[Thorn]

That would be more of an explosion .ani thing wouldnt it?

[an0n]

GIF's for animated maps. No need for tedious converting.

[Kamikaze]

Originally posted by venom2506
mmh, only thing I'd really like, I think, are those animated parts (already discussed), but, mainly, ani as textures on ships. Now that I could have a great use of
 

mmmm organic ships.... and strange subspace portals that you can crash into

[CP5670]

How about detail-mapping capabilities? This system is used by a few graphics engines (Unreal and Serious Sam) to make textures look very sharp and detailed close-up by applying a bump-map only when the player is really close to the texture. Very cool effect, and it would be great to see it in a space sim.

[Kazan]

good call phreak


good ideas.. keep 'em coming

[Unknown Target]

Oh, oh, I've got a good one!!!
How about 3D, volumetric explosions, rather than just the simple, 2D ones of FS2...
Also, T&L support, better nebulaes(if that's possible) and lens flares!

[Kazan]

ahhh... ok.. that's it - let's worry about getting programmers FIRST

btw Unknown - that's general ENGINE stuff... not MODEL stuff

[Unknown Target]

Oops, yea, you're right, srry:doh:

[Setekh]

I just had an idea with the engine wash zone. I'll raise it later.

[Nico]

Oh, yes, I know:
ships and turrets being different pofs. basically, a capital ship pof has no turrets, just docking points for turrets. then you have multiple different turret pofs. In fred, you can attach the turret you want where you want on the ship. That may also allow the barreled turrets to be placed at an angle.
mmh, basically, allow the capships to have more than one working docking point at a time.

[wEvil]

Its a radical idea -

but some kind of vertex-animation tool? Bone based or straight frame-by-frame manipulation.

I.E
Some way of making the sathanas beam pods move in close together like they did in the last FS2 cutscene?  


3D volume explosions would require a fairly exclusive number of graphics cards (ones that support volume rendering, unfortunately, i dont think GEforces do.  You're talking wildcats and Oxygen and FireGL cards there!)

Plus they'd slow everything up...if you're going to do that, you might as well make the explosion effect out of textured polies.


Hey Kazan, what about support for some basic procedurals and Pixel/Vertex shaders?  I know thats engine stuff as well but is it on the cards?

[Nico]

Originally posted by wEvil
Its a radical idea -

but some kind of vertex-animation tool? Bone based or straight frame-by-frame manipulation.

I.E
Some way of making the sathanas beam pods move in close together like they did in the last FS2 cutscene?  

that may not be that hard to do? look at modelview, it can read this kind of data for the descent oof models.

[Redfang]

Originally posted by CP5670
How about detail-mapping capabilities? This system is used by a few graphics engines (Unreal and Serious Sam) to make textures look very sharp and detailed close-up by applying a bump-map only when the player is really close to the texture. Very cool effect, and it would be great to see it in a space sim.

 
Yes, that would be good.

[aldo_14]

Dependign how tight your model - codeintegration is, you could use the file format to recognise trigger events that cause animations.

(on the fly pseudo)
Like

Code: [Select]


   when (anyShipArrives() && anyShipArrivesParent()==this)
                anim_1.start(60)
                runway.flash_light(true,5,60)




i.e. when a ship arrives, do the following stuff
                  open doors (1) for 60 secs
                  flash lights on for 60 secs at 5 sec intervals

If you can set sub-objects as seprate child classes, you have a lot more potential to give them unique operations, or type - specific stuff. (better abstraction).

Of copurse, it's not really like pof format, so you'd maybe have to initialise models through a wrapper class, that defines type, stats, child subobjects and their animations, effects - taking some of that data from the relevant tbl.

If you store animations as keyframes, you could use parameters to  delay,  and then reverse the animation.


EDIT;
Actually, i just realised how self evident & vague most of that was.  :doh:
but I'd definately suggest allowing percentage animation - i.e. rotating 50 degrees.

[wEvil]

Originally posted by aldo_14
Dependign how tight your model - codeintegration is, you could use the file format to recognise trigger events that cause animations.

(on the fly pseudo)
Like

Code: [Select]


   when (anyShipArrives() && anyShipArrivesParent()==this)
                anim_1.start(60)
                runway.flash_light(true,5,60)




i.e. when a ship arrives, do the following stuff
                  open doors (1) for 60 secs
                  flash lights on for 60 secs at 5 sec intervals

If you can set sub-objects as seprate child classes, you have a lot more potential to give them unique operations, or type - specific stuff. (better abstraction).

Of copurse, it's not really like pof format, so you'd maybe have to initialise models through a wrapper class, that defines type, stats, child subobjects and their animations, effects - taking some of that data from the relevant tbl.

If you store animations as keyframes, you could use parameters to  delay,  and then reverse the animation.


EDIT;
Actually, i just realised how self evident & vague most of that was.  :doh:
but I'd definately suggest allowing percentage animation - i.e. rotating 50 degrees. [/B]

Im not really sure I understand, but for that kind of flexibility i dont think wrapper classes would do it without the whole thing getting waay messy.

[Kazan]

Aldo that's what the Movers (MVRS) block does.. it stores those scripts

[PSYCHO]

WOW cool Kazan..... keep it up:nod:

[aldo_14]

Originally posted by wEvil


Im not really sure I understand, but for that kind of flexibility i dont think wrapper classes would do it without the whole thing getting waay messy.

I've been coding a grpah since 10am this morning.... I'm at the satge where I forget what i first wrote by the time i finish the post

I tthink I meant that the model recognises when a certain event occurs, and performs the appropriate operation.  so, what Kazan already said, then :doh:

[Grey Wolf]

The thing I like most of this is the animated textures and the move on scripting things...

[Unknown Target]

How about some real engine flame? I mean, rather than just the simple block engine flame of the first two, how about some dynamic flame, that sputters, and ignites?
It would look infinetely better:D
Not sure if that's pof or engine stuff, though......