can you show me some of the code you did for the flight physics? i was doing a top down 2d racing game and i got really hung up and eventually bogged down in the driving physics (attempting newtonian more or less) and i was wondering how complex your approach was.
looks fantastic btw, i'm surprised you did a cockpit view, looks great.
can you show me some of the code you did for the flight physics? i was doing a top down 2d racing game and i got really hung up and eventually bogged down in the driving physics (attempting newtonian more or less) and i was wondering how complex your approach was.
Uhm, well for now what I have on the XNA version is "quaternion physics." On the OpenGL version, I had somewhat more complex flight dynamics, with some gravity and acceleration, but it was nothing special. Not sure where I'd go with this one, as this is just a third of my final project. I guess I will only take it as far as the flight dynamics looking alright.
I'm not sure how to do that just yet. I have to put some placeholder texture on the model, and then replace it with another texture (the radar output) at runtime. This is on a low priority for now.
Well this version actually took me 3 days to do, but mostly because it was somewhat similar to the OpenGL stuff I learned during the summer. If I have to guess how long it took me to learn all the OpenGL stuff, I'd guess 3-4 months. A lot of that time went toward learning shaders. Shaders in OGL are written in GLSL and in DirectX/XNA, they are written in HLSL, but both languages are fairly similar (somewhat like C), and the ideas behind the shaders (like multitexturing, fog, reflection, refraction, etc) is basically the same in OGL and DX/XNA.
Well this version actually took me 3 days to do, but mostly because it was somewhat similar to the OpenGL stuff I learned during the summer. If I have to guess how long it took me to learn all the OpenGL stuff, I'd guess 3-4 months. A lot of that time went toward learning shaders. Shaders in OGL are written in GLSL and in DirectX/XNA, they are written in HLSL, but both languages are fairly similar (somewhat like C), and the ideas behind the shaders (like multitexturing, fog, reflection, refraction, etc) is basically the same in OGL and DX/XNA.
For someone like me, no experience, how long do you think it would take to make a good looking animation scene (whatever it may be)?
Oh, animation has nothing to do with programming, really, unless you do the animations on the fly, but they'd look awkward like that. Modelling and animation are in a completely different field, just like drawing textures. So, if you want to do models and/or animation, and you have the talent for such stuff, it isn't all that hard. It's is a matter of learning to use the available tools (like 3ds Max, Maya, ZBrush, etc). This could take anywhere from a day (learning the most basic stuff required for modeling for example) to months (dwelling in the most advanced features of each software).
Programming (what I am doing) is more advanced, and takes longer to start seeing visual results (like a window, a form, a game, a working application, etc). Also, before starting 3D games (and to some extent 2D as well), some mathematical knowledge is recommended (especially linear algebra).
But XNA really simplifies the process, so a few months of learning the programming language (like C++, C# and/or VB.NET), 4-5 weeks on the math, at least the basics, and 2-3 months of studying XNA (from a book, website, trial and error), and you could start seeing results.
I really want to get into XNA but with the total lack of 3D skills I havent made the jump yet.. Do you work as part of a team or just do everything yourself? Maybe I need to find myself an artist !
Please be gentle, this is still very early work. More info on the vid's description. Criticism and advices are welcome.
This , but I have since moved to XNA. It is much easier to work with when managing content (and I can bring this eventually to the 360).
You've built the engine etc. from scratch, in C# with XNA? I'm very impressed.
Quote:
Also, before starting 3D games (and to some extent 2D as well), some mathematical knowledge is recommended (especially linear algebra).
I'd say it's not only recommended, it's a must. My math skills are extremely crude when it comes to higher level stuff needed for 3D calculations and have always been something that has held me back as far as beginning to code 3D stuff, and I've never found the right time to learn some of the most important skills needed (learning math on your own in your home sucks, esp. when you can play games instead ).
I really want to get into XNA but with the total lack of 3D skills I havent made the jump yet.. Do you work as part of a team or just do everything yourself? Maybe I need to find myself an artist !
Haha, well, like a true pirate, the textures are from a tutorial, and the model is from De Espona model pack. I am not a modeler, nor I can draw or photograph quality textures. My magic is unfortunately limited to coding.
But if you need any help, you can PM me.
Frant wrote:
I'd say it's not only recommended, it's a must. My math skills are extremely crude when it comes to higher level stuff needed for 3D calculations and have always been something that has held me back as far as beginning to code 3D stuff, and I've never found the right time to learn some of the most important skills needed (learning math on your own in your home sucks, esp. when you can play games instead ).
Well, it definitely used to be a must back when I did my first 3D engine in DOS, in my last year of high school. But with XNA, it is perfectly possible to only learn what does what, without understanding exactly what happens behind the scenes.
Starting some development with XNA is really easy, you need either Visual C# 2008 Express (free), or any of the complete Visual Studio 2008 versions, and XNA Game Studio 3.0 (free).
Then, to cook content (textures, models, sounds, effects, etc) for XNA, you just add the content to the Content folder in VS' workspace. In debug mode it doesn't compress the cooked content, but it is faster. In release it compresses the content, but is slower.
It only knows to read "X" and "FBX" files (default XNA content providers). I have not found any other content providers, but I used Panda DirectX Exporter for 3ds Max 2009 to export the models to the DirectX "X" format (I didn't manage to get these particular models with the default 3dx Max "FBX" exporter. I suspect its the models' fault, but I managed with the "X" format, so it's all good. If your software has an exporter for either "X" or "FBX", you'll be fine. Otherwise, you might need to use a middleman (MilkShape, 3ds Max, LightWavem, etc), or find a custom content provider for XNA, that will accept a particular format.
Hey Leo, how are you rendering your terrain? I'm modeling it atm with cinema4d and it works quite good. And I was just thinking about adding a skybox which won't move. But do I have to make it so, that it follows the camera (which sounds stupid ) or is there a skybox module inside xna?
And did you use 2 different models for your airplane? (inside and outside view?)
My terrain is read from a heightmap and is fed into a vertex buffer. It is then drawn when needed. You could model it, and then it would do the same thing basically, with the loading of the model going into a vertex buffer. Multitexturing of the terrain (based on height) is done in code and shaders, so you'd save some time and performance if you do the texturing in Cinema 4d. Skyboxes are usually made to indeed move with the camera, because otherwise you could reach the end of the sky. There is no module for it per se, you have to implement if yourself lol.
I used the same model for the inside and outside views, but different scales (in order to fix some near clip plane problems). The particular model I used was modeled internally as well, so it was good. For the commercial 767 I will be using a second model.
ok so far I have my terrain but I can't texture within C4D. And I don't even know how I could do the terrain thing better. Do you have any good tutorials except the ones on xna? They have a tut to generate a terrain from a height map, but I wanted to go the other way... on the other hand: If you use a heightmap to generate the terrain, how do you texture it? I saw that you had different textures, how did you bring your engine to select different texturetiles for different heights ?
Well, I assume you could texture the model the same way I texture my terrain from height map. The idea is to have a smooth transition from height level to height level. The easiest way to achieve that is using linear functions that take height data and give something like this:
You then use these functions as weights for each texture.
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More info on the vid's description. Criticism and advices are welcome. 
I am not a modeler, nor I can draw or photograph quality textures. 
) or is there a skybox module inside xna?
