Friday 2010-10-15 Dev. update and Discussion

[Sutts]

Originally Posted by Flutter

Hi Oleg, thank you for posting both updates and answers.

As far as I can see, the current ground texture system uses a network of borderlines that look organic but repeat fairly often over the terrain. The area within one set of borderlines is then filled with an appropriate texture (golf course / field a / field b / field c / farm / forest / village / city / industry ) and with the appropriate models (vegetation, buildings etc). Then the borders themselves are applied, these being hedges, paths, roads etc. For a quasi procedural texture system, I believe this is one of the best solutions available, and your results look overall very nice. However, the system does not look too good when such a field is cut by a railroad. Screenshot No. 3 illustrates my point. The REAL geometry (railroad lines, big highways) does fit badly into the texture when compared to the basic borderlines. The only solution I can imagine would be to treat such a road / railway line as yet another borderline, and apply different textures to the different segments that have been divided by this geometry. It would not be perfect, but it could be coded, and it would make these roads and railways fit better into the landskape, making them both blend better into it and be more visible in that they change the landscape around them.
The mockup picture below illustrates my point.
Flutter

I think half the problem here is the use of modern day tractor tramlines in the fields, which look odd when they are broken up by something like a railway line.

I'm from a farming background and at the risk of sounding like a stuck record:

1. The evenly spaced tractor tramlines that are apparent in these shots would definitely not have been seen - these are for the efficient application of fertiliser and sprays on a large scale with 15-30 meter booms. This technology has only been around since the 80s really.

2. Baled hay and straw would largely not have been seen, especially round bales. Loose hay/straw stacks and wheat stooks were the feature of the day.

3. Lines of straw in fields would only come later with the introduction of mobile combined harvesters which had only just been introduced to the states.

I haven't seen any evidence of the last 2 yet but maybe the textures are targeting the pre-harvest time when cereal crops are still maturing.

Now I agree, in the big scheme of things this is not an issue but it would have been nice to get it right when the textures were being created. I did point it out ages ago. In the Memphis Belle movie the modern day crop lines are a dead give away.

Standing cereal crops should be an even texture with no parallel tractor lines - these came much later as agriculture became more intensive. These simple textures would have been far easier to produce.

Also, at that time Linseed was grown (blue fields) but oilseed rape is a recent introduction (bright yellow fields). Kent was also full of orchards which have largely been uprooted now.

http://forum.1cpublishing.eu/attachm...9&d=1287325120