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Re: Las Dunas Arena

PostPosted: 22 Mar 2015, 02:21
by GeekPenguinBR
No problem. I'm busy too, because I am not only making the textures and adjustments, but making at the same time my professional work. I though I could be able to send the file for Samuncle today and make it available for all next week, but I'm still working on it. Unfortunately, sometimes the schedules of our project management gets out of control.:(

Re: Las Dunas Arena - Demo Video

PostPosted: 04 Aug 2015, 06:46
by GeekPenguinBR
Hi, everyone!
I'm proud and happy to show you my track almost finished. :D This video has the purpose to show you two things: 1.how drivable my track is, and, 2.the vision from the player's point of view. So, ignore the graphic imperfections. ;)

Well, you can see clearly some facts:
A. The lights are not definitive. Many points will receive additional lights (for instance, the floodlights);
B. Almost all textures (they are already finished) are not showed here;
C. There are some objects out of place (there is a column in the middle of the driveline at 0:47) as well some other that will be duplicated and placed (the walls, grass, etc.);
D. There's no animated objects for while; and,
E. I need more practice using my new joystick. :lol:

The finished track will have:
1.Better and complete illumination;
2.All the textures;
3.Animations (the blimp flying around, the spot lights).
4.More bananas in strategic points, other obstacles, etc.
5.The TV truck and team.

We (I and my brother Tuxkartdriver) are working hard to finish this project as soon as possible or, at least, we may give the file with more improvements (including all the textures) while we will work on the lights.

I hope you like! :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12Xjzk- ... e=youtu.be

Re: Las Dunas Arena - Demo Video (Work in Progrss)

PostPosted: 04 Aug 2015, 13:46
by GunChleoc
Looks good :)

Re: Las Dunas Arena - Demo Video (Work in Progrss)

PostPosted: 04 Aug 2015, 16:17
by XGhost
I'm happy to see you're making progress! Looks well done. I like the jumps over the trucks and cars (beautiful fireworks).
I'm looking forward playing the finished track :)

Re: Las Dunas Arena - Demo Video (Work in Progrss)

PostPosted: 04 Aug 2015, 22:10
by GeekPenguinBR
Thank you GunChleoc, XGhost! :) . Here, a new demo. This time, showing the reverse mode:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzL0k-4 ... e=youtu.be

Re: Las Dunas Arena - Demo Video (Work in Progrss)

PostPosted: 05 Aug 2015, 00:53
by samuncle
Hi, i just watched the video and well done, you have something working on supertuxkart which is great. Here is some advices:
A. The lights are not definitive. Many points will receive additional lights (for instance, the floodlights);

I suggest to restrict the number of light you add. That doesn't mean you can't add a lot of them but simply keep in mind the engine will render only the 16 lights who are near the player. Other will be ignored, so if you put a lot of lights you will have only the one close to the player who will be emitting light. Other might not even be activated during the race. Check how mansion was done, it's a great example to show how to manage lights.

Also one source of light visually might not necessarily be a point light. For instance in snow resort there is Christmas lights, they are using the emit texture so they will be emitting all time and on top of that you have only two point light to lit the kart in a nice pinkish/red color. Visually you have something like 10 lights but only 2 point light. People don't notice that usually.

B. Almost all textures (they are already finished) are not showed here;

Why ? If they are finished, why not just showing them ? So we can have a better idea how it looks :)

1.Better and complete illumination;

I suggest something, use a brighter IBL map, even if it's during night or inside an arena we always avoid pitch black. Prefer a middle dark blue, so you never go into pitch black where there is no light
3.Animations (the blimp flying around, the spot lights).

Currently the only way to fake this in stk is to use a 3D cone with a transparent texture that fades out. You can check lighthouse to see how it was done

ALso I don't really understand but why not providing us the files so we can test the track and see by ourself. I'm alawys in a difficult position when I'm giving feedback and not trying the track. You should upload your track here, so the team can test it and trust me you will get more feedback.

Sam

Re: Las Dunas Arena - Demo Video (Work in Progrss)

PostPosted: 05 Aug 2015, 02:29
by GeekPenguinBR
samuncle {l Wrote}:Hi, i just watched the video and well done, you have something working on supertuxkart which is great.

