Thomm Posted September 4, 2002 Share Posted September 4, 2002 When I first opened the Zitadelle scenario I just saw a big contourless beige polygon! Now here is an idea: For high view levels let a hotkey activate the following function: a) Create a solid rectangular polygon at the "base" of the map, that is, the lowest point of the map! "Sweep" the filled rectangle vertically from the point of lowest elevation to the highest point of the map (at a fixed reasonable relative rate, e.g. 2 seconds from top to bottom). What would you get by this: Well, the filled polygon would intersect with the terrain to create (temporary) terrain slices and, therefore, terrain contour lines at almost NO COST (everything would be handled by the Z-buffer of the 3D cards.) The whole process would be similar to what you see when scrolling through a human CT or what you would see if the terrain stood in a box that is slowly filled with water! It would be very easy to understand the general layout of the maps, for example, how many ridges have to be crossed. Furthermore, it would combine the precision of setting waypoints offered by the top-down views with the information given by view-level one, without requiring additional measures like grid lines! Regards, Thomm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomm Posted September 4, 2002 Author Share Posted September 4, 2002 I hope you do not mind my bumping this ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomm Posted September 5, 2002 Author Share Posted September 5, 2002 Last bump ... promised! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flesh Posted September 5, 2002 Share Posted September 5, 2002 Hmmm, interesting idea. Sounds like it would look really cool too. Also, I can't think of any other game that has this feature. However, I doubt very much that we will see anything like this until the engine rewrite... Still, it seems like it's worth keeping in mind till then. Anybody else got an opinion on this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panzer Leader Posted September 5, 2002 Share Posted September 5, 2002 This thread is crazy on Acid! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kwazydog Posted September 5, 2002 Share Posted September 5, 2002 Thomm, Ill make sure the idea is passed into Chalres, but Im guessing this sort of thing will probably have to wait for the rewrite Dan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomm Posted September 5, 2002 Author Share Posted September 5, 2002 Thank you sooo much Dan! I am hoping for the best (one rectangle moving from point A to point B should be a breeze for Charles, considered how he creates and animates polygons on the fly, see, for example, explosion debris)!!! With the proper amount of transparency/filtering, it might even be aesthetically pleasing (like a rising water level, for instance)! And if you think of the interface in terms of your favorite 3D drawing program, then the concept of an "auxiliary plane" will be both familiar and well-established! Thanks for your attention!!!! Thomm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Sgt. Emren Posted September 5, 2002 Share Posted September 5, 2002 Thomm, I like your idea. Another way (I think) of achieving essentially the same thing, i.e. the ability to read the terrain more easily, would be to switch off all textures on the pure terrain map, and have the deepest points be dark and the highest points bright. Don't know which one is the easiest, though... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Pies Posted September 5, 2002 Share Posted September 5, 2002 An alternative would be to allow a contour texture to be overlaid on the terrain like a real map or colour code the elevations, red for high blue for low with a rainbow colour gradation in between. My line of work is in 3d Visualization and thats how we look at mapped surfaces in the Oil Industry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce70 Posted September 5, 2002 Share Posted September 5, 2002 Originally posted by Captain Pies: An alternative would be to allow a contour texture to be overlaid on the terrain like a real mapNow that would be cool, can we have this in the new engine pleeease? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fetchez la Vache Posted September 5, 2002 Share Posted September 5, 2002 Some sort of exaggeration of the shading would be very cool indeed in helping read the lie of the land more quickly. From the Citadel demo it's obvious how important micro-analysis of the levels is of importance when fighting on the steppes. Which of course it should be... Sometimes tbh I find the current shading levels a bit too subtle for my failing eyesight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Pies Posted September 5, 2002 Share Posted September 5, 2002 Easiest thing here would be to allow the user to have limited control of the position of the light source or even have a calculated light source consistent with the actual sun position for the time of day/year. Low angle lighting will pick up the details of the terrain very nicely Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shosties Posted September 5, 2002 Share Posted September 5, 2002 I think the best thing for CM3 would be a hotkey that, when selected, takes away all the trees, shrubs, surface textures and gives you a smooth shaded, grid- and/or contour-lined version of the map. IIRC the demo for the game Brigade Combat Team had a LOS tool that could be worked all around a plan view 2D contour map in which area that was within LOS to the cursor point was "shaded" white with radiating lines. I didn't really like it much, but something similar might be really nice, and maybe too much of an aid to us. [ September 05, 2002, 09:14 AM: Message edited by: Shosties4th ] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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