SpaceSimCentral

just one question @ s2odan:what exactly did you change on the terrain generation code when you made this video on youtube? Is it just more detail? i have the feeling that the colors look much more realistic and that the terrain is less scattered than in the recent version of pioneer. i am just saying, because this is EXACTLY how i would imagine a terraformed mars... please understand me, i am just a little bit disappointed that it looks so different now.. Do you think it is possible to make it look like this again? [attachment=887:mars_vid.JPG]Actually i don't care so much about the details, what i think is that colors are actually the most important thing when it comes down to make things look credible. You did a wonderful job on mars in this video.

Thanks. :)Ok the differences between that video and the current pioneer master are: 1. It was using a new terrain which is actually in the master now, just not active for Mars yet. (It will be, especially as that terrain is a fair bit faster than the very complicated mars one we currently have )2. It had a new updated colour for Desert worlds which I seem to have unfortunately lost by overwriting an old branch, however its pretty trivial to re-write it and re-implement it as much of the legwork has already been done. IE colours have already been seperated to their specific material types, like rock sand or grass, so its just a matter of enabling them for that colour scheme.3. It does have more detail than current master, however Robn and I are currently working out some changes which allow further customisation of the terrain which would enable detail like this, and even higher, if enabled by the user in the options menu. It also allows the user to reduce detail for performance considerations.4. It uses the procedural geometry shading/texture stuff to break up the solid colours, this gives the terrain the shrub-like pattern and some patterns on the mountain which arent particularly visiable due to low contrast. These textures are currently in master, however only enabled for a small sub-set of terrrains.5. It used Fluffy Freak's threading code to make use of more than 2 cores, this is what causes the lags in the video, as Fraps is fighting with Pioneer for that 4th core :)With any luck 1-4 aren't far away, but 5 is some ways off from being implemented.
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because this is EXACTLY how i would imagine a terraformed mars... please understand me, i am just a little bit disappointed that it looks so different now..
Well because of your feedback I will activate this terrain for mars. As I was kind of sitting on the fence, as on one hand that terrain does look more authentic and run a bit faster, but on the other its far less detailed and has a lot less variation between continents, when I say its less detailed, I mean the way the fractals interact with each other.. Theres a lot less going on from that perspective.

Thanks s2odan for the detailed answer!
s2odan wrote:
As I was kind of sitting on the fence, as on one hand that terrain does look more authentic and run a bit faster, but on the other its far less detailed and has a lot less variation between continents, when I say its less detailed, I mean the way the fractals interact with each other.. Theres a lot less going on from that perspective.
I think sometimes less detail actually can produce a more harmonic result. then it is not so... let me put it this way, wild. ;)I addition to that it think i like this shrub-like pattern. When i understand it correctly, it means it reduces the contrast at "color-borders", right?

What it does is give a pattern or texture to a particular colour, which can help reduce contrast between borders, but mainly would help distinguish between actual rock or dirt and help break up the solid colours which make up the terrain. I'll just post some examples and you can see for yourself @ Coolhand, does your discerning eye agree that this helps alleviate the problem?

I would go for it. Looks much better

A thought on that shiny Mars thing. I haven't had the privilege of actually being able to see a planet from orbit, but it seems reasonable to assume that some terrains and lighting conditions would cause reflections into your eyes. In effect, some parts of a planet would probably appear shiny.

Marcel wrote:
In effect, some parts of a planet would probably appear shiny.
The sea certainly does. NASA have video.

Very true Marcel, @ Brian not only the sea but also flat areas of land such as rock or desert, in certain lighting and atmospheric conditions they can appear to reflect light although the angle which you view them at has some bearing on that too.

Tau Ceti from orbit around Tau Ceti bSunset from the surface of Tau Ceti bA Talon Military Interceptor in deep space, having been flung out of Titania's orbit. Anybody who's orbited (or tried to orbit) Titania will understand.

Hey, I am a newcomer to this site and saw that people were posting Pioneer screens, so here are some of my own.

Cool pics. Its nice to see the gasgiant rings rendering properly for a change

Hey GravitusWelcome to the SSC and a great first post there Especially like that second photo, spooky Now there is a solar system screaming out for a mission to be made involving it. What a shame no one can hear you scream in space though

s2odan wrote:
Cool pics. Its nice to see the gasgiant rings rendering properly for a change
It's the first time I've seen them work properly!

It makes me wonder what we're doing wrong!

Thanks to all for the friendly compliments. I am not sure how many people are having rendering problems, but hopefully they will be fixed soon. When I am just roaming the galaxy I Have the graphics setting on low to medium, otherwise the game is way to slow. But whenever I want to take a screen I position my ship where I want it pause the game and turn the graphics setting to very very high, then wait for it to render. Thank you all again for your compliments.

Epsilon EridaniEpsilon EridaniLos AngelesLos AngelesGates Starport, HEOGates Starport, HEOHEOVenus

[attachment=916:Pioneer.JPG]there really needs to be a new employment type - astro photographer i can spend ages just getting the right shot - so much for killing, mining, smuggling, trading, pirating .... this is the life for methe beauty of the Pioneer universe ................ now where did i put that wide angle lens ..... happy landingsRob

now that isn't a bad idea, having a astro photographer job, maybe, it could have some requirements, time limit, distance from target, or location, / time of day, and if its a good photo, you can get a fair bit for them, not a bad idea really