[DGD] using NURBS to generate virtual landscapes

[Noah Gibbs]

  Fair enough.  But I'll point out that you're going to need to write code to reasonably textually describe NURBS, which is very, very hard and very time- and CPU-intensive.  Or you'll have to restrict NURBS use to areas that aren't described in text.

--- On Tue, 3/17/09, Shentino <shentino at gmail.com> wrote:

> From: Shentino <shentino at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [DGD] using NURBS to generate virtual landscapes
> To: "All about Dworkin's Game Driver" <dgd at dworkin.nl>
> Date: Tuesday, March 17, 2009, 1:22 PM
> Perhaps not yet, but also consider that text might not be
> the only way to
> describe things.
> 
> Skotos made a good analogy about a text interface and a
> quake interface
> connecting to the same virtual world.  And a quake
> interface would
> definitely need some geometry info just to know where to
> draw the polygons.
> 
> Of course, if I restrict myself to text, NURBS are indeed
> overkill.
> However, I'm feeling a bit ambitious and I'd rather
> not build in an
> infrastructure now that would lock out such an improvement
> later as being
> "banned because it breaks too much"
> 
> I can see visions of a gorgeous navigable landscape being
> generated for the
> benefit of any graphical users.  Some math to determine
> slopes and normals
> could conceivably be translated, possibly with fuzzy logic,
> into grades of
> steepness, and whatnot for textual users.
> 
> I actually happen to be a wizard on a mud that has been
> running for 10 years
> straight, and try as I may, there are many enhancements
> that are banned
> simply because they break too much stuff.  It is very
> annoying to see
> historical and likely rusty code be mandated as being
> sacred canon simply
> because it was written first.  Incidentally, this culture
> also keeps it from
> switching to DGD, a notion that nearly got me de-wizzed for
> being a heretic.
> :P
> 
> On Tue, Mar 17, 2009 at 1:02 PM, Noah Gibbs
> <noah_gibbs at yahoo.com> wrote:
> 
> >
> >  In general, this kind of thing winds up being a lot,
> LOT more than you
> > need for geometric consistency.  The problem is that
> you need to usefully
> > generate text descriptions of the hillsides and
> whatnot, and NURBS give you
> > *way* too much information in a form that's hard
> to analyze.  You're usually
> > better off using something simpler, like simple
> grid-based subdivision
> > (remember plasma fractals?) that's easier to
> generate a description for.
> 
> 
> What's a plasma fractal?
> 
> >
> >  In other words, first figure out how your MUD will
> describe this stuff,
> > and then come up with a model that will very
> conveniently generate that
> > description.  NURBS are not that model.
> >
> > --- On Tue, 3/17/09, Shentino
> <shentino at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > > From: Shentino <shentino at gmail.com>
> > > Subject: [DGD] using NURBS to generate virtual
> landscapes
> > > To: "All about Dworkin's Game
> Driver" <dgd at dworkin.nl>
> > > Date: Tuesday, March 17, 2009, 12:22 PM
> > > Beckoning to me from the past, I hear NURBS, used
> in Rhino
> > > to generate 3D
> > > models.
> > >
> > > It just occured to me that a super fancy mud
> might use them
> > > to generate
> > > hills and mountains and whatnot.
> > >
> > > First, any technical aspects to worry about
> besides NURBS
> > > itself (which I
> > > still have to grok).
> > >
> > > Second, does anyone have/has anyone had any
> experience in
> > > this sort of thing
> > > and/or possible insights?
> > >
> > > It's still a bit hazy, but I would like to be
> able to
> > > write a geometrically
> > > consistent game, possibly on top of kotaka or
> phantasmal.
> > > Having NURBS
> > > generate geometry and whatnot would be really
> cool for
> > > modelling landscapes
> > > without the "curse of a million polys"
> > >
> > > Geometric consistency would be to satisfy any
> > > propeller-headed guys who
> > > would be clever enough to use stuff like
> triangulation and
> > > whatnot to find
> > > treasures, monsters, or fallen allies.
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> >
> >
> >
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