Some Questions # X

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dagobert
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Some Questions # X

Post by dagobert » 2009-09-01, 19:15

Hello. I have just stumbled upon this engine and found it to be surprisingly good compared to others because it has a solid set of features needed in an SDK.

However i came up with 2 major problems that prevent me from being too happy...

1. It is said on the web page, that texturing terrain in WED is not yet possible.
How does it work then?
Is Multi-Texturing already possible?
I mean, do i have to render e.g. a top view of the terrain in terragen and then resize it to a huge texture and directly paint on it?
If let's say one makes use of the road tool, how do i assign Texture A to the surrounding Terrain and Texture B only to the road?
(If you are familiar with the hammer editor, i mean Alpha-Blending/WorldVertexTransition feature or sth. similar)
Is this possible or planned yet?

2. In the tutorial on how to place a model, it says:
Collision models are made of brushes and are represented in the *.cmap format.
This comes in quite handy for many purposes.
But my Question here is:
Are there other collision mesh formats supported?
Like MDL or others?
Because sometimes one would prefer to create the collision mesh in the 3D-Editor of choice instead of composing it in WED.
Especially when there is some complexity involved (e.g. a Tree Model).
Is this possible or planned yet?


Thank you for answering in advance :book:



(please excuse my bad english)

PS: I have tried the "search" option with no luck.
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Carsten
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Re: Some Questions # X

Post by Carsten » 2009-09-04, 00:20

Dear Dagobert,
welcome to the Cafu engine forums! :welcome1:

dagobert wrote:1. It is said on the web page, that texturing terrain in WED is not yet possible.
How does it work then?
Is Multi-Texturing already possible?
I mean, do i have to render e.g. a top view of the terrain in terragen and then resize it to a huge texture and directly paint on it?
Unfortunately, this summarizes the current situation pretty well:
A "base texture" layer is created e.g. with Terragen and saved at e.g. 1024*1024, 512*512 or 256*256 pixels (and possibly customized in Photoshop, GIMP, etc.), and a detail map is modulated onto it for additional detail.
The terrain in the TechDemo level is an example where this technique has been employed.

If let's say one makes use of the road tool, how do i assign Texture A to the surrounding Terrain and Texture B only to the road?
(If you are familiar with the hammer editor, i mean Alpha-Blending/WorldVertexTransition feature or sth. similar)
Is this possible or planned yet?
Not yet possible, but planned!
(If you happen to be a programmer and are interested in helping, please let me know. :cheesy: )

2. In the tutorial on how to place a model, it says:
Collision models are made of brushes and are represented in the *.cmap format.
This comes in quite handy for many purposes.
But my Question here is:
Are there other collision mesh formats supported?
Like MDL or others?
Because sometimes one would prefer to create the collision mesh in the 3D-Editor of choice instead of composing it in WED.
Especially when there is some complexity involved (e.g. a Tree Model).
Is this possible or planned yet?
Currently, collision models can only be in .cmap file format. This is because collision models usually are (and should be) much simpler than their visual representations (the actual graphical models), and specifying "solid volume" is much easier with brushes than with triangles alone.

Good news: Especially for trees and vegetation, we're currently working on a specialized solution: You will be able to plant trees very conveniently inside the editor, and they will have automatic collision detection. :wohow:
(We're working on other features as well, more news coming soon...)

Thank you for answering in advance :book:
You're welcome! :up:
Best regards,
Carsten
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dagobert
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Joined:2009-09-01, 18:23

Re: Some Questions # X

Post by dagobert » 2009-09-04, 20:42

Hello again.

:thanks: for welcoming me

Unfortunately i am not a programmer, i have to disappoint you on that...

But your fast response gives me hope, that these two features will be implented in the not too distant future.

The thing is, after i looked into several open-source-engines and low-budget brand engines: none of them seem to be very friendly towards artists who, by nature, just don't want to fiddle with technical details too much (especially code, compiling, command lines, cross-compatibility etc.) in order to get results.

If your engine, when matured, is able to give level designers and content artists the most control while remaining user-friendly as possible (GUIs and Wizards might be the ultimate path to follow) without becoming a "3-Clicks-to-Your-Own-Game" i will definitely buy it.

Until then i guess i will have to visit the site frequently to be up to date about the newest improvements.


Thanks again for your fast and honest response.
I wish you good luck with your project and am eager to see the above mentioned improvements applied in the future :up:
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Carsten
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Re: Some Questions # X

Post by Carsten » 2009-09-07, 18:51

Hi Dagobert,
dagobert wrote:The thing is, after i looked into several open-source-engines and low-budget brand engines: none of them seem to be very friendly towards artists who, by nature, just don't want to fiddle with technical details too much (especially code, compiling, command lines, cross-compatibility etc.) in order to get results.
The "problem" is that a programmers viewpoint is often quite the contrary: Once you've spent a lot of time completing a great new feature, artists often ask to spend ten times as much for adding a nice user interface that conveniently saves them from a few keystrokes for text editing, but makes maintenance much harder and adds no new features.
( Sorry for the rant, I just feel obliged to point out the programmers point of view from time to time. :cheesy: Of course we'll continue to make good GUIs on top of great features! ;-) )
Until then i guess i will have to visit the site frequently to be up to date about the newest improvements.
You might pick up (subscribe to) the Cafu RSS feed. :up:
I wish you good luck with your project and am eager to see the above mentioned improvements applied in the future :up:
Thank you, we do our best! :-)
Best regards,
Carsten
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