[James Ross]

eolesen, on 22 February 2024 - 02:28 PM, said:

For a developer..... How hard would it be to take the following boundary and populate a forest within it?

	PolyForest (
		UiD ( 132 )
		TreeGroup ( JP2AutoTree1.ace, JP2AutoTree2.ace, JP2AutoTree1.ace )
		ScaleRange ( 0.9 1.1 )
		Population ( 10 )
		TreeSize ( 16 20 )
		StaticFlags ( 00000000 )
		Position ( -92.0677 0.87081 -118.481 )
		QDirection ( 0 0 0 1 )
		Points ( 6 
			Point ( -92.0677 0.87081 -118.481 )
			Point ( -108.81 0.894868 -73.4293 )
			Point ( -104.485 1.51015 -190.919 )
			Point ( -78.2488 -1.51429 -122.839 )
			Point ( -95.0944 0.857233 -144.572 )
			Point ( -95.5375 0.855669 -147.224 )
		)

This looks like a great idea!

In terms of the data:

• Position - could be skipped if the "Point" values were absolute within the tile
  
• QDirection - could be skipped as any rotation in the editor can update the "Point" values instead
  
• Point - could be just 2 values, as forests always follow the terrain, you don't need a vertical position

Either way, none of these are major issues, just suggestions that could simplify the data and the code in Open Rails.

As for tree placement itself, probably the simplest option is to work out a bounding box (easy by doing min/max on the "Point" values) and place trees into that box using the same algorithm as currently except also checking if they are inside the polygon defined by "Points". I believe checking inside/outside of a single polygon is a pretty easy thing to do.

Looking forward to seeing the first poly-forest!

[eric from trainsim]

Position and height are still needed by the editor unfortunately.

[johnnyboi1066]

It would be interesting if there was some sort of "far-away" trees option too - like where it populates far away mountains and what not with some sort of "tree texture" that gives the illusion of there being a forest there in the distance.
I am still somewhat new here so I am not sure if something of the sort exists already or is even possible, just curious that's all.

Cheers,
John

[Weter]

so far - satellite image-based textures were used for Distant Mountains "painting"
https://www.elvastower.com/forums/uploads/monthly_03_2016/post-4994-0-43609100-1457103183_thumb.jpg
...however...
https://www.elvastower.com/forums/uploads/monthly_11_2021/post-27-0-29808100-1637509477_thumb.jpg

[Jovet]

Forest regions don't care about height. The Y coordinate doesn't matter. A series of (X,Z) coordinates to define the boundary of an enclosed polygon is all that's required, with maybe some caveat if any of the boundaries cross each other. Reminds me of the Windows API Region code.

[SVRy_Steve]

I've been fiddling with a terrtex patch of deciduous trees for distant hillsides. Here's a real quick example of how it looks in TSRE. I just yanked the hills up, so nothing special, just a place to try the texture!

Attached thumbnail(s)

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