ROAM Planet rendering

[aguru]

Those are beautiful, alex. I wonder - can you really overdo the mesh resolution? Just for one screenshot's sake?

[Sovaka]

Those are beautiful, alex. I wonder - can you really overdo the mesh resolution? Just for one screenshot's sake?

We've done that... There is no real noticeable difference
From space, the coast edges are a little more defined.

Once we get our additional terrain modifiers in place like erosion et c, we will up the res then to see if there is a difference.
This is the butter zone for good looking terrain while holding a great FPS.

[DavlexDesign]

G'day guys,

Just a query, but, with this new release of Ogre 1-8-0, is there some changes I'm missing for modifying parameters to shaders from within the engine ?
I compile up my engine, and it compiles fine, if I set it to not modify the parameters it works (looks like crap but runs fine), I set it to modify the parameters and it locks up, no log messages, just an exception, and stops working (the usual windows box pops up with a progress bar in it, saying the program has stopped).

Code: Select all

Ogre::GpuProgramParametersSharedPtr vparams = CloudEntity->getSubEntity(0)->getTechnique()->getPass(0)->getVertexProgramParameters();
Ogre::GpuProgramParametersSharedPtr fparams = skyEntity->getSubEntity(0)->getTechnique()->getPass(0)->getFragmentProgramParameters();
vparams->setNamedConstant("UnderClouds", Ogre::Vector4( separation, (float)nitpcount, CloudAlt, Altitude));
fparams->setNamedConstant("BoundSky", Ogre::Vector4(MaxHeight, PlanetRadius, AtmoHeight, Altitude));

This won't work any more ?

Alex

[aguru]

We've done that... There is no real noticeable difference (..)

Yep, that makes sense. Thanks for the info, though!

[LordBaal]

with this new release of Ogre 1-8-0
Alex

So... you are releasing a new demo so we can play around with it???

[LordBaal]

I'm starting to worry a lot about you...

[ultramedia]

I'm not

I know how even the coolest of projects can go cold for a month or two under duress of everyday life...

[LordBaal]

Jejejeje... more than worry is more a bit of anxiety! The quality of work of this gentlemen is so good that I can barely wait. The only thing keeping my inner gamer sane is the recent release of Dwarf Fortress..

[Sovaka]

Nothing to show at the moment.

We are working on the Game Loop at the moment. Getting it ready for game mechanics with all required Networking, Physics, Scripting et c.

[DavlexDesign]

Yeah, G'day guys,

Sorry about the lack of updates, Like sovaka said, there isn't much to show right now, we are working on the main game loop, and code execution sequence of the thing, I have a hiccup in it at the moment where when you approach the planet (quickly mainly) I get a shudder every so often, and sometimes it happens turning on the spot when on the ground when displaying higher resolution meshes for the terrain. I want to nail this on the head before too much else gets enabled.

I believe that getting this sorted will ease the debugging of other addons as I go, because I can pretty much eliminate the need to poor through the older code, to try and nail down errors like this. These are the tricky ones, nothing goes wrong, no hangups, no memory leaks, nothing like that, just a shudder every now and then, otherwise it reports 250+ fps anyway.

Poor sovaka is having the daunting task of creating the servers' data base table structure for the end project that this engine will drive, I don't envy him one bit, we've been running through a wishlist of scenarios and features we would like incorporated / catered for in this system, and once we have all of it sort of worked out, then we have to see how we can optimize the structure of information stored locally and globally to make it as bandwidth friendly as possible. Then we have to code it in, that's when we will have to take off the rose colored glasses, and cull stuff, really start looking at what makes a difference to gameplay and what is just overkill.

We should have something for you guys to look at soon, so please be a little patient with us, we are quite hard at it, and there are always times in the dev cycle, where things tend to not be visible with regards to visual optimization etc, I try to get the thing looking good with heavy long winded shader and parameter code, and then bring it all back once I really know what I need, and I can usually achieve the same if not better look, with less code and simpler shading routines.

