SpeedTree for OFP2?!

[B3liar 0]

Today i heared about a new Technologie used in games like:

Gothic III, Elder vs Scrolls 4, and much more...

This plugin called SpeedTree allows, that every Tree on Islands looks different.

Although it isn't to hard for the system/Hardware because of using LODs.

I don't know if it's possible to use for OFP2, or already used.. but it would be very nice

Exampels:

Gothic III

http://www.speedtree.com/images/in_games/Gothic3_02.jpg

(one of few screenshots)

The Elder Scrolls 4 - Oblivion

http://www.speedtree.com/images/in_games/Oblivion_01.jpg

Here's a link to their site.

http://www.speedtree.com/

very interessting, i think

greetings, B3liar

Sry for my terrible english ^^

[bravo 6 0]

yes, it would be more realist in certain areas.

i know we love OFP not for its grafics but for the game play.

But if it was possible to have those without lag.. that would be very good.

[Guest Ti0n3r]

Amazing! I wouldnt say no to that. But I dont think it will be in OFP2. I mean, OFP2 allready have some amazing trees and IMO trees arent the #1 priority.

[Ironsight 1]

BIS already developed it's own tool to create foliage. It was mentioned in an interview somewhere. Believe the tool is called Linda. So I doubt they would use a new tool

[shinRaiden 0]

Hmm... speedtree's saying stuff like "million tree applications"... having put 1.2 million banana trees in-game in VBS, I expect no less from OFP2, and I intend to prove again or toast my machine trying. Very minimal lag hit btw. However, that still only works out to ~15.26 objects per 50m cell, which isn't that dense at all.

In the speedtree SDK, it appears that you get a model editor and/or Max plugins and code, but not your ultimate world editor. So SpeedTreeCAD of course not being available for the redistributables, and an overkill anyway, the community (and dev's) would need some sort of intermediate tool to prep the params for logic placed in Visitor, or whatever BIS is using. There's enough of those params that it could warrant a seperate tool, with preview capabilities and more.

You mention an interview, any idea where it was so we can go look it up?

[berghoff 11]

Well they look nice, untill you do a closeup because all the leafes are sprites (or whatever it is called just like the bad guys in the doom 1&2 game) They aren't in 3d. Custom trees are far better than this.

[Ironsight 1]

You mention an interview, any idea where it was so we can go look it up?

Quote[/b] ] The improvements to the graphics engine also includes improvements to the terrain detail. No longer is the world of Operation Flashpoint poulated by barren ground and pixelated trees. A new in-house tooled named Linda, has helped Bohemia create a highly detailed vegetation system. Each plant is modelled after a plant found in the real world. Every single tree is accurately modelled, adding a lot of depth to the already realistic environment. Along with the enviroment, Bohemia has worked on creating real time weather effects. On clear days, the sun can momentarily affect visibility if you choose to look directly it. And storms now look and act like real storms. This included offshore effects. Weather affects the water in the sea. When it is storming the waves (yes waves) will be larger and behave a little more violently. When the weather dies down the sea will be more calm and light will even reflect off of it.

Full interview

[B3liar 0]

ok, that sounds good too.

But, if you watch the demo of Speedtree, you cant belive what you can se!

Especially the Wind-effects are wonderful .

Although, i trust in BIS and their terrain prog!

greetings, B3liar

[gandalf the white 0]

From what I see Bohmia has simply 3-D scanned plants and vegitation. this tool, however, seems to be able to create dynamic vegitation .

I can't be overly bothered if this isn't implemented. most likely it'l kill the loading time for islands, and make accurate infantry-placed-in-bushes useless.

[Guest Ti0n3r]

After thinking about speed tree for a while I feel that the tool mentioned above, Linda, is going to fit the game better. I think speed tree could cause very long loading times and maybe even a low fps rate.

[bravo 6 0]

is there any INFO about LINDA in internet?

would be nice a link, plz

[Ironsight 1]

But, if you watch the demo of Speedtree, you cant belive what you can se!

Especially the Wind-effects are wonderful

Who says Linda doesn't has that feature

[Guest Ti0n3r]

Yepp yepp, there will be wind effects in ArmA, wich means that OFP2 will have wind effects as well.

[Victor_S. 0]

I like the trees that are in ghost recon 2, They look very real to me.

[Heatseeker 0]

Game2 could be too big for speedtree, in such a massive environment with so much going on i could care less about speedtree, i remember in their demos the trees looked bad over longer distances (high detail/1280x1024 resolution) and the maps with more detailed trees had less view distance and more fog..

I trust BIS will come up with the right vegetation to their game like they did before without resorting to 3rd party developers, they have already showned some very impressive tree pics .

[ebns72 0]

speedtree has gotten a good repuatation as having fkin amazing looking trees but having great performance at the same time. It would be awesome to see it in ofp.

Download their "trees of pangea" demo. It has a buncha trees and grass over a huge terrain similar to what ofp can be but at the same time works great performance wise.

[meio_maluco 1]

Hum i guess their not using it since they scan the fooliage then selves and make their own trees, and im shure at the same time they make it low on performance.

[shinRaiden 0]

There's actually two methods of creating vegetation via SpeedTree if I understand the docs correctly. One is to pre-build vegetation then place them as static models. You can then add SDK code to animate what simply is just another model.

The other option is what Trees of Pangea does, and that is place logic units on a map for spawning dynamic vegetation. Using 'seed' (pun not originally intended, but insightful) values you can control a consistent form and scale, and possiblely add effects like changing colors and dropping leaves, although I'd have to check some more to see if that is actually possible with SpeedTree.

[llauma 0]

BIS is a developer that developes the things they need by themselves. Many other games uses pre-made parts like speedtree, Havok physics engine and often some big 3D engine. 50 games shown at E3 last month uses the havok engine. Sure they often look amazing but I wouldn't want to see a situation where one company handles the physics for the whole gaming industry. It's much like the browser problem where Microsoft with IE decides the quality for a huge majority while smaller browsers can't make themselves heard even though they often got much better solutions.

[mattxr 9]

just a quote from that interview

Quote[/b] ]And storms now look and act like real storms. This included offshore effects. Weather affects the water in the sea. When it is storming the waves (yes waves) will be larger and behave a little more violently. When the weather dies down the sea will be more calm and light will even reflect off of it.

now how cool would that be for a stormy beach landing i cant wait...