Question Hangar Shadows

[Marcel]

While learning to make buildings I've noticed that the shadows cast by hangar objects seem "off". They aren't cast in the same direction as blocks and tanks, and moving the view around makes them move strangely. I've finally realized that it's a function of the hangar's distance from the center of the base. Hangar shadows don't follow the curvature of the planet. They're cast on a plane in the air. It's very noticeable on large bases like Canaveral. Has anyone else noticed this? Is there a solution or am I going to have to make meshes for all my rooftops?

 

[Tommy]

I'm away from my Orbiter comp, so don't have any references, but - It seems to me you need a line in the base config that says

enable_map_to_shere=1

or something along those lines. The Orbiter docs should have the correct syntax and usage.

 

[Marcel]

I've got this line,
MapObjectsToSphere = TRUE
so I don't think that's it.

 

[Tommy]

You're right, that's the line I was thinking of. Sorry, but that was all I could think of off the top of my head.

 

[Marcel]

Here's some pix of what I'm asking about. I'm working on the SLF area, which is about 10km from the center of the base. This was done entirely with standard objects and textures, including the medallion. Notice how the shadows of the rooftops (hangars) aren't in sync with the blocks below them.







It's probably a bug in Orbiter and I'll have to use meshes. The SLF hangar needs to be a mesh anyway, so you can't see the sky from underneath.

 

[liber]

Before export to mesh line your hangar bottom with z axes,so object will stand on the surface.

 

[Marcel]

Sure, but there are no meshes here, just standard objects, hangar2, block and tank. At this position a hangar must be at a height of -5.2 to appear to be sitting on the ground. I haven't learned to make meshes yet, but I borrowed and scaled a ceiling from Harmsway's KSC Environment, scaled it and placed it beneath the hangar roof, and the shadow displayed correctly. His MDD shadow also looks fine. The other weird one is still there, so it still doesn't look right. I'm planning to detail out the parts of this area that others haven't done and upload it to OH because it's where I park my gliders. I'm wondering if anyone else has noticed this anomaly. I've seen it using two different video cards, so I suspect that it's not my computer that's causing this.

 

[Loru]

It is common when you're making large bases. But you can always put building or object below 0 height as you mentioned above.

Here is simple guide to determine correct height of object you want to put:
[ame="http://www.orbithangar.com/searchid.php?ID=3594"]http://www.orbithangar.com/searchid.php?ID=3594[/ame]

 

[liber]

HANGAR
POS 110 0 100 - red for up or down
SCALE 24 8 30
END

You could try to lift or lower hangar position...
Maybe this help.

 

[Marcel]

Thanks, but I can get the hangar object to appear at the correct height by trial and error. It's the shadow of the object that isn't displayed correctly. As I said, I think its an Orbiter bug. If I upload this to OH then I want it to display correctly on others' machines. I have to learn how to mesh, anyway.

 

[martins]

Strangely, I can reproduce this problem neither with 060929 nor with the latest beta.

 

[Marcel]

Well that's puzzling! I'm going to try downloading the latest drivers for my Radeon 9550. Thank you very much for your reply.
edit: (I'm at work) I'll try a clean install as well.

 

[martins]

The Orbiter beta version contains a large number of buildings around the VAB, some of them hangar-type. Can you check if the shadows for these buildings work for you in the beta? If so, can you transplant Canaveral.cfg into the 2006 version (you will have to keep the original surface tile section though), and see if that works?

I've also tried to lift the hangar off the ground, to simulate your case, but that too seems to work.

Can you post your Canaveral.cfg, so I can give it a try (only the relevant sections, e.g. one symptomatic building, if it is very long).

 

[Marcel]

I haven't tried the beta. My Canaveral.cfg is a rather long work in progress, combining stuff from others' work as well as my own. I'll be happy to do as you ask but I'll be away from home for a couple of days. Again thank you very much for your interest, and thanks to everyone else as well. I remember altering the height of the cloud shadows as part of someone's atmospheric enhancement. I wonder if that had an effect. This was about a year ago, and I'm not at home so I can't be more specific.

 

[Marcel]

Well I tried to get the latest beta, but it's a 6 hr download on my dialup and it stopped about 2/3 of the way through. I pasted the simple hangar into a clean 060929p1 and got the same issue. I'm downloading drivers even as I type. I'll install them tomorrow night. Here's the two foreground buildings for you and anyone else that wants them in their current state. They're far from what I consider finished, however. Oops! The .txt is 82.8kb. There are a lot of blocks in that Landing Aids Control Building! Ok, here's the simple hangar. Just a sketch really...

