Atmospheric backdrops

[frakel]

Ever dreamed of flying your x-wing into the sunset? <P>Based on a source image found at <A HREF="http://www.lfgrafix.com/grafix/SkyHome.html" TARGET=_blank>this site</A> I´ve tried to make an atmosperic backdrop for the xwa engine. Currently this consists of 32 individual backdrops (and thus takes the space of almost 5 regular backdrops (including different shadings) in the DAT file).<P>Since all the images found at the site above are similar in construction it is possible to convert ANY of them into atmospheric backdrops for XWA. This actually gives you a choice of many dozens different skies for XWA - the conversion is about half a days work for me (now I´ve figured out how to do it) so its not a big problem.<P>I´m not planning on doing any missions with this (I have little experience), but if anyone would like to use atmospheric backdrops in a mission of their own design I would be happy to help you out! In fact the artist who made the sky-image I´ve used for this backdrop is in fact considering to do a Yavin 4 sky... (hint hint DTM) <P>I also ought to mention, that the planetary surface OPT seen in the pictures is not of my design - it is in fact the one made by Abolisher and Flavid. Nice work guys!<P> <P> <P> <P> <P><BR> <p>[ 20 June 2006: Message edited by: Dodonna ]

[Major Wes Janson]

Those look far better than the XWA engine is capable of!

[frakel]

Unfortunately I don´t have a place to host the DAT and mission file - otherwise you could try it in XWA yourself. Even when I pack the planet.dat file its still 9 MB - a little heavy for email <P>But if you think your inbox can handle it I can send it to you. A test on another computer would be nice!<p>[ 20 June 2006: Message edited by: Dodonna ]

[darklord]

AMAZING, THIS IS XWA!!!!!!!<P>From what it seems you have just revolutionalized the planetmaking. I guess GT and DTM are going to have to go back to the drawing board <P>Its nice to see that you fixed the problem matching the roof with the walls.<P>perhapse you could use the same tecnique to make a backdrop of space so that we could have a decent starfeild complete with nebula and what not.<P>my Email is herecomethej@sbcglobal.net<BR>and i would love to try it<p>[ 20 June 2006: Message edited by: darklord ]

[Master Qui-Gon]

My inbox is big enough send it to me and lets see what you got there.

[WildstarBlue9]

Way to push the envelope, Dodonna! Those look amazing!

[Tony Knightcrawler]

Unbelievably good...

[DTM]

<BR>...I still have lot of work to do!!!! Dodonna, you are a genius!

[Vince T]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by DTM:<BR><STRONG> <BR>...I still have lot of work to do!!!! Dodonna, you are a genius!</STRONG><HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P>I second that on my case.

[General Edor Crespin]

Wow, just, wow. Like MWJ says, it's hard to believe that that is XWA!<P>Nice job, Dodonna, nice job.

[darklord]

i just cant get enough of thoes picts, i made it my background though it would be even beter if the xwing were bigger

[ANDREW L]

i cant belive thats XWA either!!!

[Will T]

Those are simply amazing, as has been said by others, it just seems totally beyond what the XWA engine should be capable of. I think what really brings those pics to life is the lighting, and the way it almost seems to illuminate the terrain (I think that's helped by the colouration of the ground as well, though).<P>Very nice work!

[BattleDog]

Wow, and who says nothing new happens here.

[Javier Lopez]

Woww it´s like a photograph

[Jefe_Picaro]

I'll be happy to host it too, Dodonna. Check your PMs

[frakel]

Thanks everybody for your kind words - but lets hold our horses until we see how well this works on computers other than mine, different graphics cards etc etc.<P>I have sent the dat and mission file to those of you who asked for it. Looking forward to hear how it works for you.<P>On a personal note I´m just happy if I can contribute something back to this community who has brought us so many great OPTs over the years!<P>---<P>For those of you who has an interest in such matters the backdrops are stored in the planet.dat file in positions<BR>id 6062-0 to id 6071-2 (using xwa dat customizer 1.0)<P>Using ALLIED you can see how the backdrops are positioned. Because it wasn´t possible to do this perfectly I´ve compensated by having each backdrop image ´overlap´ by one or two pixels from its neighbour image.<P>As for the lighting effects I have placed a regular star backdrop exactly behind the sun in this horizon to produce the lens flare. In addittion there are three less bright and more red lightsources around the rim of the upper horizon to give the impression of the diffused lighting from the clouds and atmosphere.<P>As for making a new starfield it is going to be tricky, since the backdrops would have to stretched quite a bit to cover the whole sphere of space. I doubt it would be possible to make decent dots of stars. Nebulae are another matter however...<p>[ 21 June 2006: Message edited by: Dodonna ]

[WildstarBlue9]

<A HREF="http://abolisher.xwlegacy.net" TARGET=_blank>Abolisher</A> has already done a replacement planet.dat file using NASA imagery for such things as planets and nebulae.

[Atx]

[darklord]

Its true! They do work! Here are some pics (or wall paper rather) from my experience.<BR>NO PHOTO EDITING!<P>Without Anti Aliasing and other graphics card enhancements<P> <P>With graphics card enhancements<P> <P>My computor has <BR>Windows XP<BR>a Pentium 4 processor<BR>1 gig of ram<BR>256 mb Nvidia GeForce FX 5500<BR> <BR>And whats more it ran smoothly!!!<p>[ 21 June 2006: Message edited by: darklord ]

[Corran_Pym]

maybe GT could use them in th his mod

[DTM]

I've just tested it with different resolutions...it looks fantastic, really a miracle!<BR>I have a question for the more expert users: a XWA mission can support a maximum of 91 crafts. Does the backdrop figure as a craft? That's only a question to have an idea of the potentiality of this planetary missions, because with the right designed repetitive planetary opt, it is possible to create LARGE planet area using a resolution of 1280x1024...Dodonna, we have to talk more

[frakel]

@DTM: Are you thinking about something like this:<P>Top view:<BR> <P>I´ve noticed that the 30x30 km planet OPT doesn´t disappear when seen mostly from the side - as long as you don´t actually aproach its center it works fine (at least on my computer at 1280x1024).<P>So you could use a regular 15x15 planetopt for a playing field - the actual place the player craft will be flying in (or above). Around this you could use a 30x30 opt rotated to make a complete circle. This would help create the illusion that planet opt and backdrop are one. If the player craft stays in the player area I would say he could fly as high as 10 KM before seing the ´black gab´ between the backdrops and planet opt.<P>Side view:<BR> <P>[ 21 June 2006: Message edited by: Dodonna ]<p>[ 21 June 2006: Message edited by: Dodonna ]

[DTM]

That is exatly what I mean! I was thinking about the squared solution, it is easier!<BR>Using 15x15 Km opt you can use a resolution of 1280x1024...<BR>Before your backdrop-sky this aggregation was impossible to realize becuase of the sky that was an opt too, but now it is possible to make every possible aggrgation! Your work is excellent and will be long remember here!

[darklord]

10KM doesnt seem very far, What was the SSD supose to be 17.6Km, It just seems easy to break the illusion<p>[ 21 June 2006: Message edited by: darklord ]