Double-Deck Bridge Experiment

[Glenni 1,444]

I also have a small update on the one without roof by the way!

[BIWDC 2,296]

Excellent  Bridge Glenni

[Pixelrage 34]

that's freakin awesome.

[Glenni 1,444]

Got a  litle update for you folks!

[hamsterTK 93]

wow! now i see the point of the roof. its supposed to be artsy. Looks really good. very unique

[sloppet 3]

I say "BAN him!!" (he is too good!)

Trixie 2k6 look out, here comes Glenni!

[Meastro444 1]

wow, now both do look good, i think you will become a trixy winner glenni. do you think of a release date?

Meastro444

[jeronij 13]

jeronij, some pictures might help.

 

Here are the two pieces I used to create the bridge I posted above. (Note: these pictures show S3D models.  Because some of the parts on the back have been culled, they do not show the original model perfectly.  These parts should not be missing in a new model; the two sides should be symmetrical)

 

I have been referring to the picture on the left as the repeat piece.  In my bridge it is used more than just at the start.

 

You doing the BATing, and me doing the moding makes a lot of sence.

 

Yes I do mean 500/700 BAT units.  The supports need to reach the ground, even if the bridge is very high.

I had not really thought about the kind of bridge to start with.  Perhaps a rural street bridge?  I am sure you have some ideas.

quote>

Originally posted by: smoncrie

jeronij, what I meant in my previous post was that the bridge deck model should look like this:

 

 

 

Notice that the street surface is missing.   Although it is not important, the bottom of the deck is also missing.  This is OK because it will not be visible.   You would not need the ends either, except that an end of this piece can be seen when it is at the end of the bridge.

I plan to add a rectangular model with a street texture to all your model’s S3D’s.  This model should not occupy the same place as one of the surfaces in your model.

quote>

 

Glenni, that is what I meant. Page 3 btw ....

Ooops, I see you already found it....

About your covered bridge, I have to say that the model looks really really spectacular. Indeed.

What I dont know is how difficutl will be to make the LODs for the nice roof.

I would suggest a quick render, and put it in a transit enabled lot, and check that the cars can be seen going under the roof.

Another suggestion, you can build the whole bridge as a nornal model in GMAX or MAX, but when the time to make the 16x16 tiles comes, you´d convert your model to a single editable mesh, this way, it is very easy to cut it using booleans.

Also, I developed a technique to avoid the graphic glitches where the pieces join. If you get into trouble when "cutting" the pieces, and joining them again in the game, just let me know. 

I hope this helps.

The model is looking very very nice !!!!

[TinySim 4]

Glenni that's just amazing!

[smoncrie 43]

Glenni, your bridge looks very good, but I am not sure how he pieces you have shown would fit into a bridge. One of the things about a bridge is that it can have any length between the minimum length defined for the bridge and 255.   As shown it looks right for a bridge of length 5.  How is it supposed to look if its length was 6 or 7?

Another thing is that I see that you have removed the road deck as suggested.  However, to prevent graphical glitches, it is best if there is a space below where the road deck will be.   If fact you probably will not be able to see directly under the road deck, so you don’t need to model anything there.


It will be a while before I can do another bridge. ILL Tonkso said he wanted to do a bridge, and I should probably give him precedence, if he still wants to.

Jeronij, would it be possible for you to give a simple explanation of how you get rid of the glitches between bridge pieces?

Here is an explanation of how bridges are pieced together.

One way to do it is to use the pattern defined by the bridge’s exemplar.   The pattern is like this:

[E1][E2][E3][R][R][R][Py][R][R][R][Py] … [Py][R][R][R][E3][E2]E1]

Where:
 [E1] … [E3] are end pieces.  I have shown three of these, but there could be 1, 2, 3, or more of them.  There are a fixed number of end pieces for each bridge; it does NOT change with the length of the bridge.
[R] is a repeat piece.
[Py] is a piece that includes a supporting pylon.  The spacing between these pieces can be specified.  There can be high bridges between tall mountains, so the pylon needs to be modeled so that it goes down a long way. They also need tight LODs where they will intersect the water or the ground.

