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Thread: Outerra - this is looking really cool...

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    Default Outerra - this is looking really cool...

    http://outerra.blogspot.com/

    http://www.outerra.com/

    I don't see a way to try it or buy it yet, but this just may be the 'update' to Fractal Terrains I've been hoping for in my fantasies.

    A video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeoT_...layer_embedded

  2. #2
    Administrator Redrobes's Avatar
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    How coincidental !!!... I am sat here programming to get the medem tiles into this. The main dev has allowed us to try an alpha version of it. It is unreleased and he is working on it quite a lot. To be honest I don't know a huge amount about it but were trying out some of these real time world rendering apps in the hope that when they are available then we can put our DEM into one and have a demo of it. Its being developed as a game engine, perhaps as part of a flight sim or some other kind of sim that needs lots of terrain.

    And if you have been thinking this one is good then there is the Proland demo as well. You can download and try if you dont mind downloading 3.5Gb of data for it. But it is very good too. Look at the medem thread here to see some pics.

    There is another called AdVantage too which the main dev of that has released source code for it. Although that worked on Monks machine, it did not run on mine. Something about the .NET version or whatever is causing some issues. So that one is DirectX and .NET the others are OpenGL and I am much more familiar with OpenGL and not so good with .NET stuff either.

  3. #3

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    I'll keep an eye out.

    Do you have direct links for either site? Proland and Advantage both come up with everything but what I'm actually tryign to find on my quick google search.

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    Guild Adept monks's Avatar
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    :-D...yes a coincidence!
    The dev is quite a bit interested in the simulation side of things. He's had a lot of interest from the flight simulation community especially. I asked him recently if he was interested in supporting GIS formats for using data in the engine- things like planetary maps of vegetation coverage, etc. He said he was. So we'll be able to get our data in there with minimal fuss. He's also interested in allowing the use of real world cave system info- which could also be used in shp format. Very cool and forward thinking they seem to be on there. I'd like to input maps of cave systems from role playing sources I have, as vector networks in shp format- some format that supports per vertex z info. The engine already has the code in place for vector creation of roads with procedurally generated textures, and apparently they intend the underground tunnels will be generated like this as well. Usually in game engines underground areas are faked by making the mountain a giant model and hollowing it out. The whole level area will be a model in 3D max or something. This is different and way more effiicient for scaling up.
    I don't know how long it will take to implement these things though.

    monks

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    Administrator Redrobes's Avatar
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    I put some links to Proland in on the medem gallery pic text here:
    http://me-dem.me.uk/galleries/Develo...oland1_png.htm

    A link to the AdVantage system by Filip Strugar. Well, we call it AdVantage cos thats what it was when we discovered it but its now called streaming clod and I am still confused about which one is which. But this is the page and code:
    http://vertexasylum.com/2010/07/11/o...ndering-paper/

    I think the Proland is heading towards being the most physically realistic, Outerra is going for speed or at least is not compromising the speed for pure realism. The CLOD one is a tech demo or maybe a library for a game engine.

    You may want to look at NASA's WorldWind as well.

    Should have also mentioned that our thread on Outerra is under the off topic region of it.
    Last edited by Redrobes; 04-03-2011 at 05:40 AM.

  6. #6

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    Thanks for the links!

    I didn't know what the MEDEM project was before this either. You folks have put in a lot of work!

    I enjoyed treading through that Outerra thread - I love learning new things. One of your (or Monk's) comments about working on real spheres instead of flat maps was the next major goal, and I agree; I've been considering this from the education point of view. With Google Earth, students (and everyone else) can finally see the Earth's physical and political layout much more accurately (especially with respect to size and location) than on 2d maps of the entire Earth, and it makes sense to me to begin using tools like this to teach geography etc. rather than the poorly projected maps in most classes today. I'm tired of walking into a classroom, pulling down a map (or pulling out a text) and seeing Canada the same size as Africa etc. Anyway, thanks for leading me to an interesting discussion!
    Last edited by guyanonymous; 04-03-2011 at 10:39 AM.

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    Guild Journeyer Ryan K's Avatar
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    So... where can I get it and how much?
    Regards,

    RK

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    Guild Adept monks's Avatar
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    Still in alpha..pre-alpha Ryan!... didn't somebody ask Willie Wonka that question once? :-D

    guy, they've got a lot of good ideas over there at OuTerra. There kinda coming from where we do- half simulation, half fantasy. Slartibartfast would be proud

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    Guild Journeyer Ryan K's Avatar
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    So, they won a designer award for Norway?

    This is going to be a must-watch for a lot of us I reckon. Sadly, this means I am looking at the means by which I would be totally redesigning my world hehe >sob<
    Regards,

    RK

  10. #10
    Guild Adept monks's Avatar
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    Gotta love those wrinkly bits on that coastline. Well, no one, except the two devs is currently enjoying the engine yet. We had a first shot at getting the terrain in recently.

    monks

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