Thank you. :)

samuncle {l Wrote}:I suggest to restrict the number of light you add. That doesn't mean you can't add a lot of them but simply keep in mind the engine will render only the 16 lights who are near the player. Other will be ignored, so if you put a lot of lights you will have only the one close to the player who will be emitting light. Other might not even be activated during the race.

I didn't know. :o

samuncle {l Wrote}:Also one source of light visually might not necessarily be a point light. For instance in snow resort there is Christmas lights, they are using the emit texture so they will be emitting all time and on top of that you have only two point light to lit the kart in a nice pinkish/red color. Visually you have something like 10 lights but only 2 point light.

Nice to know this. I think that this is the best option for the floodlights and windows. :think:

samuncle {l Wrote}:B. Almost all textures (they are already finished) are not showed here;
Why ? If they are finished, why not just showing them ? So we can have a better idea how it looks :)


There are two issues:
1. Not all are showed. Watching the video you may notice that, depending on where the kart is, the guardrail doesn't appear. The normals are correct, but, even so, the texture is not seen; :oops: and,

2. Some (just two or three) textures are complex to add. They need a careful mapping. :|

samuncle {l Wrote}:Currently the only way to fake this in stk is to use a 3D cone with a transparent texture that fades out. You can check lighthouse to see how it was done.

I did this. You can see two between the spiral with the giant can and the big ramp. ;)

samuncle {l Wrote}:ALso I don't really understand but why not providing us the files so we can test the track and see by ourself. I'm alawys in a difficult position when I'm giving feedback and not trying the track. You should upload your track here, so the team can test it and trust me you will get more feedback.

It's because we are trying to find the ideal setting for the zippers as well we are fixing some minor issues (for instance, not all karts jump and land the other side of the big ramp. I mean the other karts, not that one I drive), but, for while, the video gives you a pretty clear idea of the dynamics of the track and how it works.

Re: Las Dunas Arena - Demo Video (Work in Progrss)

PostPosted: 05 Aug 2015, 11:08
by 0zone0ne
GeekPenguinBR {l Wrote}:
samuncle {l Wrote}:ALso I don't really understand but why not providing us the files so we can test the track and see by ourself. I'm alawys in a difficult position when I'm giving feedback and not trying the track. You should upload your track here, so the team can test it and trust me you will get more feedback.

It's because we are trying to find the ideal setting for the zippers as well we are fixing some minor issues (for instance, not all karts jump and land the other side of the big ramp. I mean the other karts, not that one I drive), but, for while, the video gives you a pretty clear idea of the dynamics of the track and how it works.

...But isn't the entire point of sharing the track so that we can give better feedback on things such as this?

Re: Las Dunas Arena - Demo Video (Work in Progrss)

PostPosted: 06 Aug 2015, 02:07
by hiker
GeekPenguinBR {l Wrote}:It's because we are trying to find the ideal setting for the zippers as well we are fixing some minor issues (for instance, not all karts jump and land the other side of the big ramp. I mean the other karts, not that one I drive), but, for while, the video gives you a pretty clear idea of the dynamics of the track and how it works.

Note that zipper textures have a min-speed setting, which should be used for jumps. This guarantees that the karts will have (at least) the speed to reach the other sides (otherwise if you play on easy which has a lower speed karts might not reach the other side).

Cheers,
Joerg

Re: Las Dunas Arena - Demo Video (Work in Progrss)

PostPosted: 07 Aug 2015, 01:56
by GeekPenguinBR
0zone0ne {l Wrote}:
GeekPenguinBR {l Wrote}: for while, the video gives you a pretty clear idea of the dynamics of the track and how it works.

...But isn't the entire point of sharing the track so that we can give better feedback on things such as this?


Next time, probably I will upload the track with all textures.

hiker {l Wrote}:Note that zipper textures have a min-speed setting, which should be used for jumps. This guarantees that the karts will have (at least) the speed to reach the other sides (otherwise if you play on easy which has a lower speed karts might not reach the other side).