HANGAR2 "tent"-----------------------
POS -7930.5 5.2 -667.5
SCALE 36 1.5 41
ROT 119
TEX1 roof02 24 .21
TEX2 roof02 40 .21
TEX3 Roof02 2 3
roofh 1
END
;MESH ; OPF 1 ceiling mod
; FILE ceiling
; OWNMATERIAL
; POS -7930.5 10.4 -667.5
; SCALE 36 0.5 41
; ROT 119
; SHADOW
; PRELOAD
;END
;BEACONARRAY ;for spacing
; END1 -7947.985 -3.35 -677.204
; END2 -7913.011 -3.35 -657.800
; COUNT 5
; SIZE 0.015
; COL 1 1 1
;END
BLOCK ; beam 1 ----------------
POS -7947.985 9.9 -677.204
SCALE 35.99 .5 .1
ROT 119
TEX1 cape18 1 1
TEX2 cape18 1 1
TEX3 cape18 1 1
END
BLOCK ; post 1l main----------------
POS -7956.473 0 -661.896
SCALE 1 10 .1
ROT 119
TEX1 cape18 1 1
TEX2 cape18 1 1
TEX3 cape18 1 1
END
BLOCK ; post 1r main----------------
POS -7939.510 0 -692.507
SCALE 1 10 .1
ROT 119
TEX1 cape18 1 1
TEX2 cape18 1 1
TEX3 cape18 1 1
END
BLOCK ; beam 2----------------
POS -7939.252 9.9 -672.353
SCALE 35.99 .5 .1
ROT 119
TEX1 cape18 1 1
TEX2 cape18 1 1
TEX3 cape18 1 1
END
BLOCK ; post 2l main---------------
POS -7947.726 0 -657.073
SCALE 1 10 .1
ROT 303
TEX1 cape18 1 1
TEX2 cape18 1 1
TEX3 cape18 1 1
END
BLOCK ; post 2r main----------------
POS -7930.776 0 -687.623
SCALE 1 10 .1
ROT 119
TEX1 cape18 1 1
TEX2 cape18 1 1
TEX3 cape18 1 1
END
BLOCK ; beam 3--------------------
POS -7930.502 9.9 -667.515
SCALE 35.99 .5 .1
ROT 119
TEX1 cape18 1 1
TEX2 cape18 1 1
TEX3 cape18 1 1
END
BLOCK ; post 3l main---------------
POS -7938.976 0 -652.223
SCALE 1 10 .1
ROT 303
TEX1 cape18 1 1
TEX2 cape18 1 1
TEX3 cape18 1 1
END
BLOCK ; post 3r main----------------
POS -7922.026 0 -682.823
SCALE 1 10 .1
ROT 119
TEX1 cape18 1 1
TEX2 cape18 1 1
TEX3 cape18 1 1
END
BLOCK ; beam 4----------------
POS -7921.762 9.9 -662.653
SCALE 35.99 .5 .1
ROT 119
TEX1 cape18 1 1
TEX2 cape18 1 1
TEX3 cape18 1 1
END
BLOCK ; post 4l main---------------
POS -7930.226 0 -647.373
SCALE 1 10 .1
ROT 303
TEX1 cape18 1 1
TEX2 cape18 1 1
TEX3 cape18 1 1
END
BLOCK ; post 4r main----------------
POS -7913.276 0 -677.973
SCALE 1 10 .1
ROT 119
TEX1 cape18 1 1
TEX2 cape18 1 1
TEX3 cape18 1 1
END
BLOCK ; beam 5----------------
POS -7913.012 9.9 -657.789
SCALE 35.99 .5 .1
ROT 119
TEX1 cape18 1 1
TEX2 cape18 1 1
TEX3 cape18 1 1
END
BLOCK ; post 5l main----------------
POS -7921.488 0 -642.505
SCALE 1 10 .1
ROT 119
TEX1 cape18 1 1
TEX2 cape18 1 1
TEX3 cape18 1 1
END
BLOCK ; post 5r main----------------
POS -7904.526 0 -673.108
SCALE 1 10 .1
ROT 119
TEX1 cape18 1 1
TEX2 cape18 1 1
TEX3 cape18 1 1
END

 

[martins]

Ok, I tried your config file. I can confirm the reported bug in the 2006 version (first image). This problem is solved in the beta (the shadow is now on the ground). However, the roof has dropped in elevation and is now only half-way up the beams. Is this expected? (second image).

 

[Marcel]

Well, it's not unexpected. the hangar height is 5.2 and the supporting post is 10. It looks right in the 06 version. This means that I'll have to wait until the new version of Orbiter comes out before I release this. Oh well, I'm sure I won't have it finished before Tuesday anyway. Thanks a lot! I'm going to start the beta download before I leave for work every day until I get it.
I've started learning Anim8or. If I use meshes for the rooftops it should look right in both versions of Orbiter. Maybe I'll be able to release this by Monday!