Mrssrs Bolton, magmagmag, Shonnen and other mesh artists: Orbiter!

[Gatsby]

hey, all!

First, you are the best- much fun seeing these Traveller ships visualized! So much so, i wanted to make you wonders of the mesh aware of a freeware program called Orbiter by Dr. Martin Schweiger, Ph.D. No, this is not spam.


Orbiter is a free, low memory program that accurately simulates space flight. But far more important for Traveller fans is the ability to add fictional ships into Orbiter! Actually, add ships, cargo, planets, star systems, and such. With other free add ons by other geniuses (Vinka, DanSteph and such), ships can have virtual cokpits, moving parts, crew, various comp programs and limited limited combat.

I have done a VERY simple Type-S scout and my own ships (see pictures in the gallery section of this site

but I am not good enough (yet) to do much more. But let me tell you....it's SO fun. With added models and docking ports and so on....wow....

Imagine taking a pinnance out from a Broadsword class and over to Kininur.


Well, here's the nut: I know JUST enough to see how things could be if I was a genius with a boat load of time (neither applies!). I've seen the mod to add collision damage....seen the mode to target and 'fire'....seen the mod to add crew and cargo that can be destroyed on a bad run...I know the rough paths to convert models and have poked about the adaptable flight specs and thruster graphics...where one can attach docking ports....there's even a trade and money calculator and Jump-Drive add on!



Please check out the site: http://orbit.medphys.ucl.ac.uk/

I can help organize plans....

Thanks for your time....

 

[Gatsby]

This is a youtube movie to (rather dramatically) show the flight systems (not my work!).

Yep...it has land vehicles and EVA: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ukb33V0gSWs&feature=related


and Bridge: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXew1VppDwU&NR=1

2001 fans? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbZ8SAdspzg


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yI_x4afKQuY&feature=related

 

[Thunderbolt]

Intriguing, Flight Simulator for space!

I imagine the digital models would need to be simplified to work in the program.

 

[Gatsby]

I re-print this reply on the orbiter forums about the number of polys best suited for performance:

------------

Depend completely of the model you do. But here are some tips from a fond of optimisation that know well both sides (I've wrote one DX8 engine)

DGIV is about 7800 face and 5x 1024x024 textures
Arrow Freighter is about 12000 face with 3x 1024x1024
The Truck of UCGO is about 4500 face with 1x 1024x1024

Everything that would reach 20'000 or more has to be an exceptionnal model. (Ailantd model for example)

But now it's not only about poly, you can have 4500 face and absolutely kill the framerate. This is explained here:
http://www.dansteph.com/publie/tutorial/Texturing.html
And you can see also an explaination in the UCGO cars doc. (don't miss it, it's more on the practicall side)

-You should have the less material possible (textures, colors etc) This not mean limiting colors at all but minimizing *material* (using 4x4 pixel color on texture and grouping poly on those with UVW allow you to colorise them without using more material= you can have hundred colors in model and still only one material)
-You should merge as much as possible the group that share the same material.
-You should not exceed 1024x1024 for texture size (old common GC don't support more)
-One well done texturing worth thousand poly.
-You should delete all the unseen polygon.
-You should careffuly use pixel from texture, ie: do not use 250x205 pixel for a knob and 10x10 for a hull. (this is evident) BUT you should use more pixels on things that are more important or more chance to be seen than on minor object. (example: front seat of a VC can use 250x250 as they are close from camera, the same seat on rear place can use half size as they are far from camera)

By merging mesh by material in the Arrow VC the FPS went from 30FPS to 60 FPS on an average computer. It's not only poly, Material DOES mater.

Now there are some other practicall tips & technic but doing a good model that is also optimised is an art that require time to be learned.

Hope this answer ?

Dan



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That comes from the great DanSteph

 

[Thunderbolt]

Eeek, well that rules out most of my models, especially those of the curvaceous variety:

http://www.cambrianmoons.com/vue-the-visitor.htm