fux0r666 Posted September 17, 2003 Report Share Posted September 17, 2003 A suggestion from the help desk was that we download pictures of the earth's weather patterns in real time. See the help desk for details. He says that it only updates every three hours. What I was thinking is that we could download a certain amount of time's worth of weather and fade or morph from one screen to the next. Since the weather patterns will be sequencial with only three hour gaps, the changes should not be too huge and if you simultaneously fade the old one out while fading the new one in it should look like an ethereal cloud drift/formation. When month end rolls around you could have a window pop up (monthly financial report) to hide the geoscape while the textures reset. If you had three or four random monthly patterns the user should not be able to distinguish them. That's my hypothesis, anyways. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cpl. Facehugger Posted September 17, 2003 Report Share Posted September 17, 2003 It could be intresting, but it might be rather difficult and time consuming to program, based on the description. And it would require a functional internet connection. So if your modem screws up, you either can't play xeno, or you don't see any clouds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deimos Posted September 17, 2003 Report Share Posted September 17, 2003 Its a very interesting idea but one we should be considering for a +v1.0 so I've moved it here into the lab. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mamutas Posted September 17, 2003 Report Share Posted September 17, 2003 Clouds could cover important details like seashore (Damn! I thought I attacked that UFO over land!). As well city names written over clouds will look funny. But I definitely want to see more weather effects in Battlescape. But, that is way past v1. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
[[Micah]] Posted September 17, 2003 Report Share Posted September 17, 2003 Defintely v1+ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Jim69 Posted September 17, 2003 Report Share Posted September 17, 2003 The cloud texture I have used is very minimilistic and makes it very easy to see the coast line. It's not particulary realistic but it helps make the Earth look more real whilst at the same time keeping clarity. I'd be happy to provide it if anyone is interested. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
[[Micah]] Posted September 17, 2003 Report Share Posted September 17, 2003 The cloud texture I have used is very minimilistic and makes it very easy to see the coast line. It's not particulary realistic but it helps make the Earth look more real whilst at the same time keeping clarity. I'd be happy to provide it if anyone is interested.This is for static backgrounds? Like for menues and such? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Jim69 Posted September 18, 2003 Report Share Posted September 18, 2003 Yeah. I did an Earth model for one of the menu's, it had some cloud cover. Here's a pic of what it looks like before I add static and stuff to it. Fluffy little clouds are alright, too much and it covers important stuff up. Should also be more transparent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deimos Posted September 20, 2003 Report Share Posted September 20, 2003 Jst as a minor critique Jim the model needs way more polys on it if you're rendering a static image I can see the division lines where the triangle meet up. Also I'd recommend pulling the blue marble topographic files off the nasa blue marble site. That way your model will look more in line with whats already been modelled. I would send you a copy of mine but they're rather large. This is more in the area you should be aiming for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Jim69 Posted September 20, 2003 Report Share Posted September 20, 2003 It was only an example of the cloud cover that could be used, this model won't be included anywhere since the new game screen is now going to use the same Earth map that the Geoscape uses. The cloud cover you have there looks good but maybe needs to be slightly more transparent, not for realism issues but simply because you would be staring at it for so long that the brightness could well get on peeps nerves. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
[[Micah]] Posted September 20, 2003 Report Share Posted September 20, 2003 I think the clouds in Deimos' rendering look excellent. By contrast, your rendering makes the earth look.... sickly? Like it's wearing sunglasses? Something.... And did you notice the little avenger in the bottom left quadrant of the pic? Hmmm..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Jim69 Posted September 20, 2003 Report Share Posted September 20, 2003 (edited) Good eyes! Is there any chance of a little more subdued version getting into the Geoscape? Maybe a test to see if it disrupts the continents? Edit: I got my texture from NASA so maybe that is why the colours aren't as vivid? Edited September 20, 2003 by Jim69 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
[[Micah]] Posted September 20, 2003 Report Share Posted September 20, 2003 Read Deimos' post again... the geoscape images that the project is using are from NASA's blue marble site.... Which NASA did you get your image from? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Jim69 Posted September 20, 2003 Report Share Posted September 20, 2003 Yeah I read that, but it wasn't that website. I haven't seen the blue marble site but maybe the images are enhansed there? I found it on 3dcafe.com, they had texture maps that they say are from NASA to make planets from so I used that since I didn't think NASA would be bothered if I used them. Or maybe the ones I used were enhansed to become darker, I don't know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
[[Micah]] Posted September 20, 2003 Report Share Posted September 20, 2003 So... you did not actually get them from NASA? Ok, that is definitely not the same thing as getting them from NASA. The blue marble images are not enhanced - they are the way they are supposed to be. Rather, the image you have must have been toned down or something... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Jim69 Posted September 20, 2003 Report Share Posted September 20, 2003 (edited) This is the website, I dunno. 4 some reason the cloud texture isn't on there anymore which is a pain in the arse, tho I did put them on my comp quite a while back. And it does say generated by JPL, not so sure that they aren't just pictures now I look at the site. Here Edit: I was tired yesterday and missed this bit out: So... you did not actually get them from NASA? Ok, that is definitely not the same thing as getting them from NASA And the most obvious comment of the year goes to....Micah! :: Only joking, just found it very funny when I read that back, could be me Back on topic, personally I think that the cloud cover Deimos has posted could go on the Geoscape with a few slight adjustments do peeps share my view or do they think it still obstructs the border lines a little? Would make the Geoscape a lot better I think. Edited September 20, 2003 by Jim69 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
[[Micah]] Posted September 20, 2003 Report Share Posted September 20, 2003 Well, the fact of the matter is that clouds covering the geoscape will probably not be included in v1.0, so let's drop it and move on to things that need to be worked on. Clouds in in-game videos and still shots are fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deimos Posted September 20, 2003 Report Share Posted September 20, 2003 The cloud cover on my rendering is actual cloud formation patterns from Nasa's blue marble site. The actual file I've got is a 34mb .tif and that's the smaller of the files I have from them For example the earth texture is 173mb. The images I'm showing aren't for use in the engineor even still pictures but are rather the much higher detailled maps that I'm using for cut scene work and animations. I've tried to keep the colouration of the clouds correct as you'll see from this reference pic from nasa's blue marble site. This is an actual pic rather than a render.Now I realise there are differences but I have to take into consideration our geoscape. It has to look like that as well otherwise we get the amateur patchwork look problem again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Jim69 Posted September 20, 2003 Report Share Posted September 20, 2003 (edited) Ah I see, it does look realistic. I never realised the Earth was so shiny. Maybe the versions I've got are a lot less detailed and less colours used to create a smaller file? Seems like that to me I think. Edit: Your clouds do look much brighter than on the real Earth u posted there tho. Edited September 20, 2003 by Jim69 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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