Thoughts the track modeling tutorial and drivelines

[Arthur]

The current track modeling tutorial is much simpler to follow than the previous, and I find it fun to work with the road-shaping method found there. Basically, you bind a curved line to a small road segment, so the road segment follows the line object.

But this is pretty much incompatible with the driveline concept in the sense that you have to apply the bindings (formally known as modifiers) to the drivelines (which are often duplicated from the track mesh) in order to make it work. This is also a little inconvenience for the track mesh, where you also have to apply the modifiers in order to make it work correctly. However, one can duplicate the curved line and apply modifiers to a new road segment, and then combine this one with the first road segment. I can also do the same for the drivelines, but spending so much time on making the drivelines work properly long before the track is finished, seems to me a little cumbersome.

But drivelines must be closed right from the start, or the track simply doesn't work. This means that it's hard for me to model one fourth of a road segment and quickly test it in-game to check with scale and so on. Then I thought of the concept of additional lap lines. What if STK in the absence of proper drivelines would check if there were a simple lap line defined, and it would drop you in front of that? This will obviously not work for AI, so it's only meant as a quick hack to make human testing possible right from the start.

Just a little feedback from an up-and-coming track maker.

[Auria]

Hi,

I'm pretty sure drivelines are not needed when you play without AIs, so you can start testing the scale before making the drivelines

Regarding the fact that you need to apply the modifier to the road; I think you really have no choice, because all nice-looking tracks have roads where the vertices are tweaked to fit into the terrain, I think in any serious track you can't just stay with the curve modifier forever

[Arthur]

Are you sure? For me, STK crashes with this: http://pastebin.com/xXxMYpJb

I don't make tracks where I tweak the road vertices to fit with the terrain. I make tracks by making the road segment first, and then building the terrain around. (OK, I say "tracks". But it's only 1 so far.)
Afterwards I might tweak the road vertices to better comply with the terrain, but the road is the most important part of the track, and such I find it more fitting to start with that and not add it later as an afterthought.

[Auria]

Are you sure? For me, STK crashes with this: http://pastebin.com/xXxMYpJb

We spoke on IRC about that, a but report shall be created

I don't make tracks where I tweak the road vertices to fit with the terrain. I make tracks by making the road segment first, and then building the terrain around. (OK, I say "tracks". But it's only 1 so far.)
Afterwards I might tweak the road vertices to better comply with the terrain, but the road is the most important part of the track, and such I find it more fitting to start with that and not add it later as an afterthought.[/quote]

I think you misunderstood me; yes generally the road is important and create first. But then if you want the scenery to fit well with the track you will probably need to connect them, which implies changing the road into a mesh.

Maybe blenderheads could suggest other workflows, but I'm sorry, that's what I know of blender

[Arthur]

Ticket coming up soon.

Of course I need to change it into a mesh, but I was thinking of making part of it, change it to a mesh, make a new segment with the curve method, and then connecting them when a new export is needed. In the end, I will be finished with the road part, and can then connect it properly into one mesh. I can then build the terrain around and make tweaks to the road where needed (e.g. adjusting height).

The best would be if I could apply the current modifiers without getting them removed by Blender, so I wouldn't have to make several segments in the same way. Or if the track exporter could somehow interact with Blender so modifiers could be applied just to the exported file. But that might not be feasible or reasonable.

[Auria]

Ticket coming up soon.

Of course I need to change it into a mesh, but I was thinking of making part of it, change it to a mesh, make a new segment with the curve method, and then connecting them when a new export is needed. In the end, I will be finished with the road part, and can then connect it properly into one mesh. I can then build the terrain around and make tweaks to the road where needed (e.g. adjusting height).

The best would be if I could apply the current modifiers without getting them removed by Blender, so I wouldn't have to make several segments in the same way. Or if the track exporter could somehow interact with Blender so modifiers could be applied just to the exported file. But that might not be feasible or reasonable.

Oh now I see.

What people often do is to duplicate the curve/mesh; then apply the modifier on the copy, but keep the original in case you need it again

[Arthur]

Or if the track exporter could somehow interact with Blender so modifiers could be applied just to the exported file. But that might not be feasible or reasonable.

Hmm, looking through the commit logs, I see r8821 states:
"New nicety: apply modifiers to meshes before exporting them"

So does this fulfill my wish expressed in the quote? It would be excellent if it did!

[Auria]

Yes it is to test but it might be that it works now