Forest Kit in 1.1 Alpha and the next offical release of T3D

#1 Forest Kit is now Forest Editor. Info from the last Beta blog: linky

But basically, it's a method for "painting" objects into the game from a "god-view" (click and place), rather than placing them all individually at the current camera position.

Doesn't have to be trees, and you can mix-and-match objects and randomize them with either area based or exact placement. It's a big time saver.

#2 Yeah I read the Blog and it was a bit vague, so I'm trying to get a better understanding as to what functionality will be included. Will this include any tress/foliage, or will all the assets need to be imported by the artist? "Forest Kit" makes it sounds like it's a complete package, not just a placement system.

What about the South Pacific demo... Speedtree or T3D's default foliage renderer?

Thanks.

#3 The beta comes with a practise tree, and there's a new "Wind Emitter" object that can effect trees/foliage (eg: like speedtree).

What Sickhead will do with the "Pacific Demo" is rather up to them, when they get a chance, they did mention it somewhere but I can't remember. (though those vids are pretty old, and I think were the tech demo for what the new ForestEditor and WindEmitter tech is built on).

#4 For any SpeedTree integration, you will need to license SpeedTree. If you are not a ST licensee, then that functionality will not be available. You should contact Sickhead for more information on ST integration with the FK. Out of the box, the kit works great without it.

It is a mesh painting tool that also has a number of hooks into the atmospheric system in Torque 3D so that you can utilize wind, etc. But you can also use it to paint any mesh you like to the landscape. For example, I loaded the Gideon mesh and started painting like crazy. There were a million of him in the default deathball desert terrain. I also added in the trees from Sticks and Twigs and began painting a large forest with a wide variety of trees. It is not a replacement for an environmental artist. It just makes their job a lot easier when it comes to placing a ton of objects.

#5 Steve, are you a Torque user or are you an employee of Garage Games?

The reason I ask is because there's a lot of great video demos, but I feel that they're currently misleading buyers. For example; the Wetness/Precipitation, DOF, Motion Blur video are released, but none of that functionality seems to be implemented in 1.01.

When I asked about the South Pacific demo, it seems that "in-a-round-about-way" you gave me the impression that Sickhead made that demo, and that they could have used Speedtree for the vegetation rending in it.

What I would like is for Garage Games to give me a clear understanding of what 1.1 will be capable of since I don't have access to the Alpha build. If I'm going to invest money in an engine, I would like a clear understanding of the features that will be integrated.

Here are a couple of my questions that I would like someone from Garage Games to answer:

1) Will Depth of Field and Motion Blur (post FX) be ready to use in 1.1?
2) Who created the South Pacific demo and was the vegetation rendered with Speedtree or the T3D terrain renderer?
3) Will there be any trees/vegetation that will come with the release? If so, do you have an idea of how many? I get the impression that it's just a "painting" tool to use with your own assets.

Thanks.

#6 If you check my profile it says "one bloke(guy), in his bedroom, trying to make computer games".
So, no, I'm not an employee, or an associate, I'm just some guy who checks the forums when he rolls out of bed with a mug of hot tea.

I shall bow out of this thread at this point.

#7 I appreciate everyone input! I'm just trying to get a feel for what's to come...

#8 @Steve - Thanks for jumping in to help answer questions. We are all over the place right now prepping for GDC and what not. Your help is always appreciated =)

@Adam - Allow me pick up where Steve left off.

1. Depth of Field is already in the engine. A motion blur shader does not ship, but the PostFX system is ready to handle it.

2. Sickhead Games created the South Pacific demo. Speedtree was not used. They created the vegetation (shapes and billboards) from scratch. They are placed and rendered using a custom solution they wrote, which became our forest system. The Forest Editor is a proprietary editor they created which allows you to paint down trees, then manually edit their position and orientation when necessary. You can read about the actual editor work flow in this doc.

3. The stock 1.1 templates ship with a single example tree in COLLADA format. However, you can use any DTS or COLLADA shape as a brush: rocks, buildings, shrubs. The real gem of the sample tree is that it contains the necessary data for the tree to be placed, rendered, billboarded, and be affected by wind.

We will be announcing more release details for 1.1 and Pacific Demo at GDC.

#9 Okee-dokee. :)
1)DOF is already in and working (press Z (zoom)in the demo and it starts up), can't say for Motion blur.
2)Sickhead, T3D terrain renderer
3)No

And that is all of my knowledge, gleaned from these forums and employee blogs ...

[edit]wow, my typing must be getting real slow...

Quote:
We will be announcing more release details for 1.1 and Pacific Demo at GDC.

cool .. actually I want to know about PacificDemo too ... but just 'cos I'm curious!

#10 Thanks guys. I appreciate you taking the time out of your schedules...