What would be great, some time down the line, would be a brand new version of Tree Magik & Plant Life, taking into account things like LOD and shaders now that we have a vast terrain to play with!

Does anyone know the steps needed to get a tree from the current (G3) Tree Magik into Reloaded?

I've done it - but it involves some messing about. I'm thinking of producing another short utility to do all the steps quickly in one program.



I did the following:



1. Recalculate the UV data so that one limb corresponds to the square [0,0.5]x[0,0.5] and the other to the square [0.5,1.0]x[0.5,1.0].



2. Save the revised object as a single mesh.



3. Resize the source images so they are the same dimensions, e.g. 512x512.



4. Combine the two source images, i.e. the bark and leaf textures, so that one corresponds to the top left of the new image and the other to the bottom right, i.e. so they match the changes to the UV data. Then fill in the rest of the image with something sensible.



5. Create suitable .bmp thumbnail and .fpe files.



6. Put everything in a sensible folder in the entitybank and away you go.



Here's a screenshot with such a model that I posted somewhere else:

Err.. what he said! I'm sure it's perfectly simple but I'm not a modeller and know nothing about UV's, limbs and meshes so don't have a clue how to follow that.



Thanks anyway Green Gandalf.

yeah Gandalf that would be really nice!!

I know of 2 ways to accomplish Green's accomplishment. I definitely recommend getting the programs necessary for this type work if you want to start adding models that are not already available for FPSCRL and carefully reading the well written tutorials on them. Fragmotion gives the user this ability to remap multiple textured objects onto a usable single map. UVMapper Pro does the same thing, but you would have to convert the object to an .OBJ object first since it only maps .OBJ files - believe me - this is actually an easier way sometimes because UVMapper pro is an easy program with lots of options. I believe both of these programs have free versions. Once you remap your polys so they are sitting side by side(make sure you expand this new map 2x to retexture it easily) - don-t be intimidated by TreeMagic polys. There is one square of 2 triangles for the leaves and a multipoly of weird shape for the bark textures. Bring the map into your favorite image editor and carefully place the leaf texture over in the same square as the split triangle poly side and then take your bark texture and place it carefully and completely over the multipoly map on the other side - cover all the polys but don't overstretch it. It looks like you might need many textures for the bark - but you dont - and dont change the shape of the polys on the map either - just leave it shaped as is, the model will eventually apply the bark just as you saw it in your TreeMagic editor. If you have never done this before - first make your image somewhat - maybe 75% - transparent so you can see the polymap underneath it - after you have succeeded in applying the textures then make them fully opaque again. Save it as a .PNG and then do your conversions as Green Gandolf has pointed out. Look, I won't kid you - there is a small learning curve - it may even take some people a few days of banging their heads on their keyboards - but once you get it, you will feel so empowered that we may all have to hide because for sure you will take over the world. If I get the time, I will try to make a tutorial on all this crap, but please at least try to get the free versions of these programs. There are still also left over versions of TrueSpace 7 on the internet and this would help you see what you are doing also.

Ultimately (that is, in the future when we all have hovercraft) the plan is that our game creator will be able to originate procedural vegetation, trees and other natural forms as part of the automated build process. We even had the crazy thought of a time machine system where you sprinkle seeds down, then add a hundred years of weathering and growing in an instant. Your scene would transform into an authentic landscape, with little or veg where they could not grow, fallen trees due to storms and an abundance of life around water and other nurturing pockets of nutrients. Fanciful stuff but the exact kind of cool thing that will allow you to create massive (and believable) worlds in just a few clicks. Another benefit to building it into the main engine is that we can further optimize how they are employed when rendering up close, in the distance, via reflection, from a distant shadow camera or through a mirror or refractive surface. In games, you often find an insane number of hacks to get the performance high, but in a real-time do-what-you-like editor, we have to come up with automated ways to find these speed-ups

I appreciate your enthusiasm Lee! But as you say "in the future when we all have hovercraft" and even then I can't see this happening. In the interim it might be an idea to create something to make your own trees / plants of the sizes / shapes we want.

Please don't give up on this dream Lee!



This would be a boon to the game creation workflow. I'm all for that.

well in fpsc i did have a growing method for my grass as time went by, by time delay entities of short grass to long grass, looked fun but then found it pointless, but now in reloaded the idea sounds good as other type of games can be created using it,and benefit from a seasonal change, ooh i feel a new weather system will emerge,

time for me to learn on reloaded i thinks

My Tree Magik and Plant Life hasn't worked for like forever. So for me, that was a waste of money. I am hopeful that someone can recognise we bought the old one, and give us a new version that works in FPSCR.

If you ask the majority they would have me (and rightly) work on performance, memory usage, stability, core features, e.t.c. I also recognize we need a LOT more content, and any user created content will need to looks good, which means a dedicated tool in our pipeline which is completely compatible with Reloaded. The goods news is that we are drawing up design documents now for tools like this, and we can reveal (and show) more on this in 2014. I will remain on core work while these satellite projects continue around me, so in theory you will be able to have your cake and eat it. Veg maker might take some time, but building maker and character maker are much closer to becoming reality