Alex

[DavlexDesign]

G'day guys,

Been a while since I put up a couple of pics, so I thought I might, after cleaning up allot of redundant stuff (code) getting it setup for inclusion into the main H.U.G.E engine system.
I remember a complaint about the thing having too low a res from orbit, so I toyed around a bit to get the mesh high resolution from space, but also keeping the geometry within my allocated vertex budget ...

CurrMeshOrbit.jpg

and ...

CurrMeshRendered.jpg

I decided that to keep the res of the mesh high enough for you guys, and if the planet has water allocated (if it doesn't, it can go back one or two steps, and still looks ok), I reduce the terrain detail under the waters surface, and re allocate the spare to the stuff you can see. I seems to work OK.

Alex

[DavlexDesign]

G'day again,

With the mesh like this, I also decided to increase the resolution of the mesh when closer towards the ground also (inside the atmosphere) and while on the ground, and with this new found time to spare on the mesh generation, I tackled the clouds a bit more .....

CurrentClouds.jpg

They are starting to look nicer and nicer I think.

CurrClouds02.jpg

If you look at this final shot, I also made some improvements to the reflections and shadows on the water also, plus you will notice the ground has quite a bit more detail in it too, even at this altitude the mountain shapes in the distance look nicer. Also, the clouds in the distance are looking a little more nicer and have more volume as well.

I'll keep you filled in on more as I integrate the newer stuff I have, but no pics on those yet, sorry.

Alex

[ultramedia]

Sensational as always Alex

Particularly like the clouds and water in the last shot!

[duststorm]

Those shots look really impressive. Very nice work

[DavlexDesign]

g'day guys,

Thanks for the nice comments, really appreciate it.
Those pictures really don't do the thing justice, the forum system now sort of kills them for some reason.

Alex

[ultramedia]

just quietly, I think that last one would look quite a bit more realistic if the ripples in the water were *much* smaller...

[DavlexDesign]

G'day,

just quietly, I think that last one would look quite a bit more realistic if the ripples in the water were *much* smaller...

CurrFormations02.jpg

Like that ?

OH yeah, the fractal adjustments I have made, lend themselves to some really nice formations now ....

CurrFormations.jpg

I've also made some improvements to the terrain shader (W.I.P.)
I've implemented a sort of variable depth / normal map influence thing, so that rocky surfaces have a more pronounced normal map lighting effect than flatter grassy / sandy surfaces, I think it gives the terrain a more natural look. I can't wait to add in those GPU shaders maybe from the GPU terrain editor thingy, just have to figure out how to setup the data for a consistent look, and not kill the GPU at the same time.

Alex

[ultramedia]

nope, the detail texture/shader on the water is still way too low frequency, it throws the scale of the view out. Check this pic:

*edit* or not, if the website doesn't allow embedding of their images...

[ultramedia]

Having said that, the mountain shot did nearly make me cry. In a good way. Like when you're watching one of those got talent shows and the weird looking person starts singing something amazing and everyone stands and claps.

[ultramedia]

Here's a fascinating shot of some coastal water.
If it was 3d you'd go pfft bad texture look at the seams BUT IT'S REAL!!1!
(Don't look at it too long it messes with your mind).

*edit* doesn't fit in the browser properly, right click on it and choose view image

[ultramedia]

sorry can't help myself The mountains look so mind slappy it seems a shame not to have the water looking that good too...

This one's a really good example of what I mean:

[DavlexDesign]

G'day again ultramedia,

Now those are cool reference shots, I will en-devour to see if I can mimic them, and see how I go.

Thanks mate !!!

Alex

[duststorm]

I can't wait to add in those GPU shaders maybe from the GPU terrain editor thingy

That would be so cool!
The terrain on that mountain looks pretty nice as well.

[palaslet]

Alex,

You can see from ultramedia's pictures that the water tend to have straight lines in its ripples. Might be that you'll come a long way just implementing 1 dimentional noise in top of what you got. Just to simulate the small ripples caused by the wind... if there is any wind...

Actually it will need to be 2 dimentional since one dimention must be the time, but you probaly knew all of that already.

Mountains = WOW!

And also the blending of textures seems much more elegant now. You've been holding back on us! Damn you! (In a good way)

[Sovaka]

I'll just leave this here...