|
From: John W. <ca...@mm...> - 2001-09-03 21:20:41
|
Hi, Not being a graphics/rendering expert I've been wondering how to add = runway/taxi and other airport lights for night flying.=20 How does this sound; 1. treat the lights as a textured surface of say some color (like white, = or blue), 2. define a polygon surface that overlays the region/area where you want = lights, 3. compute the location points and create a "spike" with a vertical = dimension above the surface of the polygon (a different height for each type of light), 4. map the textured surfaces onto the polygon(s) such that the top of = each spike is painted with the color of the textured surface. (if the base height of the polygon is below the = ground it will be overlaid with the later scene textures) 5. render the scene. Observations: the polygon and spikes would be calculated once during init, or it might = better be done off-line as a datafile for each airport. Light intensities could be = varied by changing the textures. Large arrays of lights such as approach lights could be set at the correct = angle by varying the slope of the polygon. They could also be precomputed to save CPU cycles. = Light attenuation as a result of fog and haze would be "free" - part of normal scene = redendering. That still leaves the problem of moving lights, beacons, strobes, other = vehicles and aircraft etc. not to mention aircraft landing lights. Just a crazy idea, but... Regards Jack W. |