[Opengate-devel] Multi resolution mesh

[Gary L. <Ult...@gm...>]

Hi folks,
I was just testing around with a C-1 model. It seams as thouse organic fo=
rms need much more
vertices/polygons to display something nice and round.

The primrose has currently 113 vert.s and 122 poly.s. It is very sharp ed=
ged but it still looks natural
because it's an common machine design. Of course organic stuff is not sha=
rp edged in nature so I was
thinking about a multi resolution mesh. And that's what I found and gave =
me the idea:

Team Fortress 2 is a modification of Half Life 2

"
Valve will Intels Mutli Resolution Mesh-Technologie (kurz MRM-Technologie=
) in Team Fortress 2 voll
ausnutzen.

Mit Hilfe dieser Technologie wird sowohl der Prozessor als auch die Grafi=
kkarte erheblich entlastet. So
will Valve jedes Spieler-Model mit satten 3.000 Polygonen darstellen (Hal=
f-Life hatte ca. 700, Beben 3
ca. 1.000 Polygone pro Charakter), was ein enormer Rechenaufwand ist. W=FC=
rdet Ihr also auf eine Gruppe
weit entfernter Spieler sehen, w=FCrde Eure Framerate total in den Keller=
gehen. Da man aber auf eine
solche Entfernung die 3.000 Polygone sowieso nicht wahrnehmen kann, wird =
mit Hilfe von MRM der
Polygon-Gehalt reduziert. Je weiter Ihr von Eurem Gegen=FCber entfernt se=
id, desto weniger Polygone hat
dieser. Optisch hat das f=FCr Euch keine Konsequenzen, jedoch hat dies ei=
ne postive Auswirkung auf Eure
Framerate.

Bei 100% werden also 3000 Polygone dargestellt, das hei=DFt dass bei der =
minimalsten Einstellung von 12%
nur noch 360 Polygone dargestellt werden m=FCssen.
"

Maybe we can also include something like this into Opengate!? We could sa=
ve 2 or 3 models each conflux=20
by using the subsurface modifier in blender. Usual ships won't need a sub=
surface modifier (well maybe=20
for some special high detailed parts of the ship). Depending on the dista=
nce Opengate could change the=20
model in space and there could also be an option for the player to set a =
max. polygon value to make=20
opengate compatible to slow computers.

I made some renderings of a not texturized test model of a C-1 so you can=
make yourself an opinion of
the technique:

178 vert.s, 228 faces (double as much as the premia):
http://www.ontheserver.de/temp/Opengate/C-1/178%20vert.s%20-%20228%20face=
s.png

2,029 vert.s, 818 faces (little more than Half Life 1, little less than Q=
uake 3):
http://www.ontheserver.de/temp/Opengate/C-1/2029%20vert.s%20-%20818%20fac=
es.png

4,839 vert.s, 3,272 faces (like a Half Life 2 model):
http://www.ontheserver.de/temp/Opengate/C-1/4839%20vert.s%20-%203272%20fa=
ces.png

14,246 vert.s, 13,088 faces (just testing around :)
http://www.ontheserver.de/temp/Opengate/C-1/14246%20vert.s%20-%2013088%20=
faces.png

200k faces (opacma):
http://www.ontheserver.de/temp/Opengate/C-1/opacma.png

Well we would need to remove thouse holes in the middle of the flux manua=
lly. It's a bug in the
subsurface modifier of blender. But I guess you got the idea.

Regards,
Gary