rec.autos.simulators

2 types of track designers I'd like to see

andre

2 types of track designers I'd like to see

by andre » Wed, 18 Apr 2001 01:00:16

1) "Follow the Leader" - There is an existing landscape with roads,
towns, buildings, etc., or you could place your own - then, you simply
"drive the track" to create it, on road or off, or both, and the game
puts appropriate roadblocks (if necessary), etc. in place. This would
also work to create standard racetracks on varying terrain - slopes and
otherwise.

2) "Flying" track editor - you have control of left/right as well as
up/down "flight" - and the program "builds" a track under you as you
navigate, then the landscape is added afterward.

Ah, just wishing.

Ruud van Ga

2 types of track designers I'd like to see

by Ruud van Ga » Wed, 18 Apr 2001 02:01:12


>1) "Follow the Leader" - There is an existing landscape with roads,
>towns, buildings, etc., or you could place your own - then, you simply
>"drive the track" to create it, on road or off, or both, and the game
>puts appropriate roadblocks (if necessary), etc. in place. This would
>also work to create standard racetracks on varying terrain - slopes and
>otherwise.

>2) "Flying" track editor - you have control of left/right as well as
>up/down "flight" - and the program "builds" a track under you as you
>navigate, then the landscape is added afterward.

Both of these will result in very much fantasy tracks. My 1st
incarnation of a track format was using an ASCII file like:

straight 10
turn 65 minRadius maxRadius subDivs
straight 20

Stuff like that. Works nicely enough, but it's hack'n'slash and the
real art that we want today requires more control. Which is why most
tracks are created in 3D editors (like Max).

Ruud van Gaal, GPL Rank +53.25
Pencil art    : http://www.marketgraph.nl/gallery/
Free car sim  : http://www.marketgraph.nl/gallery/racer/

andre

2 types of track designers I'd like to see

by andre » Wed, 18 Apr 2001 02:15:21

What makes you say they would be fantasy tracks? I assume by "fantasy", you
mean unlikely, or with a lot of stuff you wouldn't ordinarily encounter.

I'd personally rather use them for creating tracks which are as realistic
as possible, very quickly - I often drive through an environment which i
think would make an excellent racecourse, and this would be one way of
doing it.

A few years ago, I posted a suggested F1/Indy track through Philadelphia -
this would be a great way to create tracks through areas we know about,
too.



> >1) "Follow the Leader" - There is an existing landscape with roads,
> >towns, buildings, etc., or you could place your own - then, you simply
> >"drive the track" to create it, on road or off, or both, and the game
> >puts appropriate roadblocks (if necessary), etc. in place. This would
> >also work to create standard racetracks on varying terrain - slopes and
> >otherwise.

> >2) "Flying" track editor - you have control of left/right as well as
> >up/down "flight" - and the program "builds" a track under you as you
> >navigate, then the landscape is added afterward.

> Both of these will result in very much fantasy tracks. My 1st
> incarnation of a track format was using an ASCII file like:

> straight 10
> turn 65 minRadius maxRadius subDivs
> straight 20

> Stuff like that. Works nicely enough, but it's hack'n'slash and the
> real art that we want today requires more control. Which is why most
> tracks are created in 3D editors (like Max).

> Ruud van Gaal, GPL Rank +53.25
> Pencil art    : http://www.marketgraph.nl/gallery/
> Free car sim  : http://www.marketgraph.nl/gallery/racer/

Ruud van Ga

2 types of track designers I'd like to see

by Ruud van Ga » Wed, 18 Apr 2001 03:01:17


>What makes you say they would be fantasy tracks? I assume by "fantasy", you
>mean unlikely, or with a lot of stuff you wouldn't ordinarily encounter.

Yes.

It will still take quite a lot of time to get things right after
'driving' it. The way you drive may not represent the turn you want,
and straights should be approximated by straights (much more
optimized).

Actually, creating a spline through a model and then hooking up the
road to it is quite easy, and can be used with little trouble. The
problem is in details later on, and splitting the track into bits for
the rendering engine.
I still think the time it takes to do the detailing far outweighs the
time it takes to create the initial spline, be it from a driving line,
or just a bunch of vertices in Max.

Ruud van Gaal, GPL Rank +53.25
Pencil art    : http://www.marketgraph.nl/gallery/
Free car sim  : http://www.marketgraph.nl/gallery/racer/

Sideshow Bo

2 types of track designers I'd like to see

by Sideshow Bo » Wed, 18 Apr 2001 05:30:51

: 1) "Follow the Leader" - There is an existing landscape with roads,
: towns, buildings, etc., or you could place your own - then, you simply
: "drive the track" to create it, on road or off, or both, and the game
: puts appropriate roadblocks (if necessary), etc. in place. This would
: also work to create standard racetracks on varying terrain - slopes and
: otherwise.
:

I'd love a "track" for GPL like the cities in Midtown Madness.  I know this
sounds like that piece-of-***Stallone movie  "Driven" but, I still think
the Lotus would be a hoot in San Francisco.

Purely for blowing off steam purposes of course, not serious racing.

:-)

Dale.

Ruud van Ga

2 types of track designers I'd like to see

by Ruud van Ga » Wed, 18 Apr 2001 20:49:13




>: 1) "Follow the Leader" - There is an existing landscape with roads,
>: towns, buildings, etc., or you could place your own - then, you simply
>: "drive the track" to create it, on road or off, or both, and the game
>: puts appropriate roadblocks (if necessary), etc. in place. This would
>: also work to create standard racetracks on varying terrain - slopes and
>: otherwise.
>:

>I'd love a "track" for GPL like the cities in Midtown Madness.  I know this
>sounds like that piece-of-***Stallone movie  "Driven" but, I still think
>the Lotus would be a hoot in San Francisco.

It can't be done. The problem is in the track design of GPL; it uses
longitudinal coordinates, where you have a distance-to-left and
distance-to-right side. So you can smuggle a bit (see Solitude), but
there's a limit.

But for blowing off steam, MM is really cool in itself. :) GPL would
lack the pedestrians and buses.

Ruud van Gaal, GPL Rank +53.25
Pencil art    : http://www.racesimcentral.net/
Free car sim  : http://www.racesimcentral.net/


1. WANTED - GPL Track Designer.............I'll pay for you to build.

2. OT: for you engineer/designer/cad tech types

3. Attn: Track Designers for NASCAR Racing, I need your help....

4. 2D/3D Artist & Track Designer positions available at Terminal Reality

5. GPL Track Designers - Lakeside??

6. OT: If you've seen Juan, you've seen Ahmal

7. Who's seen the new type 2?

8. Just seen 98' spec (japanese) Type-R

9. What is ment by "Type 1, Type 2, Type 3, or Type 4"

rec.autos.simulators is a usenet newsgroup formed in December, 1993. As this group was always unmoderated there may be some spam or off topic articles included. Some links do point back to racesimcentral.net as we could not validate the original address. Please report any pages that you believe warrant deletion from this archive (include the link in your email). RaceSimCentral.net is in no way responsible and does not endorse any of the content herein.