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Knockhill

Started by Grooveski, March 28, 2016, 06:26:00 PM

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Grooveski

March 28, 2016, 06:26:00 PM Last Edit: March 28, 2016, 07:20:52 PM by Grooveski
Done a fairly substantial Knockhill update a few years ago.  Brought it up to current kerb and runoff layout and tarted it up a little.
Thought I'd use it to start getting to grips with...
...well, everything really.

So - first question...
(oh dear, ominous start, I'm not even in TrackED yet ::) )

PITOUT_TRKASPH (and PIT_TRKASPH)
Little or large?
(assuming the white line and exit gate go just before the selected area)

Thinking behind the first is that no-one can clip it from the main track.
Thinking behind the second is that it's the proper pitout selection and maybe TrackED doesn't like smartarses.




Grooveski

Pitlane speed display.   ;D
..and yeah, it did take me all night to realise what the game was doing with those surfaces.
(or one of them at least)

What a difference a day makes.  Yesterday when I started it was a finished model.  By bedtime it was in a hundred bits for another major rebuild.   ::)
Guess my idea of 'tarted up' has changed.

Hawk

I presume your going to separate the track surface from the terrain surroundings? Or is all of that(in your pics) Pit-lane track surface?
I also separate the objects named PITIN_TRKASPH, PIT_TRKASPH, and PITOUT_TRKASPH.

Hawk.

Grooveski

March 29, 2016, 06:30:45 PM #3 Last Edit: March 29, 2016, 06:33:32 PM by Grooveski
Yeah, that's just the pitlane, 2nd pic will be the selection to move to PITOUT_TRKASPH.
But when you(and the track rules guide) say objects... 
...are you talking separate files or or just separate parts/layers?

What I pictured when I read through everything was a single model and looking down the layers:
- Top dozen or so are the geometry for each of the ridable surfaces and the pit sections, with corresponding layer names as per the guide.
(Include a strip of land outside the fence in the collision model so if the bike goes over it's not a bottomless pit.)
- Next few same again for walls and fences.
- Then landscape and assorted other gubbins(where names don't matter?) on various other layers to form the complete model.
...which then goes through fbx-edf.

Then you load it into TrackED
...as a .trp?
....or is trp the TrackED project format?
.....and if so then how do you get a model in?  I don't see an 'import'
Oh, drag and drop maybe?
Yeah, definately a little confusion still about that bit.   ???

...but I watched janaucarre's vid on using TrackED and that looks almost fun(compared to the autocad and spreadsheet fiasco I've been used to).   ;D

Oh, there are models in the Mega track database.  :) Should maybe have a rummage through them to see how they're set up.   

Hawk

Quote from: Grooveski on March 29, 2016, 06:30:45 PM
Yeah, that's just the pitlane, 2nd pic will be the selection to move to PITOUT_TRKASPH.
But when you(and the track rules guide) say objects... 
...are you talking separate files or or just separate parts/layers?

What I pictured when I read through everything was a single model and looking down the layers:
- Top dozen or so are the geometry for each of the ridable surfaces and the pit sections, with corresponding layer names as per the guide.
(Include a strip of land outside the fence in the collision model so if the bike goes over it's not a bottomless pit.)
- Next few same again for walls and fences.
- Then landscape and assorted other gubbins(where names don't matter?) on various other layers to form the complete model.
...which then goes through fbx-edf.

Then you load it into TrackED
...as a .trp?
....or is trp the TrackED project format?
.....and if so then how do you get a model in?  I don't see an 'import'
Oh, drag and drop maybe?
Yeah, definately a little confusion still about that bit.   ???

...but I watched janaucarre's vid on using TrackED and that looks almost fun(compared to the autocad and spreadsheet fiasco I've been used to).   ;D

Oh, there are models in the Mega track database.  :) Should maybe have a rummage through them to see how they're set up.

I use Maya so it's probably a bit different to what your pipeline procedures are. But if I'm converting a track I'll separate all the individual elements of the scene into different layers first, ie: Track surface, kerbs, terrain, barriers, and then put everything else into a layer named "Misc"; I do this because layers allow me to switch the visibility on and off of those layers which allow me to work on the scene elements I want to work on without everything else cluttering the scene up while I work.

I consider an object a single mesh which makes up one element of the scene, ie: the whole terrain mesh will be one object, the whole track surface mesh will be one object, a section of barrier will be one object, etc, etc. An alternative would be when you combine objects into one object, ie: several spectator models combined as one object, so any number of single objects that are combined would be considered one object in the scene.

I don't store/export/import objects in the scene as separate files, I always use layers to work on all objects in the scene as a whole. That way I can access any object in the scene quickly as and when I want/need to do some work on them.

Yes, you load(open) the {trackname}.trp file into TrackED(it's the only file format TrackED will load as it's main track file). The .trp file is the track scene collision file, and as far as I've gathered it also stores the merged centreline data too.
The .map file is all the texture data or map of the track scene.

Anything that doesn't need a collision detection you can name whatever you like apart from things like non-collision paint lines, crowds(spectators) and a few other things that have naming conventions that are non-collision.

If it would make it easier to learn, I can send you a GPB converted 3D scene file in FBX format for you to study?  ;)

Hawk.




