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(02-07-2021, 06:40 AM)checkpoint10 Wrote: [ -> ]One other thing I did recently is make the hill for the downtown section. I did this by noting all the key points in 3DOEd and connecting them together in multiple polygons as one trackside object. This trackside object is located at (0,0,0) so that I can use the "world" coordinates for each of its points. Proper visibility is done through putting it in the right object list in the track.3D file. Dennis, I am guessing you are using a similar technique for your hilly track.

Not similar, but exactly the same way.

I was thinking about how to make my building placement more accurate, and I came up with this solution. It's a flat .3DO that I carefully scaled to match the real world size! I would use this in 3DOEd and then remove it for the game. Actually I don't even remove it, I just move it high up in the air to hide it.

Man, stuff like that would have made life so much easier back in the day. Great idea!

The things you come up with

(12-21-2020, 05:00 PM)checkpoint10 Wrote: [ -> ]Lately I have been spending more time on a computer that isn't hooked up to my joystick. So I've figured out an alternate way to place objects:
1) Load the object in OPE as usual but leave it where it is by default. Save and exit.
2) Run a 3D23DO on the track.3d to generate the track.3do
3) Open the track.3do in 3DOEd
4) Use 3DOEd to move the object around by manually changing the coordinates and rotation. Sometimes I prefer doing this vs OPE because I can get things in a more precise location, especially with things like brake markers - typically I find a point along a fence where I want the brake marker and type it in. No guessing about its location like in OPE.
5) I make note of the coordinates and rotation and then edit the .3d file as Dennis described.
6) You can also go back in OPE and have it recalculate the object drawing order. It's in the F1 menu, I believe.

So wait- I just realized something (correct me if I am wrong)

When you do work in OPE, and then "save" it..... you are actually saving to the 3d file? (not the 3do?) Excuse me I have mostly used OPE for viewing.

Yes, when you work in OPE and save it, it will write the changes to the .3D file. Typical things it can code to the .3D file:
- Laying down TSDs
- Placing and moving objects
- Recalculating the object drawing order throughout the track

(02-25-2021, 05:13 PM)checkpoint10 Wrote: [ -> ]Yes, when you work in OPE and save it, it will write the changes to the .3D file. Typical things it can code to the .3D file:
- Laying down TSDs
- Placing and moving objects
- Recalculating the object drawing order throughout the track

I guess I should have realized this more clearly the whole time. I knew the TSD part it just should have been more obvious for some reason. (I had that feeling "oh duh" when it hit me)

(12-14-2020, 08:12 AM)checkpoint10 Wrote: [ -> ]

(12-14-2020, 07:38 AM)samsepi0l Wrote: [ -> ]

(03-25-2020, 01:04 AM)checkpoint10 Wrote: [ -> ]I was able to bring in a 3DO from a default ICR2 track using this technique. This may not be the most efficient but it works.

1) Used the ICR2 to N2 converter to convert an entire track to N2.
2) Unpacked the N2 version. Noted that the filenames are lost in the N2 conversion - they will have filenames like _072.3do which is a little inconvenient, but using 3DOEd it is not too difficult to identify which 3DO is which.
3) Copied the 3DO file to my working folder, renaming the file to something friendly. Any MIP files should also be copied over.
4) Load the 3DO in OPE and add to the track as usual.

Because I have no joystick, I had a workaround to adjust and finetune the location and orientation of the object. At the top of the .3D file, there are lines that look like this:

__TSO0: DYNAMIC 8742105, -8728374, 150000, 900, 900, 900, 1, EXTERN "vanloop";

The numbers from left to right are:
Latitude
Longitude
Altitude
Rotation (spinning around up/down axis)
Rotation (pitch)
Rotation (roll)
Scale, usually 1. Decimal amounts to attempt to scale below 1 will work in OPE but do not work once converted to ICR2. So probably should keep it at 1.

Rotation units are in degrees * 10.

I am at the point where I am watching a youtube video of my track, and I am making notes where I need to put the grandstands.  I figured I'd start with grandstands first, because there are already done many times in the default papyrus tracks and I should be able to steal them from those tracks.  What is the easiest way to "browse" the grandstands that are available and figure out which ones I want to steal?  I figured probably 3doEditor, but I've never used that program yet.

Unpack all the default tracks and use 3DOEd on the track.3do. If you click on the object, you can learn which 3do it is. Usually it's something like stand.3do but I believe it varies depending on track.

I used this method for a while until I actually felt it was better to create my own grandstands in order to have control over their size. Let me know when you get to that point and we can get you up to speed on creating your own (simple) objects.

Do you have the details on how you are creating your own grandstands? I want to practice some of that. I use 3d cad and 3d printing all the time at work, so hopefully it will be easier for me.

(03-31-2020, 04:41 AM)checkpoint10 Wrote: [ -> ]I didn't have much time today, so I just picked an easy task to learn: placing adverts on walls.

This was indeed very easy thanks to Eddie500 who shared in an earlier post the step-by-step process to do this with .MRK files, as written by Pavel.

The only clarification I will make is that you are not restricted to specifying 0.0, 0.5 or 1.0 for the start/end point along the section. You can use numbers like 0.2. I had to use increments of 0.2 otherwise my texture would stretch too much.

FYI when I made my MRK file, I used decimals like .330, .670- to split some of the sections into 3 equal "segments" that will fit 512 pixel wide advertisements. For this reason I think we have even finer resolution than only one tenth.

Here's the link to Pavel's guide to coding 3D objects manually. Start here: https://www.icr2.net/forum/showthread.ph...91#pid7291

As I recall, I first tried to make a billboard. Then 4 walls to form a box. Then a grandstand. At the end, I pretty much exclusively use BSPF even though some of the other commands are possible and have different effects.

Two rules I try to remember.
1) Each point is (x,y,z). x goes from left (-) to right (+), y goes towards you (-) and away (+), and z is the altitude.
2) A polygon is defined by points that go counter-clockwise from the perspective of someone looking at it

If you want more examples, I believe I included all the .3D files I coded in one of the Rio .zip files.

These days, I speed up my coding by naming my points as the letters of the alphabet (a, b, c, d...) and I make a little diagram of the object within the .3D file itself as commented lines, so that I can look at it and quickly figure out the points of a poly.

Also, you can make your units whatever you want (lately, I have been using feet). Let's say you do feet, then when you build a .3DO using 3D23DO, you can use one of the command line arguments to scale it up by 6000.