each vertex onto the actual geometry? That seems like it'll rely on getting lucky with it not intersecting the mesh. Projecting onto a flattish surface might work I guess.

It's ready to try here. See link in sig.

[Vasudan Admiral]

That one there works and is a good start - nice dude!
However, due to the nature of the data involved it's definitely more of an insignia viewer than editor. Like you COULD try creating and manually placing insignia by numbers alone,.....but you wouldn't.

And yeah you've got the gist of the idea there. Individual insignia can only consist of 8 polygons max IIRC and because you want them to be square that means you'll typically only ever need a 2 poly plane (flat surfaces) or an 8 poly plane(for curved surfaces). Positioning them using the projection system well you could build in an auto offset from the hull surface so the insigina doesn't quite get stuck in the hull, or let the user specify one. Beyond that I'd imagine it would work so that if any vertex 'missed' the ship in the projection it would be placed where it intersects the bounding box along its vector.

Oh yeah - and you would need to be able to specify rotation around the projection axis.

[Spicious]

That one there works and is a good start - nice dude!
However, due to the nature of the data involved it's definitely more of an insignia viewer than editor. Like you COULD try creating and manually placing insignia by numbers alone,.....but you wouldn't.

I would and have in the rather distant past.

And yeah you've got the gist of the idea there. Individual insignia can only consist of 8 polygons max IIRC and because you want them to be square that means you'll typically only ever need a 2 poly plane (flat surfaces) or an 8 poly plane(for curved surfaces). Positioning them using the projection system well you could build in an auto offset from the hull surface so the insigina doesn't quite get stuck in the hull, or let the user specify one. Beyond that I'd imagine it would work so that if any vertex 'missed' the ship in the projection it would be placed where it intersects the bounding box along its vector.

The max is 10 triangles and 20 vertices, although I'm sure it could be worked around by breaking it up into multiple insignia. I'm happy to go with letting the user ensure the surface is sufficiently flat.

The control for setting most of the projection parameters is done and provides a preview of sorts. It shows up if you have an insignia with no faces selected. Same url as before.

Incidentally, it seems the MediaVP Medusa insignia are backwards.

[Spicious]

Vertex projection is working now. It can turn out pretty decently if positioned well.

[attachment deleted by ninja]

[FUBAR-BDHR]

Probably a stupid question but does it allow for more then one insignia texture?  Say put the squad on the wings and the pilot under the cockpit?

Can't even remember if the code supports this. 

[Spicious]

No; all insignia on a ship use the same texture.

[Galemp]

Can I nitpick and ask you to pick a different texture for the demo; say, the 53rd Hammerheads? That has text on it so it's easy to tell if you have your normals flipped.

[Colonol Dekker]

Everyone knows the 107th image faces to the right

[Dragon]

It looks excellent, seems to be quite intuitive, easy to visualize and use. Great job.

[Spicious]

Can I nitpick and ask you to pick a different texture for the demo; say, the 53rd Hammerheads? That has text on it so it's easy to tell if you have your normals flipped.

I'm not really happy with any of the stock or MediaVP insignia for the preview. Ideally it should be opaque at its border and have a clear indication of directions; looking nice would be a bonus. The Raven happened to be inside a circle which somewhat approaches the border requirement. The MediaVP version of the Hammerheads seems at least as good by those criteria.

[Spicious]

And approach 2, using 62 triangles in this example...

[attachment deleted by ninja]

[Galemp]

Wow, that's... that's REALLY good!

[Woolie Wool]

This could actually be useful for Wings now that I think of it. The tails of airplanes provide a nice large flat surface to put a squadron logo on, with little or no normal mapping on those areas to be ruined by the squadron logo.

[headdie]

many fighter squadrons tend to stick unit crests/logos/colours to the tail fins of their fighters

[Bobboau]

lets all remember now that insignia are always flat shaded, before we get to carried away.

[Galemp]

lets all remember now that insignia are always flat shaded, before we get to carried away.

They used to be, back when they had no opacity. Now they're partially transparent, and they ought to be affected by mission lighting as normal.