Interactive Atlas Demo
by Jacob Dankovchik · 01/08/2006 (1:01 pm) · 13 comments
As some may have seen in the TSE forums, I've been very very active with Atlas, as far as experimenting and creation goes. I've now made FAR more terrains then I could even count or remember. I've posted countless images of the terrains too.
However the pictures always seemed so.. shallow to me almost. And I recently made a terrain that is probably the most pleasing I've made yet, the Mountain Lake. And I feel pictures just don't do it true justice. So, I'm deciding to take some terrains and peice them together to make them explorable. Or at least, as explorable as mountain ridges and cliffs are. ;)
I'm starting to peice things together today and may have results quite soon. This would be a great way to show a good Atlas demo to everyone as well and show whats on the horizon for terrain!
Here are a few sample terrains I may throw in. Although a couple of these images may not truly represent what you'll play because I accidently deleted the files for one and I'm not sure if I have the files for another. Meh, it happens. ;) The descriptions will be accurate though and the pictures will give you an idea of what to expect.
The Cliff Range
A challenge to any explorer, the Cliff Range is a very rough and hostile environment. Hiking to the top is hard enough with the many impossibly steep slopes. And the difficulty is strongly accented by the danger of one slip of the foot and falling down the mountain side to your death.
The Massive
A true behemoth of a terrain, the Massive measures in at 40960 meters on each side! The mountains are massive and terrifying. Climbing such rock formations will rely on speed, caution, and a sharp mind to find the right path. And a good head to keep from getting lost.
Arctic Mountain Lake
A beautifully clear, cool, deep lake surrounded by snowy mountains on a clear sunny day. The Arctic Mountain Lake is truly a wonderful and pleasing site. The mountains are not too difficult to climb, but the pleasent calm waters below are a good reward to the struggle.
So, this should give you an idea of what I got cookin up. Only issue I can see forming is not being able to host the files. But I'll work around it somehow, don't worry. So, what do you all think? Like the idea and look forward to walking through various terrains to see them upclose? Or not concerned?
Oh, and on a totally different note, to just mention what my other .plans have been on, the Particle Pack is kinda goin sluggish. I've hit a few bumps, been getting some awfully strange bugs and issues, I need to find whats wrong there. Time as been messin with me and I can't seem to get ahold of any good artwork to build display scenes with. If anyone would like to help with that, please feel free to speak up! :D
However the pictures always seemed so.. shallow to me almost. And I recently made a terrain that is probably the most pleasing I've made yet, the Mountain Lake. And I feel pictures just don't do it true justice. So, I'm deciding to take some terrains and peice them together to make them explorable. Or at least, as explorable as mountain ridges and cliffs are. ;)
I'm starting to peice things together today and may have results quite soon. This would be a great way to show a good Atlas demo to everyone as well and show whats on the horizon for terrain!
Here are a few sample terrains I may throw in. Although a couple of these images may not truly represent what you'll play because I accidently deleted the files for one and I'm not sure if I have the files for another. Meh, it happens. ;) The descriptions will be accurate though and the pictures will give you an idea of what to expect.
The Cliff Range
A challenge to any explorer, the Cliff Range is a very rough and hostile environment. Hiking to the top is hard enough with the many impossibly steep slopes. And the difficulty is strongly accented by the danger of one slip of the foot and falling down the mountain side to your death.
The Massive
A true behemoth of a terrain, the Massive measures in at 40960 meters on each side! The mountains are massive and terrifying. Climbing such rock formations will rely on speed, caution, and a sharp mind to find the right path. And a good head to keep from getting lost.
Arctic Mountain Lake
A beautifully clear, cool, deep lake surrounded by snowy mountains on a clear sunny day. The Arctic Mountain Lake is truly a wonderful and pleasing site. The mountains are not too difficult to climb, but the pleasent calm waters below are a good reward to the struggle.
So, this should give you an idea of what I got cookin up. Only issue I can see forming is not being able to host the files. But I'll work around it somehow, don't worry. So, what do you all think? Like the idea and look forward to walking through various terrains to see them upclose? Or not concerned?
Oh, and on a totally different note, to just mention what my other .plans have been on, the Particle Pack is kinda goin sluggish. I've hit a few bumps, been getting some awfully strange bugs and issues, I need to find whats wrong there. Time as been messin with me and I can't seem to get ahold of any good artwork to build display scenes with. If anyone would like to help with that, please feel free to speak up! :D
#2
I notice in the 3rd shot a pretty obvious texture seam, not unlike what you get in TGE. Is there any plan to address this sort of error in Atlas?
*signed* -Obsessive environment artist
01/08/2006 (1:20 pm)
Jacob, very cool stuff.I notice in the 3rd shot a pretty obvious texture seam, not unlike what you get in TGE. Is there any plan to address this sort of error in Atlas?
*signed* -Obsessive environment artist
#3
Only real reason I keep resolutions low is because my comp kinda sucks at the moment and I don't have good hosting. So on a really good computer I could make the resolution a bit more acceptable and you wouldn't see a thing.
01/08/2006 (1:24 pm)
Those come when you have a proportionatly low texture size for the terrain, a bit of a current flaw in Atlas. Not sure if that'll be addressed later or not but either way I don't beleive you'll be seeing that when I release this. I'm going to increase texture size by double of what you see there. Maybe 4x too. But I wouldn't worry about it.Only real reason I keep resolutions low is because my comp kinda sucks at the moment and I don't have good hosting. So on a really good computer I could make the resolution a bit more acceptable and you wouldn't see a thing.
#4
01/08/2006 (1:51 pm)
Very cool... 
#5
01/08/2006 (2:06 pm)
The Atlas terrain engine always makes me envious of TSE owners...sure, the shaders and all other stuff are great to have, but an amazing real-time terrain engine is just too tempting to mess around with. I'm all for your interactive hiking demo :), It might be an awesome way to spread the word about TSE.
#6
01/08/2006 (4:36 pm)
The next Atlas update should have no seams. A big promise, yes. :) But I think I've gotten my teeth into the problem, so we'll see... At the least seams will be much less noticeable!
#7
01/08/2006 (5:19 pm)
Ben, great to hear. I can't wait to start playing with it.
#8
And so far I got the Cliff Range rebuilt as needed. However unfortunatly it appears there is no path to the top.. I'll have a look around some more though. Maybe increase your player's run angle so you can make it.
Next step, I'm going to do processing on the Massive.
01/08/2006 (5:28 pm)
Heh, sounds good.And so far I got the Cliff Range rebuilt as needed. However unfortunatly it appears there is no path to the top.. I'll have a look around some more though. Maybe increase your player's run angle so you can make it.
Next step, I'm going to do processing on the Massive.
#9
01/09/2006 (2:44 pm)
By the way, would anybody perhaps be willing to help with hosting? I have someone who is hosting files for me right now out of generosity, but I've already used his space quite extensivly and would hate to suck up quite a bit more. You would be doing a great help!
#10
03/29/2006 (8:33 pm)
this sucks
#11
03/30/2006 (3:45 am)
I think maybe you just need to grow up a bit.
#12
04/11/2006 (4:28 am)
Very nice looking terrain Jacob! What software are you using to build the terrain?
#13
04/11/2006 (5:54 am)
L3DT. And if anyone is curious as to what happened to this, I'm simply waiting for the new Atlas changes. It was way too big in harddrive space. Once the changes are in, I'll release it. 
Torque 3D Owner James Bond