Posted by Blue Ghost on February 08, 1998 at 23:06:40:
In Reply to: Re: Round 3dos vs polygons; 3DOXprt? posted by 3DOXprt on February 08, 1998 at 15:31:27:
> > So how come TIE bombers and the upcoming Millenium Falcon don't have rounded hulls
> > like they should? Are rounded surfaces that much of a strain on memory and CPU
> > resources? Or is it because of the limits of the game itself?
> > Inquiring minds want to know; BG
> Well..its all a compromise. No, JK does not support mathematical rounded surfaces, but as you said they can be approximated with faces. The artists at LEC must have had a set number of polys that they did not *want* to go over, and so took appropriate action. Afaik, there is no true limit to the number of faces on a 3DO, but I would never push a 3DO beyond 400 faces simply to keep frame rates nice and high. I would even go lower if that model was animated. In the case of the Tie bomber, two rotations have to be applied to it because it is both moving by itself and the player is moving. Keeping vert counts low (not face counts) speeds the rotation process. Gouraud texturemapping should be enough to fool the mind into believing the surfaces are "rounded" (not round), but its all up to the individual to decide "what's round."
> Hope this helps.
It does help. I had some plans to make some 3dos with rounded surfaces but wasn't
sure what kind of mathematical strain I'd be putting on both hardware and software.
I took notice of the R2 unit (the blue one) with a near round dome for its "head"
but also noted that this particular part was not really round. My Turbocad 3D
program (along with a bunch of other freeware/shareware stuff I've DLd) renders
round surfaces, or close approximations thereof, and I was wondering if I should
go ahead and take the risk of making a true Millenium Falcon or Outrider with rounded
hulls. This being said (and knowing that a Corellian Freighter is due for release)
I'll hold off on the experiment. Oh well....enough babbleing. You answered
the question. :-)
Thanks; BG