[Fineus]

Following my recent bantering about Bobs particles and so on. Would it be possible to make a (placable) low poly sphere that could be made to spew particles from one half of it - thus with a little tweaking the effect of a sun could be created. It *might* look terrible, but I think with enough tweaking - some nice animations for the sun itself and a little work - it might just look the business as opposed to those rather static suns we have right now.

[Nico]

first, we need background pofs ( like the subspace thing, or like in starlancer, if you know what I mean )

[Bobboau]

you do know that you can make a bacground bitmap for the sun right, or at least you shoud

[Fineus]

Whatcha mean Bob? we already have one... don't we?

[Bobboau]

I meant animated background bitmap

[Fineus]

Hmm, could be done I suppose... not sure how it'd look at 256bit color though...

[Flaser]

Originally posted by Kalfireth
Hmm, could be done I suppose... not sure how it'd look at 256bit color though...

IIRC 32-bit was already asked for...

[LtNarol]

If only the background rendering scewing effects were dealt with, there'd be no need for background pofs.

[Nico]

the need for a backgound pof is that a pof for a planet ( as an exemple ) will always be better than a PCX.

[Carl]

you know, if you want a sun model w/o of polys, you could make a circular plane that always faces you(like the shockwave), and since it wouldn't be shaded, you'd never be able to tell it's not round.

[LtNarol]

Originally posted by Venom
the need for a backgound pof is that a pof for a planet ( as an exemple ) will always be better than a PCX.

Explain to me how this is Venom, how is a pof better than a PCX for a background?  As long as a background is rendered properly, whats the point of it being 3d as long as the background pcx is well made?  You're talking about either a very low poly object or one that is going to just waste more resources.

Could the resources spent on rendering of 4k+ polygons at a time for a decently rounded planet not be better used elsewhere?  I'm not seeing the point, its almost as if we're now pofing effects just because we can.

Side note: if we're talking about 3D planets so that we can fly around them, wouldn't it be more effecient just to load in a long map of a planet and write the code to apply the bulge effect (might be called something else, can't remember) to a section half the length of the map, then render a circular portion of that map (again, with a diameter half the length of the map and using the center of the bulge effect as the center of the circle)?

You could shift the center point as you move around the planet, in terms of both x and y.  The only thing is that you'd have to constantly split the map into 2 pieces: 1 for the hemisphere of the planet facing you and the other for the hemisphere of the planet facing away from you, this way you can get proper rendering at the poles.

EDIT: on second thought, this wouldn't work at the poles, not without doing something slightly more complex than a simple bulge effect, but you get the jist of what I'm saying.

[TrashMan]

Planets as background using pof?...no... too stupid.. too much wasted resurces.

But planets you can fly aound ...those could be pof's...
You can make a mission where Lucy attacks Vasuda Prime..literaly attacking the planet with beam cannons (naturally, the planet would be invulnerable)..
Coool..

[Nico]

Originally posted by LtNarol
Explain to me how this is Venom, how is a pof better than a PCX for a background?  As long as a background is rendered properly, whats the point of it being 3d as long as the background pcx is well made?  You're talking about either a very low poly object or one that is going to just waste more resources.

Could the resources spent on rendering of 4k+ polygons at a time for a decently rounded planet not be better used elsewhere?  I'm not seeing the point, its almost as if we're now pofing effects just because we can.

Side note: if we're talking about 3D planets so that we can fly around them, wouldn't it be more effecient just to load in a long map of a planet and write the code to apply the bulge effect (might be called something else, can't remember) to a section half the length of the map, then render a circular portion of that map (again, with a diameter half the length of the map and using the center of the bulge effect as the center of the circle)?

You could shift the center point as you move around the planet, in terms of both x and y.  The only thing is that you'd have to constantly split the map into 2 pieces: 1 for the hemisphere of the planet facing you and the other for the hemisphere of the planet facing away from you, this way you can get proper rendering at the poles.

EDIT: on second thought, this wouldn't work at the poles, not without doing something slightly more complex than a simple bulge effect, but you get the jist of what I'm saying.

I could explain, but I'm too lazy. I'll just tell you: how large do you think a map need to be to avoid pixelisation on a planet that will fill half the screen? how large will be the filesize of a planet that slowly rotates ( coz some people want that ).
how round is that PCX planet you tried last time?
I'll let you draw your own conclusions.
btw, if I can make a nice looking PCX planet, I can make a nice looking map for a mesh just as easily.

[Nico]

Originally posted by TrashMan
Planets as background using pof?...no... too stupid.. too much wasted resurces.

But planets you can fly aound ...those could be pof's...
You can make a mission where Lucy attacks Vasuda Prime..literaly attacking the planet with beam cannons (naturally, the planet would be invulnerable)..
Coool..

a planet would taless less resources than a ship, you know
planet you can fly around, considering that  you're enclosed in a 216k cube area, that is a bit stupid.
For the record, many campaigns already use pofs for planets, they're just dropped like a ship in the mission, and not included in the background. The change would jsut to make scenary edition easier, since you woldn't need a full scale planet that would mess up the zoom features in fred. Not that I care, I don't fred anyway, and I can already use pofs for that purpose.
edit, Btw, I challenge you to reproduce a thing I've done, using only PCX:
a mission that happens close to a ringed planet, so close that, in fact you're between the ring and the planet, slightly above the ring plan.

[LtNarol]

You're forgetting that you're going to have to use equally big maps to avoid pixellation with a pof, if you'd think through your idea one step further, you'd have realized this.  How many polys are you going to need to get a planet to look round?  A single large map thats modified by the engine without using actual polygons (or at least not a full round model) would make more sense.

[Flaser]

Originally posted by LtNarol
You're forgetting that you're going to have to use equally big maps to avoid pixellation with a pof, if you'd think through your idea one step further, you'd have realized this.  How many polys are you going to need to get a planet to look round?  A single large map thats modified by the engine without using actual polygons (or at least not a full round model) would make more sense.

Unless you're in low orbit.
This is also the one case where I think it would be better to move the planet, that's the only way you could simulate going around it without actually exiting the space box.
Although you'd have to move the space box as well...

[TrashMan]

Who said the planets have to be realistic in size?
I don't need a planet with a 5000km radious...100 will do just fine... so long as it looks and feels big

and small moons can easily be made that way.. htey are not that big..

[IceFire]

Originally posted by TrashMan
Who said the planets have to be realistic in size?
I don't need a planet with a 5000km radious...100 will do just fine... so long as it looks and feels big

and small moons can easily be made that way.. htey are not that big..

Here here!

[Carl]

some people do care.

[Liberator]

I don't know if anybody cares but Inferno uses a planet POF for Earth in the next to the last mission.  Looks damn impressive too.

What we need is code to apply different maps to the same planet POF, and resize in FRED as required.