Grooveski

OK, that all makes sense - Cheers!  Different terminology but that's pretty much what I was thinking.

So fbx-edf writes out the .trp and .map along with the edf?

An example fbx would be great thanks.  That'd answer questions I haven't even thought of yet.  :)

Hawk

Quote from: Grooveski on March 29, 2016, 09:39:10 PM
OK, that all makes sense - Cheers!  Different terminology but that's pretty much what I was thinking.

So fbx-edf writes out the .trp and .map along with the edf?

An example fbx would be great thanks.  That'd answer questions I haven't even thought of yet.  :)

The FBX2EDF converter will do a run for the selected .trp option, and then you have to run it again to do the .map option.
The .trp file will take just seconds to complete(don't forget to note down the track code generated on your final run when the run log ends), and the .map file will take about 2 - 3 mins with the basic options selected, but if your doing your final .map run with all the bells and whistles on the output then it can take an hour or more depending on the complexity of the scene. So best leave the final .map run till your happy with the result. Lol

You only have to use the .edf run if your creating your own sky/backdrop models. But with Aragon I'm going to experiment with creating actual backdrop terrain models at there proper distance from the track and see if they show-up in the draw distance(I've heard the draw distance can be altered(increased)). It will be interesting to see the effect and if at all it affects the FPS performance? But I won't convert that distance terrain into a .edf file at all. I'm intrigued to see what happens.  ;D

I'll send you that .fbx track scene file tomorrow mate.  ;)

Hawk.

Grooveski

Quote from: Hawk on March 29, 2016, 10:55:52 PMYou only have to use the .edf run if your creating your own sky/backdrop models. But with Aragon I'm going to experiment with creating actual backdrop terrain models at there proper distance from the track and see if they show-up in the draw distance(I've heard the draw distance can be altered(increased)). It will be interesting to see the effect and if at all it affects the FPS performance? But I won't convert that distance terrain into a .edf file at all. I'm intrigued to see what happens.  ;D

Funny you should mention that.  The model I've just put together has a backdrop ring and I wasn't sure whether it went in along with the main model or on it's own.  I know some games put it in with the skydome so it's visibility isn't dependant on draw distance.

Knockhill's terrain model - out with the old...



...and in with the new.  :)



I'll have a look at Aragon if you like.  I think I can use the same process anywhere in the world.
At least I could maybe get the local DEM into a usable format for you.  I'm set up here with a wide array of conversion utils...
...and you need them for DEMs.  Everyone has their own bright idea what format they should be in.   ::)

Grooveski

March 30, 2016, 01:54:27 AM #8 Last Edit: March 30, 2016, 01:56:05 AM by Grooveski
Went for a 3km radius but I'm not sure why - it just looked about right.



Yes, poly reduction is on the todo list.   ;)

Hawk

That looks great mate!  ;D

We'll definitely give this a try..... can you send it over when done please? (fbx format preferred.  ;) ) ;D

Hawk
PS: I'm just sorting out that file for you. Expect a PM+link in the next hour and half.  ;)

Grooveski

April 11, 2016, 12:30:26 AM #10 Last Edit: April 11, 2016, 12:34:30 AM by Grooveski
With no race this weekend I got a bit of footering done.  Not the land poly-red yet(which is what I first set out to do ??? ) but some of the large detailing and new stuff.
The real circuit has changed a fair bit recently, a lot of groundwork and some new buildings.  Using bits from the existing GPB/Rfactor model, bits from the GP500 model and the rest I've been making myself. 



Undecided what to do with the infield.  Adding the new tarmac areas and digging the pond would be easy enough but would mean scrapping the old MX track and I've been getting the notion to recreate that for MXB(which would also improve the background detailing on the GPB model).
...so I'll leave it for the moment.

Done some poly-red on the immediate surrounding land(the gokart track and support road mainly(should have done it years ago first time round) and started blending it into the new landscape.

Work is progressing nicely on the new pit building.  Have just slipped over the 1000 poly budget I set myself but it's near done so won't end up far over.



May need some advice on the skylight.  It's full length and will want to be a wearing a different texture on the inside from the outside with some combination  of transparency/translucency/non-shadow-casting shenanigans on both the surfaces no doubt.  :-\



Found a fantastic wee thing earlier today.  Some kind of aerial lidar model or the likes.

https://sketchfab.com/models/96f3a61996b64e28925de73b7bf6dbff

How clever is that?  :D

BOBR6 84

Oh shit check that out lol  8) That available for every track??

Grooveski

I wish. 

Other tracks did pop up when I had a search through but mainly models rather than scans.  Think I lucked out with this one being there, followed the links back to an Scottish aerial photography company.  Guessing this is a showpiece model.
Sure is cute though.  It's basically living fullscreen on the second monitor like Streetview does when I'm working on Scarborough.   :)

Grooveski

Track widths tweaked and I'm running round reworking the sandtraps.
Road surface has been subdivided twice, so it's essentially the GP500 model but much smoother.



Have remapped the kerbs and extra runoff areas so they start and finish at the right spots.  Very few of the kerbs are square-ended at Knockhill though so they still need a rework to add detail.


SwarleyRuiz

I use the google translator

Youtube: SwarleyRuiz Video of Games Racing.