level of detail for statues

[MXfish]

I was wondering if there is an option to use a low res .jm when a statue is far away, and when you come near to it, the statue will switch to an high res version.
I have seen this on some tracks, but I can't find a topic on this. Also I'm not sure, if the low res version on this tracks are automatically generated from mxs, or manually.

[Wahlamt]

Normally you when you make a model, you make the high res version and sometimes depending on who made the model, low res comes along. Either way, if there's a blend file, you could export a low res version yourself.

To use the, it's so called "lod" files (lod = level of deail, as you know). Not an expert here, but what you can do is create a blank text file and then rename it, to create a lod where the statue disappears.

This is an example of lod files and names

Code: Select all

Original: grass1.jm
Lod at 7: grass1_lod7.jm
More lod: grass1_lod7.1.jm
More lod: grass1_lod7.2.jm

If you have several lod files and wants to make a smooth fade in, you can name them xxx_lodA.1, them xxx_lodA.2, them xxx_lodA.3, them xxx_lodA.4 etc, there "A" is a number.

tree.jm < 2 feet
tree_lod1.jm 2-4 feet
tree_lod2.jm 4-8 feet
tree_lod3.jm 8-16 feet
tree_lod4.jm 16-32 feet
tree_lod5.jm 32-64 feet
tree_lod6.jm 64-128 feet
tree_lod7.jm 128-256 feet
tree_lod8.jm 256-512 feet
tree_lod9.jm > 512 feet

If an lod is missing it will use the next higher lod.

[SMR 510RR]

There was a thread but now I am having trouble finding it. The LOD system is based on the graphics settings and uses a function of them to determine at what distance the LODs switch.

The low res version of tracks is manually generated and is mostly just lower resolution textures and sometimes blank JMs are inserted to remove certain objects.

[MXfish]

Thank you very much.

Lod was easier than I thought. I didn't had to create a text file to made it working. I just had to add the ending _lod6 for example and it worked fine.

[SMR 510RR]

Just for clarity he was saying that for a really far away LOD you can just create a blank text file and name it as a LOD so that the object totally disappears.

[MXfish]

ahh, got it. This is a good idea, eventhough my track isn't that big. So a total disapearing object would look bad for me.

Anyway, can I also create a _lod.png for low res textures? Or is this created automatically?

[SMR 510RR]

ahh, got it. This is a good idea, eventhough my track isn't that big. So a total disapearing object would look bad for me.

Anyway, can I also create a _lod.png for low res textures? Or is this created automatically?

MIPs are created automatically but you can create them manually if you need better control specifically with lots of alpha.

Read through this should answer your questions:
http://forum.mxsimulator.com/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=14674