Highway and avenue bridges work the same way, except that there are two parallel rows instead of one.

It is also possible to specify, for each possible bridge length, the exact model that will be used on each bridge tile.  Since there are usually at least 230 possible bridge lengths, it can be a tedious process to define them.  (Simple macros can be defined to make this process easier.)

The Game can add suspension cables or cable stays to the bridge.  This is a good thing because the positions or angles of these cables depend on the length of the bridge.   You can specify the positions for the ends of these cables, and their textures, but that is it.   For example, the game cannot add two parallel rows of cable stays.

[Glenni 1,444]

uh,dude can you explain that to me a litlew easier?lol i dont get all this stuff so easy,rofl

Anyway i have a litle update.

[cowkilla 12]

exquisite design Glenni

[nosx 0]

is that still 1 square wide? it looks a little over to me...

but still i love it, looking forward to downloading it

[Glenni 1,444]

i though you could widen it saideways from more than 1x1 but not widen it lenghtwise?:S

anyway added some more details,like cables!haha!

[sloppet 3]

wow! Insane!

[hamsterTK 93]

it almost looks like something electronic...like if the little dust mites inside of your computer built a civilization this is what their freeways would look like

[mcarch 15]

God, you've been working fast!

[Meastro444 1]

wow, awesome, i've you continue on this speed, we will have these bridges in a week.

just one question though, are you gonna include this in the NAM (idea)

Meastro444

[Glenni 1,444]

don't ask me ask somcrie i just model this bridge here

[smoncrie 43]

OK, let’s see if some examples will help.

One side of the Golden Gate Bridge:


          3 end pieces            repeat      support    repeat    support     repeat             3 end pieces
                                         piece        pylon       piece     pylon        piece

The wooden covered bridge:



     1 end piece                     repeat                support                  repeat                        1 end piece
                                           piece                   pylon                     piece                        (same piece
                                                                                                                                 as other end
                                                                                                                                  rotated 180)

The repeat pieces are each repeated a number of times to make the bridge a given length.

What would your bridge look like if it was 6 or 7 tiles long?

 EDIT:  It is OK if the model overhangs the tile.   If it overhangs over the sides, those parts will not be included in the bridge’s shadow.  Using one model to cover two or more tiles can be done, but one must be much more careful!

[Yoman3 5]

Looks great glenni

[mightygoose 92]

damnation glenni that is awesome, now i know where all your batting time is going...lol

[Glenni 1,444]

Here is an update

Ok i have just set some of the pieces repeating to see how it would look,i  ma very happy with it sorta,but anyway all wires are connected to the pylon piece think it will work now?,lol

[BIWDC 2,296]

Here is a bridge i made today well actully i fixed it up today i started it 2 days ago

Here is The Picture :

Sorry about the pink supports those were not textured yet when i took this screen shot

this bridge could be universal,for rail(as texured in the picture)for road,street even light

rail,i could expand it out for avenue or highway or even add a second level for a double

decker bridge.Let me know what you think of it.

[owenluby 1]

wow! good work glenni! Looks absolutley awesome!

well done i cannot wait for release!

[realdimension 6]

Fantastic bridge glenni! It is very special.

[BIWDC 2,296]

Perfect work Glenni

[ILL Tonkso 1,237]

Righto, i have decided to get off my posterior and LOD that bridge, ill neaten it up to.

[smoncrie 43]

Glenni, that is better. It means that now the bridge could be made with lengths of 5, 8, 11, 14...(2+3*n). But you still need to be able to make the bridge with other lengths.

Think of when you are playing the game. In general each time you build a bridge it will be a different length. This is why any bridge used in the game must be able to be of any length (between the bridge's minimum length and 255).

BIWDC, I can not tell from the picture, but your bridge must be divided into one tile pieces (16m x 16m), and it probably should have end pieces. Take a look at fukuda's bridge. It has excellent end pieces.

ILL Tonkso, no great hurry. I am still working on the current set of bridges.

[ILL Tonkso 1,237]

well, its all done and zipped, ill upload to www.yousendit.com and pm you the link, best to have it ready