Update : xenesis-engine (III)

As you can see, right now i'm fiddling around with a vegetation-concept to bring some content in the world. Ya, i know, the fps sux right now, but there isn't -any- optimization in it right now, and the amount of rendered stuff isn't really low. In this test i set up to show trees in a radius of 128 tiles around the player (1 tile = 2 meters), so we can see trees up to 250 meters away from us. Already looks very dense.

Diu-Database (fictional world concept)

These days i keep my eyes open for a free and good solution about a wiki-system, because the plan is to build up a database of knowledge about the world 'Diu', this database will be defined as 'fictional world concept'.
The target is to define this world as detailed and plausible as possible.
Later on this knowledge might be expanded by community work (under the aspect of 'certificated' content, so content that is verified and agreedto be part of this world).
'Diu' is the first world falling under the concept-type 'fictional worlds', other worlds, which are already in progress, should follow (so like 'kenauer' or 'arkthal edliam').

Diu-sign

During the work on 'the digital messiah', 'Diu' and other related projects, i spent a lot of time for defining rules and directives for the design. Design doesn't just mean the optical part, it is also related to the 'functional' parts. So these directives not just define 'how' something should look like, it furthermore explains 'why'.
So the Diu-sign is shoulder to shoulder to the definition of the world Diu.
Diu-sign will be the base for all designs and/or artworks related to 'Diu', 'the digital messiah' or comparable. Later on (as for an release of 'the digital messiash') the Diu-sign, bundled as a documentation, should be there to help those trying to create stuff in the direction of a 'digital world' (or for 'the digital messiah' itself if the want).

Ruul

'The digital messiah' is a complex story in a complex world, so for that i decided to create a roleplaying-system (or also known as rulesystem) which i call by its codename 'Ruul'. 'Ruul' is perfectly fit to the needs of the digital world 'Diu', which is also the background for the storyline of the digital messiah. Hopefully during the next 1-2 month i can finish a pre-alpha-version of it.
As we're talking about a digital world, you can expect that this rulesystem won't be comparable to any known one these days. A reason why it is not derived from any standardsystem (like AD&D or similar).

Process blocked

Geeee... so much time has past during the last post. You might wonder 'huhhhmmmm, maybe his 56K-connection just sux... com' on, welcome to the future, get some real internet!'. Well, the fact is, i moved to a new location, and it took much, much, very much, too much, sooooo much time, i can't believe it myself.
But finally i arrived, and hopefully things starting to get better now.
About the projects (you might guess it already), still on the run! If someone would pay me to make them in a team, fulltime, no question it would be easier. But as long life gets in the way, dangit...
I'll going to make some posts in the near future (you know what this could mean).

DEdit-Trick : Outlining

Hi there,

here is a little, neat trick for DEdit (and for sure, for other 3D-render programs and -editors as well) how to create an 'outlining'-effect. This is an effect known from drawn things, especially comics, and it is describing the optic when things are drawn with a more intensive style at their outer edges. That way, they can be shown more separated from the background and other elements in the drawn scene.

Now the big question : why talking about it here?
Well, during the last 4-5 years, working with DEdit and other 3D-rendering stuff, i collected/created a set of techniques and/or tricks that helped me creating maps in a more efficient way. Also, Tron itself is orientated to a style of computergraphics from the early 80's, at that time 3D-CGI always looked very 'edgy', so this optic can fit well (if used correctly and wisely).

IMPORTANT : It should be told at this point, that this effect can (but don't have to) be a massive backshot, if you don't use it right or to massivly in your maps. That said, your performance of the map could drop. So better make yourself some good thoughts about your map before you use this effect! And work cleanly, otherwise you create too much extra polygons, that will reduce the performance!

IMPORTANT : In each step of this tutorial i added the corresponding keys you sometimes could use. These are mapped to my keyboardlayout (german) and might be different if you changed the settings in your DEdit (heck, even i don't know which of my settings are still default or not :)).

HOW TO
Lets assume we're talking about an object like this in the map, where we want to have that outlining:


And our target is to reach such an effect:


How to do that?

It is simple. First duplicate the original(A) so you get a copy(B), that copy will be used for the outlining.
[SHIFT & C > SHIFT & V]


Now set the position of the copy(b) to the same as of the original(A)
[SELECT (A) > SHIFT & X > SELECT (B) > SHIFT & Z(maybe Y if your keyboard has not a german layout)]


In the next step, you increase the dimension of the copy(B) about 1 or 2 DEdit-units in each of the six directions. So like this:

(TIP: the higher the increase the more intense the outlining will be shown!)

Now put a texture onto the copy(B), for a Tron-styled map surely something 'glowish' :) (for toon-style you should use something black):


Flip the faces of all sides of the copy(b), so the outside is now inside (i have hidden the original(A) so you can see it better!):
[PRESS F]


All steps are done, all you have to do now is to compile/process your map, and make a test. You can run around in your map as much as you want, you will realize that only the outer edges of the cube will be showing.
Combined with, for example a flat-shading, you can also create a toon-look. You just need to setup a texture like something black on the copy.

Here are two example how this would look like if you have a more complex shape/architecture in your map, using this effect.