Workflow with Torque

[RonHiler]

Hey gang,

I'm curious how workflow is handled.

I have a relatively large map that I want to use in a Torque project. I have successfully pulled this map into my project, so all is good there.

But here is the problem. I want to lay down buildings and roads and such, and for that I need flat surfaces. So let's say I pick a spot on the map, and I have to flatten it a bit so it holds my object (as a dif file), so that the object sits on the ground properly.

So then I have to go back into L3DT and use the flatten tool on the heightmap. But then does this not invalidate all the rest of the subsequent maps? I have to then regenerate all those maps and create a whole new altas file. And all that takes quite a while (like a good hour or so).

And what makes it even harder is that the object I'm trying to place only appears in my game, not in L3DT, heh. So I have to "guess" where the flat area is that I need, and if I get it wrong and need to go back and tweak the area again, it's another hour lost!

This can't be how it's done. No one would ever get anything done, heh. So what am I doing wrong? How do you guys handle having to tweak your maps to fit your geometry in game?

[RonHiler]

Oh, and BTW, is there a way to check what parameters your map is using after you've created it? I wanted to go back and see if I could reduce mine a bit in order to get faster creation times, but I can't see a way to pull up the map info (like terrain size, horizontal scale, attribute/normal/lightmap resolutions, and so on)?

[RonHiler]

No one has any thoughts on this, huh? I'm really very curious on how this is done by others.

One idea that occured to me was to have two versions of the landscape. One working version and one final version. They'd both use the same heightmap, but the working version would use much less resolution, and perhaps could be generated much quicker, allowing for a nice fast workflow. If you could build a quicky landscape in a couple of minutes and pull it into TGEA, that would keep development moving forward at a decent pace. Then, when a good landscape build was needed, this could be done using the final resolutions (maybe done overnight once a day, or even once a week).

I haven't had a chance to try this out yet to see if it would work. For all I know, the size of the heightmap is the factor that drives the build times, and therefore this wouldn't work at all.

Could you perhaps just build the entire map once at the beginning, then during development just modify the heightmap and pull that back into the atlas file without updating the rest of the maps? I realize the subsequent maps would not be a perfect fit, but for tweaking purposes, they would be good enough. Then when you are happy with your tweaks for a particular area, you could rebuild the entire map.

That may be a better solution. I'd really like to hear from others how they handle this. I'm thinking about using a 4096x4096x2m map, though I haven't entirely settled on a size yet (I may go smaller in area). And the answer to this question is going to play a factor in that decision, heh.

[Aaron]

Hi Ron,

In general I'd recommend you build the whole map at the start, but use only low-resolution settings for the attributes map, normal map, light map and texture map. Once you've got the heightmap just right, then go ahead and re-generate these maps with high-resolution settings.

Could you perhaps just build the entire map once at the beginning, then during development just modify the heightmap and pull that back into the atlas file without updating the rest of the maps?

Yes, this will work. However, it might be a little disorienting if you don't also update the light map and texture, as these will allow you to better see the shape of the terrain geometry. If you've made regular low-res light and texture maps, regenerating these maps should be fairly fast.

Oh, and BTW, is there a way to check what parameters your map is using after you've created it? I wanted to go back and see if I could reduce mine a bit in order to get faster creation times, but I can't see a way to pull up the map info (like terrain size, horizontal scale, attribute/normal/lightmap resolutions, and so on)?

There are a few ways.

You can view all the settings in one window using the 'Settings->Current project' menu option. This will show all the settings in a tree structure. However, the names for the settings are those used internally by L3DT, rather than the familiar 'display names' used in wizards. Hence, it might take a little digging to find the settings you want using this window.

The other way would be to open up the relevant wizard from the 'Operations' menu. For example:

• To view/edit design map size settings, use 'Operations->Design map->Resize design map'.
• To view/edit design map parameters, use 'Operations->Design map->Modify parameters'.
• To view/edit light map settings, use 'Operations->Light map->Generate map'.
• etc...

I hope this helps.

Cheerio,
Aaron.

PS: It is technically possible for L3DT to re-generate only selected areas of maps, but this requires the use of custom scripts. I will try to include nice GUI options for this after v2.7 is released.

[RonHiler]

Awesome, thank you Aaron, that's a big help. I've tested out a few ways to do this, and I think a combination of all three (alternating between just generating the height map, generating a quicky set of maps, and doing a full build) is probably the way to go, as you say.

I think I've just about settled on a size I like (about 4x4 km), so now it's a matter of getting the rough geography where I want it, and going from there.

I'll be interested in that "selected portion" build option. Hope to see that in a future release