#Interactive stuff
18 messages in this thread
My architect friends LOVED the fly-by/walkthrough I just did for them, thought
it was wonderful, but the !#*?! idiots turned round and said, why don't I do
the next one as an interactive file so that the client can move around it on
the computer and then when he is happy with the route then I can arrange a
video.
*Should not be too difficult* they said *the technique is used all the time in
computer games* they said.
Apart from sending them to a nudist colony in the antartic for winter sports
any one any suggestions as to where to start, what software to use etc.
Ken
>Apart from sending them to a nudist colony in the antartic for winter sports
any one any suggestions as to where to >start, what software to use etc.
Ken, I have some similar elements in my upcoming game Void Pirates.
If you have programming experience, go ahead and just code it, it's not too
hard, but keeping track of all the possible moves and directions is a chore.
If you're not a programmer, there are a few drag and drop development systems
available.
* Macromedia Director (about $1195, steep learning curve [don't yell at me
Jown:-)] )
* HSC Interactive, they're here in this forum, ask them a few questions.
* Asymetrix Multimedia Toolbook ($895 list, some programming skills
recommended, very crashy, cheap looking, but it may be fixed now).
If you're on a budget (or no budget):
My $1 solution is to just give them the scene and viewSpace….Then they can go
anywhere… this could actually be very cool.
Regards,
Ian
>>
My $1 solution is to just give them the scene and viewSpace….Then they can go
anywhere… this could actually be very cool.
<<
Ian, didn't Caligari mention something about a new viewSpace with tS 2.0 which
included real-time rendering ? What would be very cool (also) is if C. added
one saving feature: paths. A client could move around in the environment
setting up keyframes (or simply recording the movement of the objects) and this
could be saved to a file. The file could then be sent back to the tS owner who
could use that as a basis for rendering (ie. photorealistic renders) the
walk-thru/fly-by. What do ya think ?
– Shane.
That would work nicely…!
The only problem I forgot… 20 meg of textures! The user would be forced to
walk around the "White" House, if the textures and directory structure was not
on their machine…
-Ian
20 meg of textures? How do you keep it so small? My latest project has 174 meg
of files so far and I am only half way through modelling, and have not even
started animating yet, although I admit that their probally are several
generations of texture files in there.
Ken
>20 meg of textures? How do you keep it so small?
8 bit textures. I have compared 8 and 24 bit, and can't tell the difference at
15 fps. I also don't allow any renderings to hit the swap file(not enough time
in my life), if they do, I remove textures until things work.
It also depends on what you are designing….
-Ian
>>8 bit textures<<
Ah, that makes sense, I am going to have to put out to tape though, and I seem
to recall that some of these packages barf on 8 bits. Makes sense though if you
are making CD games, most people do not have 24 bit colour in any case.
> and I seem to recall that some of these packages barf on 8 bits
If you use 8 bit textures and backdrops etc… tS will still output 24 bit.
This just saves memory during rendering.
You wont see a difference in the end product.
-Ian
>>If you use 8 bit textures and backdrops etc… tS will still output 24 bit.
This just saves memory during rendering.<<
Brilliant Ian! I never worked that one out! I'll think kindly of you every time
I paint a texture now…….
Ken
>I'll think kindly of you every time I paint a texture now…….
I get a warm feeling 🙂
Now, I still create my textures in 24 bit (KPT and other filters work better).
But when I'm done with them, I use PaintShop Pro (shareware), to drop it to 8
bit. PSP maps palettes brilliantly, and it is hard to tell the difference.
Ian
trueSpace2 will let you save out paths since this is something game developers
had requested a while back. However, since nobody (until now) has asked us to
read in paths, this will not be in trueSpace2. But if you have good ideas
(besides this one) why we should add this in the next release, please let us
know!
ViewSpace?! I had not thought of that, I have a look and see if it is on the CD
and install it if it works that would solve the problem.
Thanks Shane
viewSpace isn't on the CD, but it *is* in the forum. I was going to suggest
that, but I wasn't sure if you could throw your textures to them.. I was
looking for a smaller, more compact answer.. I think in your case, it'll be
great, since they can play with it..
Yes it is Terry, I found it yesterday, and it is just the thing, especially if
Caligari are going to update it to work in solid mode. These guys are just
really putting colour rather than what we would refer to as textures, at least
for outside stuff, so a solid mode viewSpace would really sort out my problems.
Ken
Thanks Ian,
I know very little about programming, I can find my way around a Postscript
file enough to be able to edit it, but that is it.
I have heard about Director. It sounds like one of those programs that I am
going to end up with for one reason or another what ever I do. It does not
sound like a 5 min job though, so I will have to talk seriously to the boys
about time and paying for it….I have an alergy to working for free.
BTW downloaded you game demo, very nice! My only complaint is that everything
looks so clean, as with all Si-Fi stuff, no discarded coffee cups, overflowing
ash trays, empty wiskey bottles, litter, you know things from real life. Have
you ever noticed that in Si-Fi movies, all offices are really tidy? I think
whoever designs the sets really belives M$ and the paperless office.
TTYL…..Ken
Didn't you see the cigarette (sp?) smoking in the turret demo, and the Pine air
freshener? More than I've seen in most others..