Scaling and perspective issues

eddie · Post by **eddie** » Thu Mar 20, 2014 9:43 am

At GitHub (https://github.com/OpenRA/OpenRA/pull/3549) people complained about scaling issues in the SHPs CombineC provided. On the one hand they are right on the other hand they are wrong.

IMHO it is almost impossible to create structures that really fit to the original ones as there are a lot of scaling issues in the original files already. Look at the screenshot below. Both tech centers look like huge office buildings with at least 5 or 6 stories. However they are only twice the size of normal infantry... Compared to civilian structures tech centers integrate to ra nicely. Compared to other buildings (i.e. tents, kennels, heli pads etc.) they are way too small. This is what makes creating new stuff really difficult. New Structures can not fit to all other structures. It depends on the point of reference.

Different perspectives/angles is another big issue. Look at the silo, the tesla coil and the gap generator. Their fundament is a circle. If the perspective of all three images is the same the ratio width/length should be the same (or at least almost the same), too. However it is not. Correct me if I'm wrong but most of the structures that have a circular or square fundament have a ratio between 1.6 and 1.8. The ratio of the tesla coil is about 1.3 or 1.4. The problem is even worse if you look at the dirt roads. Vertical an horizontal roads are of the exact same size like in bird's-eye view.

I really would like to contribute stuff to openra. However without a point of reference it is really difficult and people will always say it is out of scale and they will always be right compared to some buildings and units and they will always be wrong compared to other structures in the game...

For the time being I decided to finish the cobble stone stuff I've been working on (http://www.sleipnirstuff.com/forum/view ... 83&t=16117). My first step towards a right perspective is a massive rescale of horizontal and vertical cobblestone roads. As soon as this is finished I will rescale the existing dirt roads. At the moment it doesn't look like this will actually be part of an official openra release. However I will post the files here and elsewhere so people can use them if they want to.

BaronOfStuff · Post by **BaronOfStuff** » Thu Mar 20, 2014 1:45 pm

eddie wrote: ↑only twice the size of normal infantry

Only because the infantry are those godawful rescaled tank-sized abominations that just look shite in general! The original SHPs -- the ones used by DOS RA -- look much better alongside everything.

I wouldn't worry too much about scaling/perspective -- if you look here you'll see that scale and perspective's a reasonably lenient thing when it comes to making new structures precisely because WW didn't really seem to give that many fucks about it either.

Matt · Post by **Matt** » Thu Mar 20, 2014 5:35 pm

Yeah, the scaling is weird. Especially with the current small civilian houses compared to the large base buildings. The perspective is also horribly inconsistent. People tried to guess what is used most of the time by measuring some sprites. See http://cnc-comm.com/community/index.php ... 4#msg18274

BaronOfStuff · Post by **BaronOfStuff** » Thu Mar 20, 2014 7:13 pm

The unit SHP's are at least consistent with each other. It really is just the structures alone that say "sod it" and appear to be seen from various elevations.

As for resizing the maptile art for a consistent perspective across everything, I really wouldn't bother. I don't think anyone's worried about this aspect of the game at all.

eddie · Post by **eddie** » Thu Mar 20, 2014 8:42 pm

BaronOfStuff wrote: ↑ As for resizing the maptile art for a consistent perspective across everything, I really wouldn't bother. I don't think anyone's worried about this aspect of the game at all.

I am worried about this. And I will at least fix those roads as they are totally out of scale.

eddie · Post by **eddie** » Fri Mar 21, 2014 10:17 am

This is how a tesla coil could look if the perspective is adjusted.

eddie · Post by **eddie** » Sat Mar 22, 2014 9:19 am

I did some adjustments to the tesla coil . IMHO the new perspective fits better to the rest of the structures. Well... most of them. At least it's a first step towards more consistency.
The .zip file contains all required files:
- tslab.shp with the normal and the damaged tesla coil
- tslabmake.shp with the build up animation
- .YAML files (be sure not to replace your yamls but add these files at the end of yours): This won't replace the original coils. So you can build both next to each other and compare them.

deniz1a · Post by **deniz1a** » Mon Jun 09, 2014 4:21 pm

Tiberian Dawn mod has correct infantry sizes. They're much small than ra ones. In ra, medium tank is the size of a go-cart.

CombineC · Post by **CombineC** » Thu Jun 12, 2014 11:09 pm

Yeah, RA Infantry are Elephants!
But its made cause its hard to Mircomanage microscopic dots of infantry!

I think they made the choice in favor for the playability.

I would say you brought a bit to much of prospect into the tesla coil. For the wide field of visability its better to keep it orthographic. like in an x-y-z diagram. I would recommend to adjust all perspective buildings the other direction.

apart from that i like the idea to clean it up!

Scaling and perspective issues

Scaling and perspective issues

Re: Scaling and perspective issues