But we note that it's not easy to balance: if my kart has enough speed to reach the other side when I play on the beginners level, the other karts can't; if the other karts have enough speed to reach the other side at beginners level, my kart speed's exceeds the normal and the kart almost flies away. :oops: :x

Re: Las Dunas Arena - Demo Video (Work in Progrss)

PostPosted: 10 Aug 2015, 02:50
by hiker
GeekPenguinBR {l Wrote}:
hiker {l Wrote}:Note that zipper textures have a min-speed setting, which should be used for jumps. This guarantees that the karts will have (at least) the speed to reach the other sides (otherwise if you play on easy which has a lower speed karts might not reach the other side).

But we note that it's not easy to balance: if my kart has enough speed to reach the other side when I play on the beginners level, the other karts can't; if the other karts have enough speed to reach the other side at beginners level, my kart speed's exceeds the normal and the kart almost flies away. :oops: :x

Not sure if you understood me correctly: the min-speed property of a zipper texture makes sure that any kart (at any level, even if the AI is slower than a player because of the difficulty) will have at least the specified speed.

I recently used this for the smaller jump in Cocoa, and it took me around 5 minutes to find the right speed. Quick instructions: first drive to just in front of the zipper. In the debug menu select 'print start position'. Enter the XML shown on stdout to the scene.xml file of the track and restart (--> you will start immediately in front of the zipper). Add a breakpoint to line 377 of material.hpp ('getZipperMinSpeed()').

Then repeat:
- drive onto the zipper
- breakpoint will be reached
- change m_zipper_min_speed of the material to the value you want to test (e.g. 40)
- deactivate the breakpoint
- keep on driving, and see if you make the jump
- After the jump, activate the breakpoint again
- restart the race (you will start in front of the zipper again)

Keep on trying different values for the speed, till you have found the value that works for you.

As I've said, it too me less than 5 minutes to find a good value (I tried 30, 40, and then a few values around 40m till I was happy with 40).

Once you have a good value, add this value to the material properties (or if you want to test different difficulties: manually add the value to the materials.xml file, restart stk, and test the jump in all difficulties).

Done :)

Hope that helps!
Joerg

Re: Las Dunas Arena - Demo Video (Work in Progrss)

PostPosted: 10 Aug 2015, 03:25
by Arthur
Eventually just set a value in Blender for min-speed, export and fly to the zipper to test. Will take longer than hiker's method per try but saves time in the beginning, and might be less complicated. ;)

Re: Las Dunas Arena - Demo Video (Work in Progrss)

PostPosted: 10 Aug 2015, 07:25
by hiker
Or do a mixture - use the debug menu to print the coordinates, then add an empty in blender at those coordinates, set the empty as start coordinates and export again. That _should_ work for lap-based races as well (though I admit I haven't tried that for a while). At least it saves you the time to drive/fly/... your way to where the jump is.

Cheers,
Joerg

Re: Las Dunas Arena - Demo Video (Work in Progrss)

PostPosted: 16 Aug 2015, 02:10
by GeekPenguinBR
Hi again! Sorry for my delay, but I was working finnishing the track.

Thank you Hiker and Arhur for your advises. As said, the ideal zipper speed for the gamer's kart was easy to define. The hard work was to define a good speed for both, the gamer and the karts controlled by the game script.

Well, I decided to improve the visual quality (the overall look) before uploading the track, then, some textures were changed to better. This is the final appearance of this project except for the lights, that Tuxkartdriver is testing to balance them all (and I mean to balance four aspects: the right places, the color, the shade of the chosen color and the intensity) to make this look even better. Meanwhile, I will try to finish the song for the track.

I hope you like it. :)

Re: Las Dunas Arena - Demo Video (Work in Progrss)

PostPosted: 16 Aug 2015, 02:13
by GeekPenguinBR
It continues

Re: Las Dunas Arena Finished (Final Results)

PostPosted: 16 Aug 2015, 18:01
by ArDanWol
Looks great GeekPenguin! When can we test drive it for ourselves?

Re: Las Dunas Arena Finished (Final Results)

PostPosted: 16 Aug 2015, 21:34
by GeekPenguinBR
ArDanWol {l Wrote}:Looks great GeekPenguin! When can we test drive it for ourselves?

