Independant Study 2012

Here I describe the design research undertaken in CryEngine for...

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 17:06:49 -0500

Here I describe the design research undertaken in CryEngine for the second part of my 4th Year Independent study paper at Massey University in the Spatial Design programme.

The findings are displayed as annotated text throughout the video.

Using a forbidden boundary on the large terrain map seems to...

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 23:16:13 -0500

Using a forbidden boundary on the large terrain map seems to help the AI’s navigation.

Now to try in the city…

After running a test on a fresh map with a smaller terrain size...

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 23:10:03 -0500

After running a test on a fresh map with a smaller terrain size (1024x1024) the vehicle AI navigates forbidden areas very (frustratingly) well.

Enlarging that map to 8192x8192 produces problems, the AI cannot navigate as well as before.

I’ll try limiting the triangulation area somehow…

I’ve tried, but it looks like the hummer cannot detect...

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 18:58:18 -0500

I’ve tried, but it looks like the hummer cannot detect forbidden areas like a grunt ai can…

So here I’ve made a AI:PathFollowSpeedStance matrix for the hummer…
so if we are at point A and we want to get to point B we take path X.

Disappointing as I have to hard code the paths and logic, and also the hummer can sometimes still hit buildings…

There must be a better way.

Progress Checklist

Sun, 19 Feb 2012 17:02:00 -0500

Todo (Where we want to be for the Exhibition event in June):

Interactive input: Buttons in a map on the table (software complete, just industrial design and physical input via Stu Foster)
Designed Edible Cities interventions in model.
Navigation: Determine whether path based matrix of routes and destinations, or realtime AI navigation via waypoints.
Navigation: Either build that matrix, or the waypoint structure.
Navigation: Determine if user can move the character forward while at each design destination, or rather follow a simple path slowly around?
Custom Plants/Vegetation.
Navigation custom Sound scapes/moods.
Navigation Also investigate “click to go”
Navigation show the forward path

Done:

Terrain DEM to Heightmap with semi-accurate scale.
City buildings from footprints extruded and into CryEngine.
Navigation AI follow distance (first person or third person).
Navigation “breadcrumbs” path tracking.
Navigation waypoints/destination 2d text in 3d space.
Navigation “superman” flying movement.
Navigation enter/exit vehicle and drive to destination via path (or loop path forever)
Navigation walk/run to destination via path (or loop path forever)

Here I’ve managed to change the view to first person when...

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 19:14:48 -0500

Here I’ve managed to change the view to first person when the AI dude has stopped moving, and then go back to third person while he is navigating around.

As discussed with Ant, this will provide the user with a distinction between when the player is operable and when the AI is in control.

Weird text issue. Disabling blur amount from the time of day...

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 00:04:30 -0500

Weird text issue.

Disabling blur amount from the time of day window clears this, so need to figure out a way of clearing just the particle blur, there should be some way.

Here ive managed to do a 3rd or 2nd person type follow on a...

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 00:02:39 -0500

Here ive managed to do a 3rd or 2nd person type follow on a grunt.

This is good to get a sense of scale in the scene, but may end up being a little distracting/unrealistic.

For first person view to work I need to figure out a way of disabling the grunts model graphics so we dont see the inside of him, which gets weird.

Testing out 2D text elements in 3D space. Managed to get the...

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 21:56:28 -0500

Testing out 2D text elements in 3D space.

Managed to get the text (particle) to face the camera and have a constant size (or minimum pixel height) so if we are far from it, it is still legible.

Having trouble getting a nice render when the sun/sky is behind though… :/

Here I’ve attached the LocalPlayer to follow a Grunt AI. A...

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 00:25:00 -0500

Here I’ve attached the LocalPlayer to follow a Grunt AI.

A glowing ball particle effect is attached to the grunt, set to emit at a regular interval. The particle slowly drops to the ground, sort of like a forest fairy type effect.

Here I’ve managed to disable the player physics so we can...

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 21:35:30 -0500

Here I’ve managed to disable the player physics so we can fly through land and buildings at warp speed while still being able to look around easily.

Here is the flowgraph for “superman” type point...

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 16:15:59 -0500

Here is the flowgraph for “superman” type point navigation.

Issues:

“Flying” causes view to be skewed (feels like the players torso is being dragged along and the camera/head follows). Maybe some way of disabling physics for the player? or just fly slower
Hitting objects that are in the way cause player damage. We can just enable g_godmode, or maybe disabling physics will solve this also.
Manually have to add each point. If we could iterate through every object of some sort of “type” and then just use those types as placeholders, that would be better.

Here we can “superman” to locations by pushing a...

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 16:11:53 -0500

Here we can “superman” to locations by pushing a button.

The locations are prepositioned objects, the flowgraph just iterates through a list of them.

The last location is the helicopter, which doesn’t end well.

TimeOfDay flowgraph for the previous video.

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 15:56:49 -0500

TimeOfDay flowgraph for the previous video.

Cryengine TimeOfDay Flowgraph This loops the day between two set...

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 15:55:45 -0500

Cryengine TimeOfDay Flowgraph

This loops the day between two set times.

(Sped up for video)

This shows the road kerb lines have been extruded up through the...

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 15:15:15 -0500

This shows the road kerb lines have been extruded up through the land. Hopefully now I can intersect that extruded geometry with the terrain plane, then delete everything that isn’t road and get a fairly accurate plane of road, which then can be imported into cryengine and have AIpaths follow them.

Sketchup screenshot and altered in photoshop. This shows an...

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 15:12:56 -0500

Sketchup screenshot and altered in photoshop.

This shows an abstract filter/geometry modifier of wellington city.

Screenshot showing the imported sketchup geometry in...

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 15:10:27 -0500

Screenshot showing the imported sketchup geometry in Cryengine.

I extruded the building heights down 100m to make sure they intersected with the ground (as the highest building is less than 100m I think?)

This shot is from under the earth, showing an inverted netherworld of darkness.

Architecture Photography: The Urban Crossing / Aedas - The Urban Crossing (3) (184027) - ArchDaily

Thu, 17 Nov 2011 20:00:35 -0500

Architecture Photography: The Urban Crossing / Aedas - The Urban Crossing (3) (184027) - ArchDaily:

Levels of detail in the city

Another test with default CE3 vegetation

Sun, 30 Oct 2011 05:22:00 -0400

Another test with default CE3 vegetation