Pioneer Nature Project

[Vlastan]

As somebody know, i started contributing the project with my 3d works.I am planning to continuing making building models, ships and other props that are needed.Today i was thinking that planets landscapes should need some more complexity by having some objects scattered around the terrain.It would be cool for someone to implement a system to procedurally place rocks and trees on ground.So, i made my first and simple natural objects hoping that will be used one day in the future...(If the system will be implemented, i will return to develop these models in a better way... expect more detail and variety)http://dl.dropbox.com/u/9418121/vegetation.rarPreview:

[Marcel]

Just what we need. Something else to bring my old computer to its knees. Actually, the game really needs this. I can display trees in Flight Simulator with no problem. As long as there's a detail setting for vegetation, etc. this would be a welcome addition. You've made a good start.

[Subzeroplainzero]

Waaa, throw some buildings scattered around the landscape and we might see some quite convincing terreformed worlds. Gotta say, Vlastan.. I'm liking what you're doing

[ElectricSkies]

Subzeroplainzero wrote:
Waaa, throw some buildings scattered around the landscape and we might see some quite convincing terreformed worlds. Gotta say, Vlastan.. I'm liking what you're doing
Seconding that. It would be great to have city-looking clumps of buildings that don't function as starports. Hopefully if the code for scattering natural landscape models goes in, it will also have support for placing buildings. It would definitely help terraformed worlds look alive.

[CreepyStepdad]

This has the potential to really bring planets to life. One question; if procedural placement of static objects like these models could be implemented, how much more would be required for animals? A simple animation loop and pathfinding ai, coupled with relative scarcity of animal populations most of the time, could breathe a lot of life into the Universe. Of course, I am no programmer, so what seems relatively easy could actually be really difficult, but if we can get trees and other objects placed on the planet, animals seem like the next logical step. Don't mean to thread-jack, just thinking about nature. Great work, Vlastan!

[Rob]

that looks great and some auto generated terrain features would add to the immersion of the sim my only reservation is ensuring it doesnt add too much extra pressure on the abilities of the varoius range of PC specs people have this said my mouth is watering at the potential great work

[s2odan]

The thing with this is these are static models and most of us would prefer to use something else for vegetation.For a few months now a few of us have been discussing and drooling over systems such as these:http://www.mizuno.org/applet/branching/http://iat.ubalt.edu/summers/math/lsystems.htmAnd something really special: as you can see some kind of L-system vegetation generator would be pretty amazing. It could also be adapted for other organic life, if that route is ever taken. Plus just think how amazing it could be to adapt the system to generate alien plants.But we would still need a system for transforming those calculations into a model and rendering it in the correct place with sufficient speed, and these models could act as a place-holder for that aspect.As for rocks, we already have some good code for generating procedural rocks But no way as of yet to render them as a separate object over the terrain.

[Geraldine]

"s2odan" wrote:
And something really special:
<img src="'[url]http://spacesimcentral.com/forum/public/style_emoticons//icon_eek.gif[/url] class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':shock:' /> Jezus s2odan, if Pioneer ever looked that good one day at the planetary surface level, awesome would be too light a word to use!

[Marcel]

Quote:
Jezus s2odan, if Pioneer ever looked that good one day at the planetary surface level, awesome would be too light a word to use!
Or maybe Noctis V? Actually, for procedural trees and animals that work well on my old machine, check out Ad-Astra. I don't like the "space" flight model, but the trees and dragons and crabs and scorpions look good, and you can blast them and blow them up!

[ollobrain]

fixed textures i guess or procedual generation which is easier in the short term. Perhaps putting those modules into a procedual generator.

[Potsmoke66]

something i'm afraid of, pines in the whole galaxy...that thing went through my mind up and down, guess i'm the kind of "kubrick" type better draw no alien objects/plantsif you don't know how they look like.at least pines everywhere...?you know what i mean not only pines but possibilities in variation will be limited and our imagination is fixed on what we know already.i wouldn't say i didn't like the tree models, no, i like their simplicity, but i hope you can follow.more evil, alien fauna, what will we splatter over the galaxy, deers? (would fit to the pines), crocodiles? (fits to the palm trees).no, whenever i thought about it i didn't came to a cool solution.perhaps procedural generated flora and fauna, cool idea somehow, if such can be made...at least it would make more sense to me rather procedural generated ships or cities, which will loose identity.i allways like to see different styles, modelers have different choices and leave different marks, so you can have your personal favorites.anyway before we think about procedural generated props and buildings i like to have the possibilty (except that's already given) to seperate earthlike from hostile and perhaps by some other conditions (atmosphere, temperature, alience, tech. state).would be cool imo, if you could tell, "this is a imperial desert planet in a low degree of technical developement" or "outdoor ice and water world" just by looking at the architecture.

[s2odan]

Quote:
anyway before we think about procedural generated props and buildings i like to have the possibilty (except that's already given) to seperate earthlike from hostile and perhaps by some other conditions (atmosphere, temperature, alience, tech. state).would be cool imo, if you could tell, "this is a imperial desert planet in a low degree of technical developement" or "outdoor ice and water world" just by looking at the architecture.
Its a planned change so we'll have that eventually, Robn was tinkering with something in this area recently so he's likely the one that will add this feature of city gen.:)So finally we would only have outdoor ports on habitable worlds and the proper kind of structures for asteroids ect...

[ollobrain]

mutli colored trees would be cool

[fluffyfreak]

ollobrain wrote:
mutli colored trees would be cool
I remember reading an article once that said an early Earth would have looked very different to the one we know because early vegetation, fungi and slimes would probably have used a different chemical than chlorophyll which would have given them a purple colour instead of green.

[Marcel]

There must indeed be some very exotic looking vegetation in the galaxy, considering that we have this on Earth![url]http://www.darkroastedblend.com/2008/09/most-alien-looking-place-on-earth.html[/url]

[CreepyStepdad]

I agree that a Universe full of pines would indeed defeat the point. Procedural generation of unique flora and fauna could be done once the player gets close enough to a planet. Couldn't the seeds for their generation be kept and used again the next time the player visits? Considering that only a relatively few planets would have any kind of life, even players that visit many different worlds would not amass too much data to effect gameplay, would it?

[s2odan]

Quote:
Couldn't the seeds for their generation be kept and used again the next time the player visits?
Well the way Pioneer works you wouldnt't have to keep anything, as seeds are always the same for a particular system and will never change no matter what happens during your game. Thats what keeps planets looking the same even after you leave the system and come back.The only time you have to save the data is when you change something, so perhaps you explore a system then you must save that information so the next time the game loads it knows that system is explored.(Although exploration isn't implemented it's just an example)

[CreepyStepdad]

So it sounds like the capability for generating planetary flora and fauna in already there in a way. There would have to be a module written to handle placing planetary objects like trees and grasses, but then the variables needed could simply be added to a planet's description and voila! The same module handles placing rocks and trees on each planet when the player gets close enough for it to matter. Speaking as an ignorant noob, the module might check to see if the planet has life. If so, what kinds of life are appropriate for the planet in question? How many are there, and do they differ by terrain? As Pioneer is based in the future, terraforming is a possiblity, and a credible reason why it may be common to fine pine-like trees on a few planets. Alien life could also be created by simply changing the color of an existing model, or exaggerating the proportions of an existing plant, cacti, fungi, etc. Of course, additional content could later be created and merged with the existing data to expand the number of species inhabiting the cosmos.While I can see the point of not faking alien life because we have no idea what it looks like, exploring a galaxy full of something, even if not legitimate xenobiology, is better than an infinite wasteland of dead rock.

[dewasha]

any news¿? will be implemented soon? thanks