Sim Development - grass!

Some say some of our physics conversations have been influenced by this substance, but now there is proof ;). I have stuck some grass in my sim (basically to make me feel that I am making process while I figure out the culling method that is for me :) http://www.siroccoracing.com All the best, Ash

lol! Very nice grass, the track's looking good :-) Todd Wasson --- Performance Simulations Drag Racing and Top Speed Prediction Software http://PerformanceSimulations.Com My little car sim screenshots: http://performancesimulations.com/scnshot4.htm

On Tue, 22 Jan 2002 13:48:05 +0000, Ashley McConnell <[email hidden]> wrote:

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>Some say some of our physics conversations have been influenced by this >substance, but now there is proof ;). > >I have stuck some grass in my sim (basically to make me feel that I am >making process while I figure out the culling method that is for me :) > >http://www.siroccoracing.com

Hey, cool grass; Carrera is so brown otherwise. :) Don't exactly know how its done in D3D, but try turning on mipmapping for the grass (and sand), and also, anisotropic filtering does a lot of good on these otherwise shimmering textures (I can't get mipmapping to work in F1-2001 and it really looks awful; epileptic seizure alert heaven, lol). I don't use mipmapping on roads btw (a bit hardcoded based on texturename), since that looks better without, IMHO. Ruud van Gaal Free car sim : http://www.marketgraph.nl/gallery/racer/ Pencil art : http://www.marketgraph.nl/gallery/

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> Hey, cool grass; Carrera is so brown otherwise. :) > Don't exactly know how its done in D3D, but try turning on mipmapping > for the grass (and sand), and also, anisotropic filtering does a lot > of good on these otherwise shimmering textures (I can't get mipmapping > to work in F1-2001 and it really looks awful; epileptic seizure alert > heaven, lol). > > I don't use mipmapping on roads btw (a bit hardcoded based on > texturename), since that looks better without, IMHO. > > > Ruud van Gaal > Free car sim : http://www.marketgraph.nl/gallery/racer/ > Pencil art : http://www.marketgraph.nl/gallery/ >

Thanks for the tips Ruud, and thanks for letting me borrow some textures / corners from Carrera - brings things to life! I will have a look into the whole mipmapping / filtering thing - it does look a little "shimmery" at the minute :) All the best, Ash

Just a warning that on most graphics card turning off mipmapping will incur a performance penalty due to having to keep refetching texels out of the high res texture while drawing the distant road polys (e.g., thrashing the texture cache on every few pixels). You might try instead playing with the MIP LOD bias (I forget what it's called in DX these days), where you can shove the mips out to where it starts to look "sparkly" instead of "blurry", but not be as sparkly as with no mipmapping at all. Ideally, you would be able to adjust this per-texture. Also, you can get a free anisotropic filtering effect by making your road textures stretched vertically, so that when viewed in perspective, the texels are approximately square (e.g., 3:1 or 4:1 aspect ratio). "Ruud van Gaal" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]...

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> On Tue, 22 Jan 2002 13:48:05 +0000, Ashley McConnell > <[email hidden]> wrote: > > >Some say some of our physics conversations have been influenced by this > >substance, but now there is proof ;). > > > >I have stuck some grass in my sim (basically to make me feel that I am > >making process while I figure out the culling method that is for me :) > > > >http://www.siroccoracing.com > > Hey, cool grass; Carrera is so brown otherwise. :) > Don't exactly know how its done in D3D, but try turning on mipmapping > for the grass (and sand), and also, anisotropic filtering does a lot > of good on these otherwise shimmering textures (I can't get mipmapping > to work in F1-2001 and it really looks awful; epileptic seizure alert > heaven, lol). > > I don't use mipmapping on roads btw (a bit hardcoded based on > texturename), since that looks better without, IMHO. > > > Ruud van Gaal > Free car sim : http://www.marketgraph.nl/gallery/racer/ > Pencil art : http://www.marketgraph.nl/gallery/

On Tue, 22 Jan 2002 19:41:31 -0600, "Dave Pollatsek" <[email hidden]> wrote:

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>Just a warning that on most graphics card turning off mipmapping will incur >a performance penalty due to having to keep refetching texels out of the >high res texture while drawing the distant road polys (e.g., thrashing the >texture cache on every few pixels). You might try instead playing with the >MIP LOD bias (I forget what it's called in DX these days), where you can >shove the mips out to where it starts to look "sparkly" instead of "blurry", >but not be as sparkly as with no mipmapping at all.

