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[WxTech]

Smoothly curving ship wakes, as I pointed out at that time, are created by you, dear mission maker. You simply put down several wapoints that are spaced close enough during the course change. It takes some judgment to take into account the turn radius for the given tub. Be careful to not try to make the turn too abrupt; more gradual is safer if in doubt, and it tends to look better anyway. Experiment!

[WxTech]

GenX,

The idea of the simple 'row of trees' object being used for palms that will only ever be seen from some distance has merit. I'll do some noodling on that... But in the case of plantations, where the regularity of their array is a feature, the matter of repeating patterns will likely remain a challenge.

Perhaps I can revisit the plantation block. By relegating it to a background role (individual trees providing a better dressed facing), the object could be given a few rows of different textures, not the current single texture simply reversed in an alternating manner.

[genXgamer]

OK thanks mate, employ the same technique as vehicles.   
A number of closely spaced waypoints to smooth out the turn.
Because at the moment apart from the wake not looking good, the motorcycle which is attached to the ship gets bucked off in the turn.
I'll try a series of smaller incremental turns.

Your current 40 x 40 block I'm REALLY happy with, looks great close up.
Remember this is something that will be used 100 times or more to create a plantation so too many single palms will effect frame rate.
I've probably used 100's of the blocks and the frame rate is still good (I'm not one of these 60 FPS whingers though).
But what ever you come up with I'll be all to willing to try.

[WxTech]

OK. Here's my latest stab at the palm plantation block, creating a new object. In this screenie we still have the bulk of the area about the field covered by my older 40m palm plantation block (with the objectionable 'herringbone' pattern.) In the near distance, to the left, is a bunch of my new single palm trees. To the right of them are four of my brand new palm plantation blocks, making a larger square.

A block consists of 36 trees in a 6 x 6 array, each separated by 8m, thus covering 40m square.

I have some fine tuning to do on the tone (to equalize in brightness) and lighting characteristics.  I'm contemplating adding a subtle shadow, with the shadows being fairly diffuse blobs under each tree. Along the lines of the older block object, but less dark and not being so widely covering. Already the overall effect is rather better at giving the impression of a human planted set of trees than is my previous block.

[stanislao]

 Of course Wxtech, all those numbers and those coordinates have made me sick ... We are waiting to see the results of your efforts to unleash the criticisms ... (constructive .. only constructive!) Also because in the end we can only rejoice for what will come outside.
While I was writing you have entered a new post with the image of an ordered series of cultivated palms, I think it would be nice to have two distinct blocks, one sorted by lines, the other a little more random ..
Yeeeee, curved trails would be a great achievement, plus it would be a way to honor Asheshouse's great work with his magnificent ships!

[WxTech]

I removed the older 40m palm blocks and replaced them with the new 6x6 palm array. This snap is from the unlocked FMB. All the 6x6 arrays are in place, and I'm in the process of filling in the smaller spaces and corners with individual palms. I laid down areas of arrays at two different angles, to add a bit more interest (and to mimic the actual situation not uncommon with such plantations.)

[stanislao]

Yes, the final effect of the block of plantation palms is truly spectacular! A small comment: even if the palms were planted in parallel rows, the trunks grow and bend to the right or left, significantly changing the alignment. Your positioning should be made more realistic by moving a few palms even a little, forgive my fussiness ... as you can see, I feel very involved
with your work! 

[WxTech]

Stanislao,
For the 6x6 array of trees, in oder that the individual trunks not diverge, by doubling or diverging like a snake's tongue, it's necessary to make them straight and regular. The way that each row of 6 must properly intersect in this minimalist scheme, unfortunately imposes this limitation.

I'm just about to start making a 3x3 array. Too often the 6x6 array leaves a large gap that could require a larger number of individual trees to fill in. And those singletons are much more an fps killer than are the much more efficient arrays.

Exposed sides of the arrays will generally have a row of single trees for their better appearance.

I'll redo parts of Vila field with the 3x3 array, so that fewer single trees are necessary.

[WxTech]

Got the 3x3 array built, and just finished removing a fair number of individual trees and replaced them with this smaller array that can fit in where the 6x6 is too large. I checked the fps readings before and after, and obtained a 50% increase.

I also reoriented the surface normals on the trunks of my two new single palm trees, so as to be more in line with the approach used for the palm blocks and arrays. In short, for surfaces facing out to the side, the normal is not directed horizontally, but instead is oriented almost vertically, (20 degrees from straight up). The reason is this. When a side-facing surface has its surface normal oriented perpendicular to the face (as is the normal state of affairs), it is kost brightly lit when the Sun is essentially on the horizon (if the surface faces it.) This means that when the Sun is overhead, such faces are rather more dimly illuminated. For such objects as plants, which generally exhibit much irregularity and so do not behave like flat walls, it is much better to orient surface normals so the the plant is brightest when the Sun is high in the sky.

The result is that the 3D trunks of the single trees now change their illumination in keeping with their own fronds (made of simple vertical polygons) as well as the palm block and array objects. Similar enough that a casual glance might not permit to distinguish between them.

I'm getting close to releasing this latest version of the map! And the new objects will be supplied, naturally.

[gilles64]

Hi WxTech,

Wonderful and rewarding work of master!!

Amitiés,

Gilles

[WxTech]

After looking up photos of Barakoma, it's obvious the field edges right up against dense forest, with taxiways/roads cutting narrow paths through it behind the strip. I just plunked down a bunch of my 40m jungle blocks to suggest this. Compared to the color cast of the general forest cover, this object's texture has a somewhat warmer color cast. Originally I intended this block to match my Pacific palms. But now that I have a couple of better objects to represent groups of palms, I'm thinking of using this 40m block to tie in with the tropical forest cover. And so a cooler (bluer, less yellow) color cast would be warranted.

[genXgamer]

It might be pleasing to the eye, but whether relatively young introduced trees were the exact same colour as surrounding indigenous flora is another thing.
I would prefer slightly lighter in colour.

As far as stanislao's suggestion, all my airfield reference pictures which I have many show goal post straight trunks.
I would say however that the rows are almost too perfect in alignment as stanislao also pointed out.

Great that you've added smaller blocks as it is easy to create larger blocks from them when required which you can't do the other way round.
At times I really wanted a triangle shaped block.
I'm really happy with the latest open 40 x 40 block appearance (damn brought wrong screenshot to work) so it will be interesting to see if I can be converted.

Hopefully this work inspires others to give other airfields in New Guinea, Guadalcanal, Russel Islands and Bougainville a makeover and release them as a mission template.