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More what if stuff for MSTS2. I think it would be neat if there were LODs that worked in reverse. Sometimes the the dominant characteristics of a structure might have round surfaces ( = many polygons). Maybe with reverse LODs you could have a low poly large object that dissapears as you get closer to the object. Then the high poly object would appear. For example the columns of a bridge might be a cube at long distances but a cylinder at close distances. Another example might be a F unit that has a slightly rounded cube nose at long distances but high poly rounded nose at short distances.
Ermm... I'm not quite sure what you're getting at here because this is already standard behavior in MSTS. (or any 3D game for that matter)Watch the scenery objects. They gain "parts" as you approach. That's the whole point of LOD scaling. Poly's are scaled up as you approach.Maybe I'm completely missing what you're getting at here? -Jeff
<<They gain "parts" as you approach. >>Thanks for your comment.I know additional parts are added to an object as the viewer gets closer to an object. I am talking about the individual parts themselves. Currently LOD, please correct me if I am wrong, just adds individual parts. I am thinking of the individual part as a complex shape with many faces. The number of faces representing a part would change as a function of distance.This could make the distance for drawing objects as great as the user was willing to tolerate. I could have 20 grain silos 10 miles away represented as 10 rectangular cubes with 5 faces per silo. Then at 0.5 miles away the 10 silos would appear as 10 cylinders with say 90 faces per silo. Thus the number of parts would not change but the number of faces of each part would increase.
>The number of faces representing a part would change as a function of distance.Not sure where you're going, but this is in fact how LOD's work in games.Cheers! Marc - 3DTrains http://www.3dtrains.comPro Series SuperPacks
><<They gain "parts" as you approach. >> > >Thanks for your comment. > >I know additional parts are added to an object as the viewer >gets closer to an object. I am talking about the individual >parts themselves. Currently LOD, please correct me if I am >wrong, just adds individual parts. I am thinking of the >individual part as a complex shape with many faces. The >number of faces representing a part would change as a >function of distance. Perhaps I simplified too much. On re-reading, I can see it could easily be confused. By "parts", I didn't mean it actually added more pieces to the model. By "parts", I meant it's adding additional polygons. Or as you put it, individual faces.For example. A simple house type structure at a distance will be a simple cube with sometimes a triangular roof. As you get closer, more poly's are added to make the model closer to it's high resolution ideal. As such, eye candy such as porches or window awnings are added to the model that are missing from the low poly distant model. It doesn't actually say, "hey, now we can stick this porch element on". It's just rendering more poly's on the model.The LOD scaling algorithm decides, Hey, this porch is extraneous, let's cut the poly's needed to add the porch. The porch isn't a seperate object, simply additional polygons needed to make up the whole complex model.As I stated before, and as Marc also said, what you are describing is what already happens. That's the whole concept behind LOD scaling. If you want to do an experiment, move the detail sliders on scenery and trains all the way to the left. These are your low poly distant models. No fewer pieces, just fewer polygons.-Jeff
Thank you both for your polite responses. I did not realize the LOD was incrementally adding faces on primitives. It always appeared to me that once the LOD allowed a primitive to be rendered at a given distance the number of faces stayed the same as you continued to get closer to the object.
