rec.autos.simulators

GP3 pointy corners from a distance?

Steve Lacac

GP3 pointy corners from a distance?

by Steve Lacac » Mon, 07 Aug 2000 04:00:00

Is anyone else getting this graphic problem.

From a distance all of the turns are more like sharp edges (points) and
as I approach the corner and get closer to the turn the point
'transforms' into a smoth curve. It's very distracting as I'm looking
ahead into the turn and I see this transformation everytime. I have a
TNT2 and I've never seen this in any other game before. It does this in
all resolutions. Is this normal?

GraDe

GP3 pointy corners from a distance?

by GraDe » Mon, 07 Aug 2000 04:00:00


yes, this is normal, its how the tracks are structured.
Lots of long constant radius corners are made from 1 track section and look
like this from far off. The solution is using more track sections for the
corner but that'd require a total reconstruction of the track:-)

kru..

GP3 pointy corners from a distance?

by kru.. » Tue, 08 Aug 2000 04:00:00

This 'effect' is actually a 'Level of Detail' (LOD) artifact in the
game engine. It was evident in GP2 as well although perhaps not as
noticeable to some due to the lower resolutions used. Unfortunately it
makes it difficult to hit the apex because the pointy corner from a
distance is in a different place to the real apex. Its actually more
noticeable in a replay because of the higher viewing angle.

LOD is a technique that most 3D engines now employ which reduceds the
amount of visible polygons in the distance allowing a higher frame rate.





> > Is anyone else getting this graphic problem.

> > From a distance all of the turns are more like sharp edges (points)
and
> > as I approach the corner and get closer to the turn the point
> > 'transforms' into a smoth curve. It's very distracting as I'm
looking
> > ahead into the turn and I see this transformation everytime. I have
a
> > TNT2 and I've never seen this in any other game before. It does
this in
> > all resolutions. Is this normal?

> yes, this is normal, its how the tracks are structured.
> Lots of long constant radius corners are made from 1 track section
and look
> like this from far off. The solution is using more track sections for
the
> corner but that'd require a total reconstruction of the track:-)

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Simon Brow

GP3 pointy corners from a distance?

by Simon Brow » Tue, 08 Aug 2000 04:00:00

This is what's called 'distance-abstraction'.  It's the polygon equivalent
of what mip-mapping does for textures.  With mip-mapping you have smaller
versions of textures used for objects that are a high distance from the
camera.  Distance-abstraction is to use less detailed polygon models when
objects are far away.  Loads of games use this, it's even in GPL if you know
where to look, although it's way less noticeable.
It's all done for speed purposes.



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