Elvas Tower: Build A Better Skydome - Terragen 2 ? - Elvas Tower

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Build A Better Skydome - Terragen 2 ? Rate Topic: -----

#11 User is offline   Genma Saotome 

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Posted 20 March 2021 - 04:04 PM

Gerry, AFAIK that still needs the OR code to change. Until then the only possible skydome file will be in the OR \Content folder.

#12 User is offline   rickloader 

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Posted 21 March 2021 - 01:38 AM

Thank you Scott for the skydome. There is a need for skydomes since Klaus was forced to withdraw his downloads for copyright reasons.
Rick

#13 User is offline   scottb613 

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Posted 21 March 2021 - 06:47 AM

 rickloader, on 21 March 2021 - 01:38 AM, said:

Thank you Scott for the skydome. There is a need for skydomes since Klaus was forced to withdraw his downloads for copyright reasons.
Rick


Hi Rick,

I'm trying,


Hi Folks,

I started my subscription with Terragen.

Well after 4 hours of Ray Trace rendering on a fast machine - I have the very first 10,000x10,000 Pixel (240MB) Skydome in ORTS that I'm aware of.

While it has the potential to look very good in ORTS - the attached image clearly illustrates the problem with SkyDomes as we have them now. The closer you get to the horizon the worse the distortion gets. Each face on the shape that holds the Skydome texture is 15 degrees in the horizontal which introduces massive distortion. Honestly - unless we can do something to increase the number of faces on the shape to reduce distortion - it doesn't seem worth while to continue on this path of producing realistic Skydomes.


100,000,000 Pixel Skydome
Attached Image: Image1.jpg


Regards,
Scott

#14 User is offline   scottb613 

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Posted 22 March 2021 - 07:18 AM

Hi Folks,

Even though dissatisfied with the ORTS introduced distortion - playing around with Terragen to see what's possible.


Attached Image: Cirrus.jpg


Attached Image: Cloudy15.jpg


Attached Image: Cloudy75.jpg


Regards,
Scott

#15 User is offline   steved 

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Posted 22 March 2021 - 09:05 AM

Not bad Scott.
https://i.imgur.com/jES9FR6.jpg

Thanks
Randy

#16 User is offline   copperpen 

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Posted 22 March 2021 - 09:22 AM

Where does the skydome shape reside?. Is it compiled at runtime and added to the route?

#17 User is offline   R H Steele 

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Posted 22 March 2021 - 09:31 AM

SkyDome1.png resides in Content Folder ... don't know if that is what you are referring to...me I cannot find where the sun.png is. Too bad we don't have the ability to have other Skydome names...like Skydome2.png .

#18 User is offline   scottb613 

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Posted 22 March 2021 - 09:32 AM

View Poststeved, on 22 March 2021 - 09:05 AM, said:

Not bad Scott.

Thanks
Randy


Hi Randy,

Hah - they were just a preview at 1024x1024 pixels - - - I'll get you a 7500x7500 and 10000x10000 to play with.

I work on this in two locations and while my Kaby Lake can crunch a 100000x10000 pixels in four hours - - - I left the same file running on my Sandy Bridge for eight hours and it was only 10% done. I'll crank out some new high resolution Skydomes when I get home this weekend on my good machine.

Regards,
Scott

#19 User is offline   scottb613 

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Posted 22 March 2021 - 09:47 AM

View Postcopperpen, on 22 March 2021 - 09:22 AM, said:

Where does the skydome shape reside?. Is it compiled at runtime and added to the route?


Hi Mervyn,

Yeah - I've looked - I can't find anything resembling a shape for the Skydome. I'm assuming it's computed at run time. I'd love to have a chat with someone in the know on the code. Even if someone could identify the block of code where this function resides - possibly posting it for us to review and have a conversation - would be helpful.

While I think we should have more faces on the Skydome - the texture application on the hemisphere is obviously stretched by whatever method the developer used and it really doesn't have to be. This "Fisheye" texture can be applied to a hemisphere in modeling software without the stretch being illustrated by my red line image posted above.

Thanks for the interest.

Regards,
Scott

#20 User is offline   steved 

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Posted 22 March 2021 - 11:01 AM

That one's pretty good too.
https://i.imgur.com/GtAMUG7.jpg


#21 User is offline   scottb613 

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Posted 22 March 2021 - 11:06 AM

View Poststeved, on 22 March 2021 - 11:01 AM, said:

That one's pretty good too.


Hi Randy,

Beautiful station you have there.
:)

Regards,
Scott

#22 User is offline   steved 

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Posted 22 March 2021 - 11:13 AM

Scott,

Thanks, it's a work in progress.
Is it possible to have thunderstorm clouds coming in from the west while having the calm before the storm in the east?


#23 User is offline   scottb613 

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Posted 22 March 2021 - 11:22 AM

View Poststeved, on 22 March 2021 - 11:13 AM, said:

Scott,

Thanks, it's a work in progress.
Is it possible to have thunderstorm clouds coming in from the west while having the calm before the storm in the east?


Hi Randy,

I'm sure it is - that was the next thing I was going to try and tackle - some real storm clouds. The software is pretty darn deep and complex. I've only just scratched the surface.

Here's some by another user - most people don't use the "Fisheye Camera" that we need - but if someone sets up a scene and shares it - all I need to do is change the camera to create a Skydome out of it.


Attached Image: file.jpg


Regards,
Scott

#24 User is offline   ebnertra000 

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Posted 22 March 2021 - 03:43 PM

View Postscottb613, on 22 March 2021 - 11:22 AM, said:

Hi Randy,

I'm sure it is - that was the next thing I was going to try and tackle - some real storm clouds. The software is pretty darn deep and complex. I've only just scratched the surface.

Here's some by another user - most people don't use the "Fisheye Camera" that we need - but if someone sets up a scene and shares it - all I need to do is change the camera to create a Skydome out of it.


Attachment file.jpg


Regards,
Scott


That would be cool. Just needs some flashes and distant rumbling. I kind of wish the weather effects when you're in the storm were a bit better, too

#25 User is offline   ErickC 

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Posted 22 March 2021 - 04:44 PM

When I uploaded the replacement environment sounds, a separate set of storm SMS files was included with directions for swapping it with the rain set. It would be nice if a "storm" option could be coded into OR - it could use the storm SMS set, increase the rate of rain, reduce visibility, and increase wind. Throw in random sprite-based lightning strikes and you've got a winner. The way I see lightning working is that you'd have a set of alpha images containing the whole lightning bolt from cloud to ground, and those would get rendered on a sprite that would appear in random locations for a fraction of a second, and while it appears, the visible portions could rapidly change through colours not unlike diesel smoke.

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