The "What Are You Working On?" Thread

[Patrik Marek]

3ds max has ProOptimiser, which allows you to protect the UV mapping whilst reducing the vert/poly count. I have found it to be very effective

I would stay away from any automagicall optimizers, in my experience they never work well, I have yet to see one that does good job and doesn't messup textures too badly

I do lods manually. If my edge loops are good enough, this process is not that bad
also as Ben and stereo says

the big initial reducement should be deleting all the small bits and pieces that you won't see form futher away, and for the really low lods it is easier to build them from scratch and just re-use the current texture

also one big AC thing .. when savign the lods .. DO USE THE SAVE CAR WITH NO TEXTURE, since texture will be already in memory from the LodA, this way the lods are way way smaller files
most people are probably already doing it but it doesn't hurt to mention it

 

[mister dog]

With the Daytona 24 being on, any of you track modders gave that track a thought already? I guess it's more work than normal having to model the whole oval/ stadium section and infield?

 

[LilSki]

With the Daytona 24 being on, any of you track modders gave that track a thought already? I guess it's more work than normal having to model the whole oval/ stadium section and infield?

It would be a large scope project to do right for sure. I stated in another post that there is LiDAR data for Daytona so the potential is there to have a very accurate version. I personally would like to see some proper stock cars before I thought about taking the project on and that is likely not going to happen. But I have offered to build the base track on the lidar data if someone wants to build the rest of the scenery.

 

[mister dog]

It would be a large scope project to do right for sure. I stated in another post that there is LiDAR data for Daytona so the potential is there to have a very accurate version. I personally would like to see some proper stock cars before I thought about taking the project on and that is likely not going to happen. But I have offered to build the base track on the lidar data if someone wants to build the rest of the scenery.

Haha as coincidence has it, my post here came from a conversation where we were discussing the D24 and that it was a shame that there's no decent mod for it.

So I said "Yeah quite a lot of work of course, hope someone like Lilski keeps on pumping out tracks and we'll see."

Guess who replies

Why not make a project out of it like with VIR and get some folk together? I would love to contribute myself but I don't have any of those skills, we could crowdfund it though .

 

[LilSki]

Haha as coincidence has it, my post here came from a conversation where we were discussing the D24 and that it was a shame that there's no decent mod for it.

So I said "Yeah quite a lot of work of course, hope someone like Lilski keeps on pumping out tracks and we'll see."

Guess who replies

Why not make a project out of it like with VIR and get some folk together? I would love to contribute myself but I don't have any of those skills, we could crowdfund it though .

Well my next project after NJMP and Bridge update I was going to try and experiment with that idea of more than one person building assets and scenery. The plan was to build the Watkins Glen with all layouts. Will have to see if my idea comes together or If I'll end up doing it on my own. Either way at some point there will be a proper Watkins Glen for AC.

 

[mister dog]

Well my next project after NJMP and Bridge update I was going to try and experiment with that idea of more than one person building assets and scenery. The plan was to build the Watkins Glen with all layouts. Will have to see if my idea comes together or If I'll end up doing it on my own. Either way at some point there will be a proper Watkins Glen for AC.

You guys did excellent work on VIR as a team, that formula could be repeated for a couple more iconic tracks. Make it payware I'm sure us fanatics would pay between 3 and a fiver for a quality track like that, and there would be a nice profit for the people involved which could serve as an incentive.

Just dreaming here of course, yes we can.

 

[Stereo]

Well my next project after NJMP and Bridge update I was going to try and experiment with that idea of more than one person building assets and scenery.

I think Luccaring got a bit of work done that way but the author provided photos of all the assets to work from. The hard part of tracks is finding photos of "uninteresting" scenery since there's no streetview on private courses.

 

[LilSki]

I think Luccaring got a bit of work done that way but the author provided photos of all the assets to work from. The hard part of tracks is finding photos of "uninteresting" scenery since there's no streetview on private courses.

Yes good reference photos are indeed hard to come by even for a current track. Darren had Arthur for VIR who was able to go and get photos of everything on the property. And that is one reason that track has so much detail. The other is @dazzyb2k3 is slightly insane

 

[FilipRobbie]

I would stay away from any automagicall optimizers, in my experience they never work well, I have yet to see one that does good job and doesn't messup textures too badly

I do lods manually. If my edge loops are good enough, this process is not that bad
also as Ben and stereo says

the big initial reducement should be deleting all the small bits and pieces that you won't see form futher away, and for the really low lods it is easier to build them from scratch and just re-use the current texture

also one big AC thing .. when savign the lods .. DO USE THE SAVE CAR WITH NO TEXTURE, since texture will be already in memory from the LodA, this way the lods are way way smaller files
most people are probably already doing it but it doesn't hurt to mention it

Have you guys tried Simplygon?

You guys did excellent work on VIR as a team, that formula could be repeated for a couple more iconic tracks. Make it payware I'm sure us fanatics would pay between 3 and a fiver for a quality track like that, and there would be a nice profit for the people involved which could serve as an incentive.

Just dreaming here of course, yes we can.

I would love to start doing some tracks on Assetto Corsa, especially if it would me pay the bills instead of the boring archviz i've been doing for the last years in UE4. I am not sure if that would be legal or accepted by Kunos though? If there is an real possibility than Lilski you can count me in on the development. I work with 3ds max 2015, Substance Designer/Painter, Speedtree etc.

 

[Rodger Davies]

I don't see it would be any different to URD's payware mods and no-one seems to have issue with those, as far as I can tell. The main issue would be licencing I believe, you'd have to take a similar approach to ISI's "Northampton" and "Brianza" names I guess.

