rec.autos.simulators

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Cheers!
John

Yawn...

--
* rrevved at mindspring dot com  

Oops, wrong group.

Jerry Morelock

-- JB

With Environment Mapped Bump Mapping
Check out the awesome detail that is added to the racing tarmac (ie, the
road) with the
inclusion of Environment Mapped Bump Mapping. G400 bump mapping is great
for adding
these types of details, raising game content to new heights of realism.

Without Environment Mapped Bump Mapping

"The implementation of DX6 environment mapped bumped mapping in Spirit of
Speed 1937 has afforded
us the opportunity to provide a whole new level of realism. Once all the
coding and art were done, the team
was astounded by the results that the G400 bump mapping was producing in
front of their eyes! Now the
team will be going crazy with adding bumps to the cars, tyres, etc..."
- John Jones-Steele, Joint Managing Director, Broadsword Interactive

With Environment Mapped Bump Mapping
...more EMBM goodness on the racing tarmac.

Without Environment Mapped Bump Mapping

Spirit of Speed 1937 conjures up the greatest era of motor racing when
the racing car first grabbed the
public imagination with its speed, danger and beauty. Imagine racing a
six-litre car hurtling around steeply
banked tracks at killer speeds; drivers with nothing to protect them but
their overalls and a silk helmet;
tracks deliberately built for speed not safety. Race the cars whose mere
names are legendary: Mercedes,
Bugatti, Alfa Romeo, Napier Railton and Auto Union.

In Microprose's startling re-enactment of 1937 Grand prix Racing you'll
get the chance to drive a choice of
twelve real racers on nine authentic circuits across Europe and the USA.
Take up the challenge in Time
Trial, Single Race or Complete Season modes or, try your skills against
others in the multi-player modes.
Once you could only imagine the experience! Now you can live it.

Drive the 12 greatest racers ever built from the heyday of motor sport;
each with their individual handling
characteristics and special quirks. Experience nine different racing
venues that became shrines to motor
racing history such as Brooklands with its steeply banked curves; the
tremendously fast autobahn circuit
at Avus in Germany; the Roosevelt Raceway in the USA; the original (and
lethal) Monza and the 8.5 mile,
sand-streaked circuit at Tripoli, Libya.
Drive accurately simulated racing cars that have a special physics model,
including individual suspension
for each one.
Develop the right racing strategy to suit your car and the circuit;
follow the correct racing line to suit your
racer's capabilities and be aware of its specific tyre wear, petrol, oil
usage and braking characteristics.
Marvel at the detail. Everything is fully researched and simulated from
the wooden dashboard to the
throaty roar of those massive engines. Check your oil, water and petrol
and decide the right time to make
that crucial pit stop - the technology may be a lot simpler but it's less
forgiving and more deadly: if you
blow your engine, or run out of fuel, you're out of the race!
Immerse yourself in the authentic period detail: the Thirties soundtrack,
the interface styling and the
realistic newspaper articles.

Screenshots   here

http://www.racesimcentral.net/***/bump/spirit_speed.htm

What you get in the screenshot is a non bump mapped shot that already
looks blurred due to blending or anti-aliasing.
The bump mapped shot looks more pixellated in a screen shot, but the
effect in motion may be totally different.

I don't know one way or the other, but with graphics changing as fast
as they are, the time is coming that you can't judge a games true
appearance screen shots any more than you can judge a movies
cinematography from stills.

Just a thought,
Tim

Regarding Tim's argument, I agree wholeheartedly that stills can never
tell you how good a game or sim looks in motion. But I would go a step
further and claim that - at least for me - fluid animation is much
more important than details.

Anyone remember the old (non-autosim) titles "Lemmings" and "Prince of
Persia"? I mention those because they had, from today's point of view,
really awful graphics. Nonetheless, they were masterpieces in
animation IMO.

PoP was a 2D jump'n run where you had to guide your playing figure
through different levels. The prince could jump and run (what a
surprise :) , and even though the figure consisted only of a few
pixels and used only maybe five or six animation stages for each move,
the motions looked extarordinarily 'real'.

In Lemmings, the playing figures were even smaller (something like 6x8
pixels, I think) and used only *two* animation stages, yet a walking
lemming looked incredibly cute and "alive". You thought you saw the
in-between stages that actually weren't there! This is real artistry,
IMO. Such simple means and such a great effect.

I would any day prefer a display that tricks the eye with simple, but
clever means, over one that provides much more detail, but doesn't get
the impression of motion right.

--
Wolfgang Preiss   \ E-mail copies of replies to this posting are welcome.

  I think it's just because those screen shots are quite low res.

  What bugs me is the cars look like they've got tractor tyres on.  What
gives?  I thought the 30s cars had skinny round tyres - these beasts
look like they've just been stripped off a combine harvester.

  Also don't 30s GP cars have that distinctive suspension lean?  I know
the sports cars of the era have it - (wheels and two suspension arms
form a parallelogram so that the wheels lean "in parallel").  If they're
not modelling that I don't see how it can be accurate (or was it a
feature only of the sports cars of the era).

--
Richard G. Clegg     Only the mind is waving
Dept. of Mathematics (Network Control group) Uni. of York.

www: http://manor.york.ac.uk/top.html

Most of the  cars of that era.....and all eras, when I come to think about
it.....had round tyres, Richard.  There was some rumour that during the dark
years of WW1 the Germans were experimenting with oval tyres....and there is
some strength to this rumour, as can be seen in the period photographs, with
the cars "leaning forward" and their tyres displaying a definite ovoid
shape.

But round tyres became the norm as they simply provided a much more
comfortable ride for the occupants of the vehicle.

: Most of the  cars of that era.....and all eras, when I come to think about
: it.....had round tyres, Richard.  There was some rumour that during the dark
: years of WW1 the Germans were experimenting with oval tyres....and there is
: some strength to this rumour, as can be seen in the period photographs, with
: the cars "leaning forward" and their tyres displaying a definite ovoid
: shape.

: But round tyres became the norm as they simply provided a much more
: comfortable ride for the occupants of the vehicle.

  Lol....

  Oh there's always one clever sod isn't there.

  Just to be completely clear "I thought 30s cars had skinny tyres with
a round cross-section."  

--
Richard G. Clegg     Only the mind is waving
Dept. of Mathematics (Network Control group) Uni. of York.

www: http://manor.york.ac.uk/top.html

I mention this because we still use wheels and tyres....

Technology has really progressed, uh?
Alan

Those were artifacts of the photographic techniques used at the time (slow
focal
plane shutters, I think?).