Possible Update For The Stonehenge

[Karkadann]

I had an idea for the Stonehenge but have not been able to figure it out, and was wondering if somebody here could help

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The idea was doing something in the Stonehenge cavern and changing the blue star and shadows from Winter Solstice to Summer Solstice.
Basically I need to move the light slowly across the sky from one end to the other and have the shadows follow it,
animating both light and shadows like in Taladahn but unlike Taladahn I need to make animation controllable
in game with a clickable. Im told global animation will work for this, any ideas?

Is this possible, if so can any one explain how, or perhaps point me in the right direction?

Thanks in advance.

[Jojon]

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That would be just a regular animation, if I am understanding you right -- a global animation is one that has its length "stretched" to fit the day cycle of the age.

I'm not sure how to do what you propose, with your baked shadows...


The quick and easy solutions, that immediately come to mind, are:

• Make the most motion-important shadows dynamic instead. They may look somewhat harsh and will gobble up processing cycles, but will follow the light nicely.
  You could try hiding simplified shadow-casting geometry inside your true one, but I'm not sure it will work, or be ignored on account of being obscured (I seem to recall I did this for the open cave ceiling, low on tower 2 in Rell-Too, but may misremember).
  
• Cheat. Fade out the winter shadowmap over the first minute of star motion and leave the scene shadowless until near the end of the animation, at which point you fade in the second one.
  
• Maybe you could do a hybrid. Use dynamic shadows during the transition and baked ones while static.

[Karkadann]

I tried dynamic shadows and everything slows down, the lag is something awful, as far as baked shadows are concerned unless their baked on export cuz I never baked any shadows
I tried using two lights one on and on off and switching between them which does effect the shadows but I cant figure out how to turn the lights on and off in-game.
I have to log off open up Max toggle between lights export convert and then log back on

I cant seem to get the xPoweredLightSwitch python to work for me I guess I need help filling it out Its not that cut and dry for me
and this Python

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Code: Select all

from Plasma import *
from PlasmaTypes import *
actClickableObject = ptAttribActivator(1, 'Act: Clickable Object')
ObjectMsg = ptAttribString(2, 'Object String')
class LightButton(ptModifier,):

    def __init__(self):
        ptModifier.__init__(self)
        self.version = 'your version here'



    def OnNotify(self, state, id, events):
        if ((id == actClickableObject.id) and state):
            if (not PtWasLocallyNotified(self.key)):
                return
            if (ObjectMsg.value == 'LightButton01'):
                ageSDL = PtGetAgeSDL()
                LampOn = ageSDL['Lamp01Vis'][0]
                if LampOn:
                    ageSDL['Lamp01Vis'] = (0,) #switch lamp off
                else:
                    ageSDL['Lamp01Vis'] = (1,) #switch lamp on


I found here does not show up in Max
Thats assuming the shadows will turn on and off with the in game light switch.
Also I can not seem to get the light to animate, they wont fade or move at least not with the traditional methods

[Jojon]

I tried dynamic shadows and everything slows down, the lag is something awful,
...

Yep! :)
This is why I suggested trying to use simpler geometry for casting shadows, if possible, in the same way we do for collisions. Don't know whether it is feasible.

...as far as baked shadows are concerned unless their baked on export cuz I never baked any shadows
...

Oh... I seemed to recall a thread where shadowmap screenshots were posted, for the age, during its early development...
I have frankly no idea about anything that touches Max, so I'm of zero use there, I'm afraid. :7

I tried using two lights one on and on off and switching between them which does effect the shadows but I cant figure out how to turn the lights on and off in-game.
I have to log off open up Max toggle between lights export convert and then log back on

Ah, must be auto-baked on export, then, I believe.
In that case, it will not help to switch the lights in game - you'll need both shadowmaps and toggle them as well.

I cant seem to get the xPoweredLightSwitch python to work for me I guess I need help filling it out Its not that cut and dry for me
and this Python

Show Spoiler

Code: Select all

from Plasma import *
from PlasmaTypes import *
actClickableObject = ptAttribActivator(1, 'Act: Clickable Object')
ObjectMsg = ptAttribString(2, 'Object String')
class LightButton(ptModifier,):

    def __init__(self):
        ptModifier.__init__(self)
        self.version = 'your version here'



    def OnNotify(self, state, id, events):
        if ((id == actClickableObject.id) and state):
            if (not PtWasLocallyNotified(self.key)):
                return
            if (ObjectMsg.value == 'LightButton01'):
                ageSDL = PtGetAgeSDL()
                LampOn = ageSDL['Lamp01Vis'][0]
                if LampOn:
                    ageSDL['Lamp01Vis'] = (0,) #switch lamp off
                else:
                    ageSDL['Lamp01Vis'] = (1,) #switch lamp on


I found here does not show up in Max
Thats assuming the shadows will turn on and off with the in game light switch.

Hmm, that looks like an example in the form of an excerpt from a script, rather than a complete one (It has the relevant parts, but not the "glue", and no ID, which is probably why it doesn't show up).
It has the name of a SDL variable hardcoded into it. You'd need this varible for your age and the actual showing and hiding of the light would be done by an OnSDLNotify function.

I'm rusty, but for simply enabling and disabling scene objects, I believe you'd want to declare a SDL flag to hold what the current season is, which you then use with xAgeSDLBoolToggle.py and the "light switch", to make player interaction change the flag; and then xAgeSDLBoolShowHide.py with the two lights, to make them toggle on and off, whenever your flag changes (this script takes an argument that determines whether it takes a "1" or a "0" to show the object, so you should be able to use the same script for both suns (and associated objects) and just pass "true" to the one and "false" to the other).

You could also put all winter and summer assets on their own pages and load/unload as relevant.

It could be kind of fun if you made the book the "season switch", so that you'd start reading, pass out, and when you come to, the solar system has changed. :P

I can easily see why you'd rather have the slow animated transition than an instant flip; Much flashier :), and actually easier to do, in many ways, but I don't believe you can get clean away, doing that, without using dynamic shadows (Teledahn doesn't really do shadows, at all).

(What sort of... hmm, "orbit" are we talking about, btw? :7

Also I can not seem to get the light to animate, they wont fade or move at least not with the traditional methods

Hmm, that's odd... They certainly should. Have you tried fading the light by animating its colour, instead of its strength?