 

[The-IC]

Some high-res screenies of Wakefield...been mucking around with the grass a bit more, stuck some weeds in, need to transition the longer bits down into the shorter areas a bit smoother though...
The background still needs a bit of filling out with missing trees...
Normals issue on the tyre barriers needs to be fixed, its a bit distracting...
Definitely a lot of grunge and dirt that needs to be put in soon, plus alot of smaller details to go in, shrubs, parked cars, bins, spectators, misc small details...plus the usual texture and shader tweaking and developement...

Seems to be looking reasonable so far though? Will see what I can get done in this week before releasing v0.2...

Also, at Wakefield, there's not very many walls in the infield, its mostly just a big flat grass area...however, I currently have an invisible wall running through the middle, because of ACs penalty system is turned off for whatever reason, it'd be *really* easy to cut across large chunks of the track...I'm curious what other track builders would do in this situation? I'm thinking a barrier of some sort, but I don't want it to stand out too much...maybe just hazard tape between evenly spaced orange construction posts?

 

[Ch4rL1E]

For the invisible barrier, you should look at Kuno's Mugello, between Correntaio turn (n° 12) and Biondetti (n°13)

 

[LilSki]

Some high-res screenies of Wakefield...been mucking around with the grass a bit more, stuck some weeds in, need to transition the longer bits down into the shorter areas a bit smoother though...
The background still needs a bit of filling out with missing trees...
Normals issue on the tyre barriers needs to be fixed, its a bit distracting...
Definitely a lot of grunge and dirt that needs to be put in soon, plus alot of smaller details to go in, shrubs, parked cars, bins, spectators, misc small details...plus the usual texture and shader tweaking and developement...

Seems to be looking reasonable so far though? Will see what I can get done in this week before releasing v0.2...

Also, at Wakefield, there's not very many walls in the infield, its mostly just a big flat grass area...however, I currently have an invisible wall running through the middle, because of ACs penalty system is turned off for whatever reason, it'd be *really* easy to cut across large chunks of the track...I'm curious what other track builders would do in this situation? I'm thinking a barrier of some sort, but I don't want it to stand out too much...maybe just hazard tape between evenly spaced orange construction posts?

Invisible wall is fine. Also if you are worried about cutting you can place your sector points in a way to basically be checkpoints. If you don't go through them the lap doesn't count.

 

[LilSki]

Have you guys tried Simplygon?



I would love to start doing some tracks on Assetto Corsa, especially if it would me pay the bills instead of the boring archviz i've been doing for the last years in UE4. I am not sure if that would be legal or accepted by Kunos though? If there is an real possibility than Lilski you can count me in on the development. I work with 3ds max 2015, Substance Designer/Painter, Speedtree etc.

I'm not sure I am ready to go the payware route at this point. Not only can't you use the real name but I fear it may take the fun out of it.

 

[The-IC]

@Ch4rL1E thanks, had a look, ive already used plastic barriers in the pitlane to block areas off and that works fine, but I'd need an awful lot of them to wall off the infield areas where im talking about...itd look a bit over-the-top

@LilSki Yeah, I might see if I can do it with an increased sector count...now I think of it, the inner loop of Riverside is a big open area with no walls like that too..if there's still potential holes, I'll just keep the invisible wall and use the longer grass to mark out the vague area where it is...

Thanks for the input

 

[dazzyb2k3]

Yes good reference photos are indeed hard to come by even for a current track. Darren had Arthur for VIR who was able to go and get photos of everything on the property. And that is one reason that track has so much detail. The other is @dazzyb2k3 is slightly insane

lol thanks LilSki

In truth VIR would probably not have been finished without the help of the whole team. Arthur's first hand knowledge was invaluable. Having someone who knows the look and feel of a place was a real asset. Just being able to ask 'is this right?' or 'what are those trees at T5?' was a godsend. In terms of accuracy, his photo's helped a lot but 80% of the reference was sheer gruntwork trawling through google earth, geo data, online photos, tech doccuments and race footage on you tube. I'd say that probably accounted for 50% of the time it took to build the track. Track building is very rewarding but it sure ain't glamorous. In fact most of it is downright tedious. Thankfully i'm both patient and tenacious and having other folk on board helped keep the motivation (and productivity) going. Having seen what a difference it makes, i'm not sure i'd tackle another project of that scale without extra hands.

I'm kind of with LilSki on the payware thing. I'm not against the principle, but unless I can get an official licence and/or permission i'm not sure it would feel quite right. Just my personal view. If others feel differently then NP.

However, i have thought about doing a fictional track as payware. I think the fictional market is largely untapped and it frees up a lot of possibilities from a track builders point of view. There are some who would never buy into the concept, but i think if it was done well it's worth a go.

Anyhow, i don't want to derail the thread. Just thought i'd chime in after @LilSki brought my sanity into question

 

[mister dog]

In any case, if there would be a possibility for track modders to work together and share the burden to bring missing tracks like Watkins Glen or Daytona to Assetto Corsa, everyone and his mother would be excited about it.

 

[mclarenf1papa]

Payware without a license is pretty lame...you're making money off of someone else's idea (without them knowing and without them being paid for their work) by just renaming it...that's not right.

 

[Rigel]

Who wanted to beta test Barber Motorsports Park? Got some fresh new kerbs installed.

[edit] How the heck do you add more than one participant to a conversation?

 

[garyjpaterson]

Anyone fancy a short video tomorrow? Previewing the early stages of @Modek's SFX?

Just exporting now, will upload tomorrow at work

Initial plan was to release pretty much now, but since hearing the frankly amazing new SFX, and also slightly iffy performance with lots of AI - I'll be holding off until the Modek is happy with the sounds and I've got at least a LR interior and LOD B done. That way its really just the non-essentials left