Hi ArDanWol, thank you very much! :)
As soon as possible and I mean, in the next days. Now, all depends on my brother to add all the lights and we test the track again to be sure about the effect of the lights over the new textures and their colors. ;)

Re: Las Dunas Arena Finished (Final Results)

PostPosted: 16 Aug 2015, 22:01
by Akien
It's starting to look really sweet! You modelled some very nice objects, I like the camera on a tripod :D
Looking forward to trying it in-game too to get a better impression, and give better feedback ;)

Re: Las Dunas Arena Finished (Final Results)

PostPosted: 16 Aug 2015, 23:02
by GeekPenguinBR
Akien {l Wrote}:It's starting to look really sweet! You modelled some very nice objects, I like the camera on a tripod :D

Thank you, Akien. The camera was one of the new objects added as visual improvement. :)

Akien {l Wrote}:Looking forward to trying it in-game too to get a better impression, and give better feedback ;)

You will test soon. Unfortunatelly, as I said some time ago, I don't have enough knowledge on Blender, so, I need a help from my brother to fix issues with tetures, etc., but not always he can help me, only in his free time, because he is very busy at college. :|

Re: Las Dunas Arena Finished (Final Results)

PostPosted: 17 Aug 2015, 02:21
by samuncle
Hi

You put a lot of effort into this project and I really hope you will finish it.

As I said previously I will only give feedback for tracks that are testable in supertuxkart or if the blend is provided ;).
With pictures it's very difficult to tell and give advice. We already asked several times to get the track but you keep it for yourself which is a bit sad
Btw there are several very cool objects I wish I could include in my tracks but again without the blend it's not possible :(.

Sam

Re: Las Dunas Arena Finished (Final Results)

PostPosted: 18 Aug 2015, 02:08
by GeekPenguinBR
samuncle {l Wrote}:Hi
You put a lot of effort into this project and I really hope you will finish it.

Actually, it is around 99.5% finished. Just a few details to add or to fix.

samuncle {l Wrote}:We already asked several times to get the track but you keep it for yourself which is a bit sad
Btw there are several very cool objects I wish I could include in my tracks but again without the blend it's not possible :(.
Sam

It's because the track was not finished at the time and now, Tuxkartdriver is improving details before we upload the track. Actually, my work is practically concluded except for the song and a few minor details and, if it was for me, you could test this track since weeks ago, but my brother is demanding ( :lol: ) and he always looking for anything that can be view by another person as an error. The project is mine, but he is the co-author (he made the airship, the active drivelines as well the lights too and he has improved the TV van and the map edition on Maya), so, he has the right to declare the track unfinished while some job must be done. So, I'm waiting too.:|

Re: Las Dunas Arena Finished (Final Results)

PostPosted: 18 Aug 2015, 07:19
by GeekPenguinBR
Hi, again!

This time I'm here to show you my song. Actually, as always (if possible), I give two or more options, so, here are the two songs composed by myself for my track. The first song - Long Jump - is electronic (yes, in the Capricorn45 style :D) and it's way more simple. The second one I finished today.

As suggested by my brother, in this song I have tried to find the style of Dire Straits "Walk of Life", a country rock with clear influences from rockabilly. Then, designedly, I mixed some of the most known musical styles of USA, when the fictional Las Dunas is supposed to be. So, you will hear a typical melody of western films in the first phrase, a typical 'redneck violin' very common in country music while the saxophone plays a solo in pop style meanwhile you notice a strong presence of rockabilly and a bit of boogie-woogie (this is very old :lol:) on the overall song's rythm.

I really hope you like the songs and may help me to define what song I will add to the track. Since this is my first serious attempt to upload something in the style of STK (I'm used to compose "serious" songs with real voices instead MIDI voices), but, I believe that the songs are fun. At least, they are as fun as the track IMO. :)

You may suggest a name for the rockabilly song in the case you chose the second one.

Re: Las Dunas Arena - Theme Song

PostPosted: 18 Aug 2015, 14:01
by ArDanWol
Definitely the second one. The first would fit with your circus track I think.

Re: Las Dunas Arena - Theme Song

PostPosted: 18 Aug 2015, 14:18
by XGhost
Uh, sounds very nice!
I like the second one (Rockabilly) very much. It fits better to the look of the track. It is a bit fast for me, maybe slow it down a little.

Re: Las Dunas Arena - Theme Song

PostPosted: 18 Aug 2015, 23:37
by GeekPenguinBR
Thank you ArDanWol and XGhost. :) It's nice to see that you liked the rockabilly song, that's the most indicated to the track IMO too.