Ah, I had already though something like that, but didn't really check out what extension that was again (I'm using OpenGL; Ashley is using D3D). I think it's a standard feature in OGL1.2 or OGL1.3, but don't know the extension name for OGL1.1. Thanks for the tip. > Ideally, you would be >able to adjust this per-texture. Right, hm, perhaps a Quake-like shader script is in order (perhaps defaulting all other shaders to standard hardcoded ones). Doing cutting-edge stuff takes more and more effort to make small steps, gosh. > Also, you can get a free anisotropic >filtering effect by making your road textures stretched vertically, so that >when viewed in perspective, the texels are approximately square (e.g., 3:1 >or 4:1 aspect ratio). Great tip, thanks for that! Ruud van Gaal Free car sim : http://www.marketgraph.nl/gallery/racer/ Pencil art : http://www.marketgraph.nl/gallery/

Dave Pollatsek wrote:

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> Just a warning that on most graphics card turning off mipmapping will incur > a performance penalty due to having to keep refetching texels out of the > high res texture while drawing the distant road polys (e.g., thrashing the > texture cache on every few pixels). You might try instead playing with the > MIP LOD bias (I forget what it's called in DX these days), where you can > shove the mips out to where it starts to look "sparkly" instead of "blurry", > but not be as sparkly as with no mipmapping at all. Ideally, you would be > able to adjust this per-texture. Also, you can get a free anisotropic > filtering effect by making your road textures stretched vertically, so that > when viewed in perspective, the texels are approximately square (e.g., 3:1 > or 4:1 aspect ratio). > >

Thanks for the tips Dave! I am very new at the old 3d graphics lark ;). I have only really started, there are a few things I dont understand about your helpful tips, but it gives me something to go off and research more fully :) I am hoping to leave the graphics to the side fairly soon and get into the "real" stuff, i.e. the physics and networking :). It'll not be very good for screenshots for a while, but its the core of the sim nonetheless :) Thanks again! Ash PS Am I right in thinking your are of MGI / viper / heat fame?

I'd say screw the graphics once you get a box or something on the screen and go straight for the physics (the fun stuff, in my opinion)... -Dave (of MGI "fame", as such) "Ashley McConnell" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]... > Dave Pollatsek wrote: > > > Just a warning that on most graphics card turning off mipmapping willincur > > a performance penalty due to having to keep refetching texels out of the > > high res texture while drawing the distant road polys (e.g., thrashingthe > > texture cache on every few pixels). You might try instead playing withthe > > MIP LOD bias (I forget what it's called in DX these days), where you can > > shove the mips out to where it starts to look "sparkly" instead of"blurry", > > but not be as sparkly as with no mipmapping at all. Ideally, you wouldbe > > able to adjust this per-texture. Also, you can get a free anisotropic > > filtering effect by making your road textures stretched vertically, sothat > > when viewed in perspective, the texels are approximately square (e.g.,3:1

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> > or 4:1 aspect ratio). > > > > > > Thanks for the tips Dave! I am very new at the old 3d graphics lark ;). > I have only really started, there are a few things I dont understand > about your helpful tips, but it gives me something to go off and > research more fully :) > > I am hoping to leave the graphics to the side fairly soon and get into > the "real" stuff, i.e. the physics and networking :). It'll not be very > good for screenshots for a while, but its the core of the sim nonetheless

:) > > Thanks again! > Ash > > PS Am I right in thinking your are of MGI / viper / heat fame? >

On Thu, 24 Jan 2002 21:30:49 -0600, "Dave Pollatsek" <[email hidden]> wrote: >I'd say screw the graphics once you get a box or something on the screen and >go straight for the physics (the fun stuff, in my opinion)... Hehe, I'm more of a graphics person myself. I find both very interesting, and probably graphics even more. But no graphics look nice for more than a couple of seconds if there's no equal-quality physics to back the graphics up (that immersive feeling). The combination is ofcourse what makes things stand out, in the end. It all has to be good. Ruud van Gaal Free car sim : http://www.marketgraph.nl/gallery/racer/ Pencil art : http://www.marketgraph.nl/gallery/