v0.23 video

Here is the video for v0.23.

I forgot to mention in my other post that the new track map made by Timmy, on the AC Forums, is in.  It looks really nice, and is much better than the one I was using before.

The video was recorded around 3pm.

EDIT:  And here is a morning video, recorded around 8h30am in the new scary turbo Lotus F1 car. (turbo set at 100% :) )

v0.23 update online!

I've just copied the v0.23 update in the BTSync share.

On top of things I already talked about, I also edited the tree textures, and removed/reduced the pretty big blue color cast that was in them.  Combined with Ambient values in AC, it mades them way too blue.  So they are better now.

The Nordschleife has never looked so good :)

I will send a video later on.

Nearly done now!

I'm nearly done now!

I managed to split the humongous bush object I was working on for more than a day, I had to split over 2200 individual bush objects of various sizes.  Ranging from as few as 10 polys to over 200 in some cases.

It's the most common tree/bush in the track, and it's appearing pretty tight all around the track, so it wasn't piece of cake.

The last one will be much easier compared to the one I just did, so an update is highly likely to happen this week-end.  Could be tomorrow or sunday, I dunno.  I'll keep you updated.

I have also done some custom normal maps for all treelines, so instead of using a simple gradient normal map for all of them, I made some with nDo and applied the gradient on top of each to still get that effect on top of more defined lighting on the tree lines with the normals made with nDo2.

You'll be surprised at how good those simple tree lines are looking now.

For the tree lines that are made of individual trees with empty space in between, I added a normal sphere around the individual trees, so those trees get lighted in a similar ways as the real ones.  Pretty neat.

I have also redone many of the original normal maps with nDo2, mainly the curbs, and different concrete panels attached to them.

Tree conversion progress

Some trees are a bugger to detach...  some trees have their bark as a separate mats, but some have it right with the tree texture, so when detaching it by mat, those barks stays right with the tree.. and I don't want this cause if I keep the trunk in the object, the editor messes it up when doing its grouping stuff and the trunk doesn't have the right mapping in game.

So I need to detach all those trunk one by one, and the mountain at breidscheid is a pita..  the large elevation changes and amount of trees makes it hard to select only the trunk to detach them.

Anyway, here is what I have done so far... quite a little bit after all, but I was thinking of finishing today, but might be tomorrow or the day after, depending on how the rests goes.. the tree models are highly varied...

The highlighted layers are the different kind of trees I have done.

I have also added a few things on the blog, such as random onboard lap video on the nordschleife at the top, and an handpicked selection of videos (by me) in the right bar.

Below the articles, you will find the most popular 3 posts.

And also added the send articles by email button as well.

How to convert regular trees to AC

Here is a quick rundown on how I am currently doing the conversion of the trees so it light up properly in game.

First, you will need these 3dsmax script:

gMaterialTool made by Mario Morais
Quick Attach by antomor
Detach by ID by Jeff Lim
Elements to Objects by Garp

Note: If you are already familiar with gmat tool and not aware of quick attach, you might be wondering why I have you download an attach script when gmat can attach selected objects together... quick attach is incredibly faster than both gmat and 3dsmax built in attach window list.

Now, you should import only your trees in a new max file.

Select all your tree objects, containing each multiple trees, and use the quick attach script to attach them all together.  Quadrify the resulting mesh.

Now, use Detach by ID to detach all materials from this merged object.  The reason why I did it this way, you will end up with objects containing all given material for all the track in one object.  This will ease up the work a great deal.  I use the following settings:  Prefix of KSTREE_ and I tick material name, and leave all other defaults.

I recommend that you work extensively with layers too.  Create a new layer for each kind (same mat) of trees and move all individual trees inside, and name the layer after the material name.  This will help you keep track of the many tree objects you will end up with.

So now you got all trees sorted out by mats, hide them all, but one, and here is how you proceed:

Enter element sub object mode, and select all faces.  Use the built in detach with both checkmark ticked to duplicate the faces.  This is needed to have double faces on your mesh so you X or whatever other shapes than Y works right in game.

Now select the move tool, and choose the local axis, and move it either 0.05 or -0.05 on the local z axis, depending on your needs, and then flip the faces.  If all is right, you will see both faces when you turn around the viewport.  If it didnt worked, you will end up with two black faces.  In this case, undo, and use the other value (0.05 vs -0.05).

Now use the Elements to Objects script to detach all elements into separate objects.  I find that gMat tool is highly unoptimized and isn't appropriate for larger tasks.  There are scripts out there that does a better and faster job.  This is an example.  I came up to a large group of trees, and the detach to elements from gMat tool didn't worked out and borked my max file.  I had to load and restart, then I searched for a better script.
And the script auto center the pivot, reset xforms to boot... so you don't have to do this by yourself afterward.


Now comes the trickier part... you knew there had to be one, cause this was real easy so far... :)

You need to use gMat tool with the group attach function (with attach checkmark ticked), and figure the proper radius for your trees.  If your meshes are x shape and rather meet in the middle, you will likely use a tight value.  If they are spread out a little, like in a cross, like some trees I have in Nord, you will need higher values.

gMat tool doesn't undo well.  So be careful.  Always work with small group of trees at first and save often.

The reason is this, the script does the attach one after the other, and if you wanna undo your attach, you need to undo each attach.  As most of your trees will have at least 4 polys... It's not long before you max out default Max undo limit.

So in doubt, and at first, try with a group of 3-4 trees max.  If the trees meet in the middle, try with a value of 1m or so.  If they dont meet, you can guesstimate by using the measure tool by measure the offset of a cross style tree.  Measuring both middle edge and how far they are spread out you will have an idea how much radius you will need.

This is no miracle script and for areas with overlapping trees, you are better to select the faces consisting of a tree and use the attach button in gmat (no need for quick attach in this case, gmat does this quick enough :))

You should now rename all these individual trees to a proper name like KSTREE_GROUP_MATNAME_000 and up.

Now you should have a new layer naned like KSTREE_GROUP_MATNAME, and have tree objects named like KSTREE_GROUP_MATNAME_XXX inside.

The last step is to make sure the pivot is centered.  You can select all trees and center pivot with gmat tool or with 3dsmax however you like.

Then hide this layer, and repeat for all other mats.