Terrain parameters set...and cooking

Using World Machine 2.2 ....and a very short learning curve....i managed to come up with a flow of processes or devices as they name them....to produce very nice terrain...and great detail too...

Im currently outputting 1 Splat map for terrain, one for trees and one for grass/bushes....this is to test out the whole scene at 4096 res......then we go into the 28km tiled (28672 x 28672 made up of 2046 tiles 14x14)....

a quick test in unity.....scaled the terrain to 28000units (i.e. 28km) and runs smoothly....very happy with the results....

28k x28k......but low res texture splat compared to terrain size.....still looks good though

Back to the drawing board...Yet AGAIN

After painstakingly drawing the terrain and adding the roads.....i inserted the car from Edy's Vehicle Physics to have a test run......

Frame rates of max 72fps..and average of 43fps..on a nVidea GFX 560Ti..and 12Gb hyper 4x RAM @ 1300mhz...so image how that will look on a standard PC.....almost no game play at all will be achieved...

So.....solution.....tiling the terrain and applying detailed splat maps for the textures and foliage......and of course....the stones.

So.....using World Machine 2 (free edition).....which can export to 512px i decided to redo the whole terrain....as high as possible in this res and tile them up using stitchscape in Unity3d.....

Splat maps will be created in Vue Xstream using ecosystem to properly plant the foliage and place the stones..... and also add the appropriate texture to the terrain itself.



ahhhhhhhhhhhh.......seems i need more coffee and a big freaking steak with mashed potatoes and gravy sauce.....thats beside ur prayers of course.... :)

Roads......

Having problems creating the roads on the lower res terrain.....testing the following:

Road and Path tool from Sixtimesnothing
EasyRoads3D v2
SuperSpline

Also tried a workaround using a new layer in the RAW terrain file in Photoshop....
Applied a new layer.....drew the road in white and played with the layer's opacity....looks easy, but requires PLENTY of more work......will look into the plugins first.....demo versions will do fine for now :))

So....using easyroads and unity.....step one...Photoshop a new layer to highlight the road through the mountains....

Then came the extraction of various layers...displacement, normal, occlusion and specular....these were to help in creating a more detailed SPlat map once the terrain and road are completed.

now...back to Unity3d and easyroads......applied the colour texture (with the route highlighted) and started entering markers for the road.....then....using data from my GPS and Mapsource...i applied each point's near exact elevation (+-6m)......

I ran into a problem.....seems the free version of easyroads3d has an issue with large terrain and cutting through the mountains.....so these I had to edit manually.....PAINSTAKING....but worth it...

finished the roads and terrain....

now....texturing the terrain....and planting the cactus....or is it cacti.....disclosure....this blog is graphic related and is in no way related to the english literature or do we intend to impose the oxford dictionary on ourselves or our viewers..... :)

Updated Terrain

Here goes....finally got the terrain for Gebait region.....very high res....including satellite image so i can use it as splat maps to extract tree, rock and road locations......

as u can see from the highlighted circle, the road is clearly visible as a texture ...4km was too small for a car game...so i decided to go with 30km x 30km, while maintaining the 4096 resolution...ready to rockn roll

Problems.....

On testing the game on a slower PC, I found it lagged (not too much)....but still lagging. So back to the drawing board.......

First I start by recreating the terrain into segments of approx 4km x 4km....or to be exact 4096m x 4096m....this way i can use relatively high res in both the terrain data and the textures....

al3atra bitsali7 almashia ...aw we say.....a toe trip always fixes ur walk...literally translated.

:(

New Test Track

Added rocks that actually affect the car....and trees that stand their ground....plus minor changes in the input menu and render resolutions. Also added a North direction indicator.

Click link below to download

Expand to folder and run....enjoy and please comment

http://www.mediafire.com/?5tp4yt04423xmbb

Adding props...desert animals

Salams......

Been working all night to get some low poly desert and farm animals ready.....here's a quick render...no textures applied.

cow, sheep, donkey, camel, scorpion and lizard (dubb).......

Will work on texturing them later insha Allah and then animating them in various modes....e.g. grazing low/mid/high....walk...slow run....fast run....look right and look left.....will work them out between 3ds max and mudbox or motionbuilder.....

wish me luck.....salamz

First Run

Eid Mubarak everyne...

http://www.mediafire.com/?0d66dc5gfow9l6i

Please check the file...its my first test run on physics in the game.

Features:
Red Sea test terrain (using real terrain data)
2 Mitsubishi pickups...different configurations
1 Sport car
1 Bus
1 Box for testing physical interaction

download file (21mb)...unzip, run the RedSeaTest.exe file and give me ur comments please.
Use arrows to drive, spacebar to handbreak....choose different car by selecting car button...select options by clicking buttons. Press Enter to reset car.

If u want to go in deeper, press b to view physics telemetry...

have fun.....and please comment :)

 P.S....the more you wreck the car, the less control you have over it

The Platform

In this first part, I will be creating the terrain on which the games will be played on. For various reasons, but mainly due to the simplicity of the region, I will begin with the Red Sea region.

The area has a beautiful route with mountains, dunes and some historical landmarks. This will make testing and deploying future regions easier, as I get to test the majority of 3D models and coding, without worrying about too much detail.

First step.....getting the Digital Terrain into a 3D application to add details and setup the 'platform' for the game.....

The main applications I will be using are:

• Global Mapper - This will be used for getting the digital terrain model and the GIS layers ready for import and editing into the 3D application.
• 3D Studion Max 2012 - The further provide terrain editing and sculpting, from basic rivers and wadies to mountains and rock formations. Will also be used to model the cars, props, buildings and characters in the game.
• MotionBuilder 2012 - To animate the characters and provide animation baking.
• Photoshop CS 5.5 - The edit the splat maps and various textures for the 3D terrain and models.
• JScript - I'm not familiar with C# the BEST game coding script, but.....i will do with what i know :(

SO...back to the terrain....

Below are images from the various layers used in Global Mapper to get terrain details ready.

This is how the terrain initially looks using only the elevation and colour layers...

Adding the other layers and testing 3D Max....

All the data besides the watershed, satellite and elevation model, were collected by myself using a Garmin GPS and plotted in ArcGIS and Global Mapper.

I will be providing 'how to' tutorials and links on the other blog soon...

The Game.......

So ....what is 'the game'??

The idea is basically a racing game that will reward the player each time they complete specific challenges by further enhancing their car.

This will help them learn a few things:

1. Geography - by looking at the region and various landmarks and features.
2. History - challenges will include selecting from multiple choice options regarding history about the region.
3. Decision making - solving the challenges and choosing the right vehicle and modifications for the next challenge.

The Plot

The idea is to develop games and various interactive and social media to help bring a more entertaining educational and informative interface to young Sudanese.
As much as we 'trust' our educational system, we would like to add an extra incentive's to our kids to get to know our beautiful country.

The games will include various portions of our current education in an attractive and challenging way. From basic mind joggling memory games to full on reward and challenge race and RPG.

Easier said than done.......but as the saying goes.....the 1000 mile walk starts with a step :)

So....with that said....

Let The Games Begin