Didn't know you're able to create so pretty trees and vegetation in Torque3D with "some" more work, but the LOD's of the trees in the distance doesn't really harmonize with the environment (as I saw in the italy thread). btw: maybe you should invert the order of steps in the next blog post, because the browser is loading the page from above.
It looks so simple to do, but I guess its one heck of a job. I don't quite understand how this is an update, it seems more like a brief tutorial...
Should be pretty good; the new technique yields better looking vegetation that can have a higher poly count up close and a smaller poly count far away compared to the vegetation on previous maps. For example the top left branch in the following image is 11 polygons but it can be collapsed back to 2 with minimal pop. You can make better looking vegetation with more detail, less noticeable LOD transitions and greater performance.
That's always great to hear, as LODs are pretty noticeable in their switching as it is now, and better performance is welcome. However, I have a question: Will this new technique be used to improve trees in current maps, like East Coast USA or Jungle Rock Island? Currently it's presented as something that will only appear in Italy, but the other maps need some love too.
11 polys...You would never guess that without the mesh planes visible. What gives the awesome 3D look of more mesh planes...the vertex painting or normal baking?...or both? I have been pondering the idea of '3 dimensional textures' and this is probably the only realistic way to do it. Great info!
Normals and a bit of angling. By cutting the mesh up like that you can introduce subtle angling to it so it's harder to notice that it's a flat plane.
So the new technique involves a way for Torque to do "mesh LOD's" as I understand it? This reaches the current limit of my understanding but it sounds really neat what ever it is!
It's more simple than that, it's just the shape. Rather than create a complex branch shape using lots of individual planes you get ONE plane and chop it up and move each bit around slightly. It gives more or less the same effect but when you're 20m away it's pretty much the same as it was before you chopped it up hence the low pop in on lod change. Basically you remove polygons by simplifying the branch structure rather than deleting things.