Scale Megathread

Re: SCALE MEGATHREAD NEW POLL !!

just please read before posting the same comment someone else said 5 times already

Re: SCALE MEGATHREAD NEW POLL !!

Except that the larger the planet is the more system resources it requires. If you take 2 planets, one with a radius of 50 and one with a radius of 100, the larger sphere has far more than double the surface area of the smaller one(if my lame math is correct it's more than 4 times the surface area actually) so it might not actually be the most "cost effective' measure, in terms of system resources at least.

Mike

Re: SCALE MEGATHREAD NEW POLL !!

good point.

Re: SCALE MEGATHREAD NEW POLL !!

Here's a vid I made of a 310 radius planet (no you probably can't generate one) hit 1080p!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTUyj14WZsQ
Njoy, I have to say I loved the scale in this one

Re: SCALE MEGATHREAD NEW POLL !!

Having that big a radius makes the terrain features look properly scaled and the horizon line more realistic, however I think that a planet that big would be GIGANTIC to fight a battle on. Maybe a radius of 250 could be the biggest size, but 310 seems just too big to play on to me.

Plus I wish the planet generator could make oceans and continents better, instead of making the whole planet look like Minnesota (tons of small lakes and land masses)

Re: SCALE MEGATHREAD NEW POLL !!

zepilot has a good solution to this, hopefully he will come here to explain.

Re: SCALE MEGATHREAD NEW POLL !!

in any case osirus9 the slider only goes up to 100, I had to edit the files to go up that high, the release won't play on planets this size as (for the time being) it takes a beast of a computer to just look around that planet.

Re: SCALE MEGATHREAD NEW POLL !!

Either terrain features need to get bigger, or units need to get smaller. Considering that Mountains are already pretty tall in comparison to the atmosphere, units should be the ones getting smaller. The only increase in detail it would require is probably an increase in the resolution of the Costfield for pathfinding, to compensate for smaller units. Geometry is already pretty high-res for its quantity.

Re: SCALE MEGATHREAD NEW POLL !!

They are several ways to reduce the curvature of the horizon even on small planets, without touching any scale :

Original (I've just imported the models in maya, not edited any scale.
I've put them on a arbitrary small sphere, as I don't have any idea what the units of the planets are in PA (100 doesn't mean anything to me



The easier solution is to make the camera able to be lower.
The lower you are to the ground, the flatter the horizon will be.
It's the same phenomenon on earth : Horizon seems flat on the ground, you need to go really high to notice any curvature.



But it won't be enough on really small planets.
If you increase the focal length of the camera, the horizon will seems flatter too.
Supcom already does an focal length alteration when zooming, it would make sense to make it the same on PA (will increase the feel that you really are zooming too).


Lower camera + longer focal length :


Notice how the destroyer feel more massive too.

The third needed solution is to undistort the image.
That's what you do to fix lenses distortion. In this case, it's an arbitrary deformation to flatten the horizon. The needed deformation can be easily computed on the fly, and depending on the zoom too.
I've took the original image, no alteration to camera height or focal length :

(there are deformations on the edges because I'm using a tool that is not meant for that, but believe me, it's possible to have the same without these distortions

Also, my sphere is probably smaller than the moon map. All these methods will be even more efficient on relatively bigger maps (like the "earth" planet). The distortion can of course fix it on any size, but you probably want to keep a little curvature for asteroids & moon. These are just examples.

I think the most sensible solution is a combination of these three methods, changing on the fly accordingly to the zoom. Can be user preferences too for those who like over-curved horizons.

Re: SCALE MEGATHREAD NEW POLL !!

Also the "lower" view is really low and close, but I want to point out that my original camera is already waaaay lower than the equivalent in PA.
I was just lazy to redo the screenshots with a original higher view.

In PA, the closest camera is equivalent to an orbital view, and it's a big part of the problem.

Re: SCALE MEGATHREAD NEW POLL !!

That's some very elegant and remarkable solutions you bring here! :mrgreen:

Add this to smaller units, bigger planets and better scale consistency between landscape and units and the game should look way better.

Re: SCALE MEGATHREAD NEW POLL !!

well yea but edge distortions are out of the question as it only works with grey neutral planet like you're showing, if it had a tree there, you could totally tell something was wrong there ....like when a bimbo talentlessly photoshops her own belly.

As for zooming in completely I'm also not very hot on the idea, but I do agree that the focal length idea is great.

Re: SCALE MEGATHREAD NEW POLL !!

Focal length should definitely be a part of zoom. Thank you for those solutions Pilot, someone finally contributed to this thread.

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Not really. The distortion is not that big.

Re: SCALE MEGATHREAD NEW POLL !!

okay then.

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While this surely is neat on a technical level, I've got to ask, whats the point of it?

Why would you want to hide the fact that we're playing on spheres?

Also it would add distortions to larger objects near the edges, it only works so well in your examples as they're both aligned well and in the middle.

Show those shots witha grid overlay.

Re: SCALE MEGATHREAD NEW POLL !!

I agree that what I find most sad about this aproach is that we would indeed be "hiding" or "camouflaging" the planet's looks. I thought something more authentic like shrinking the units would really be better.

also, as the distortion would add an effect of zooming in much more while zooming, on the last part of the zoom it would look weird as it would seem we are moving closer to the planet's surface yet the units are no longer getting closer as fast as the planet is. for a disorienting result.

Re: SCALE MEGATHREAD NEW POLL !!

It's more an answer for people saying that there is no solution to reduce the weird horizon curvature look.

Re: SCALE MEGATHREAD NEW POLL !!

yes I understand, and I agree that it is a good idea all in all.

Re: SCALE MEGATHREAD NEW POLL !!

nice effects to make the game look good when zoomed in.

But tbh who ever zooms in that far while playing a normal game? It sure is nice for screenshots, but it wont change the normal experience of playing the game.