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New guy searching for solutions

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New guy searching for solutions

Postby whtemple1959 » Mon Nov 12, 2012 12:38 am

Hello,

First and foremost I must admit I am not an artist or a programmer.

I found L3DT while searching for solutions for a project I want to see come to fruition. The thing that caught my eye was at the in the showcase images there was an exact example of 1 of the 3 tasks I need in my project. That is a bulldoze feature. I also need a tunneling and a bridging function.

Now I have no idea what I am doing so my learning curve is straight up. But, I I am attempting to create a game in which the player travels the globe exploring geographical, historical, and man made icons. I got the idea for watching Dinosaur Train, Curious George, and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse with my 3 year old son.

For those unfamiliar with them. Dinosaur train takes a family of Pterodactyls with their adopted T-Rex through time tunnels to different periods to learn about that period, Mickey Mouse's Choo Choo Train manages to build it's track as it travels, and of course Curious George is just curious. For example. If Tristan leaves our home town of Columbus, Ohio and heads west toward the Grand Canyon he first comes to the Mississippi river where he will find a marker which will open a Wiki in a browser to tell him about the river, he will then build a bridge and travel to St Louis where he will find a marker to teach him about St Louis., and so on until he reaches the Grand Canyon. Or maybe he will go East and get on a boat to Europe. Or maybe go through a time tunnel/chunnel/portal to visit a time and place in history.

My first thought was that I needed a spherical game space so the player could travel in one direction and cover the surface of the globe, this may be true. But, I am thinking that there must be a way to seamlessly express the same function. My second thought is this is going to need to be open source so people from around the world can assist with creating the markers

So I will be here while I explore the possibilities of L3DT and asking some questions.

If any of you have advice on the scope of the project, how to implement the various functions, advice on building the application please give a shout. I realize that since I have none of the skills to accomplish this project most of you are laughing by now. But, I believe I can teach myself what I need to this vision realized.

Now for some details..
I am using Windows XP SP3 and Ubuntu 10.04
I am considering Code::Blocks and QT as they are cross platform although QT seems to be more user friendly.
I have a collection of GeoTiff files, Shape Files, and Height maps with which to build the world. I am leaning toward Natural Earth's Image as it is one that is not cluttered with man made items, but it will not at this time zoom into street level so may not be usable.
I looked at Ogre, Horde, and Irrlicht but feel I need an engine focused on terrain.

So, my adventure takes another turn as I study L3DT. I hope I have found part if not all of my solution.

I look forward to your comments and suggestions.

Thanks, Bill
whtemple1959
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Re: New guy searching for solutions

Postby Telarus » Sun Dec 02, 2012 11:42 pm

Welcome to the community, Bill.

Personally, L3DT fits into my workflow as one of my terrain manipulation tools, and not as a final presentation engine.

I am currently working with the Unreal3 Development Kit (UDK) for that portion of the pipe-line. I find I have taken terrain height-fields in and out of Photoshop, UDK, L3DT, and GRASS open GIS, multiple times so far. Each software has it's own set of tools, and reads heightfield data differently.

L3DT has been my main translation tool as I move data between programs, and the other functions such as generating a detailed heightfield from a lower rez "design" heightfield, intelligent water-map and water-body tools, etc, have increased what I'm able to accomplish quickly.

Right now, I'm working out how to present landscapes in UDK (where the material creation, foliage, and props/objects.. maybe even weather/particle effects -magic happens).

I've looked at OGRE (Runic Games made a successful series called Torchlight & Torchlight II in a custom OGRE build), have also considered the other two you mention. I was taught UDK at school and found it more suited for my purpose (especially with the newer Lanscape tools).

L3DT remains an invaluable tool in my pipeline, if not the only one. My terrain swiss-army-knife. ;)
Telarus
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