Misc Animated bird flocks tutorial and sample 2021-03-04

[alekabul]

alekabul submitted a new resource:

Animated bird flocks tutorial and sample - ksFlags use for flocks of birds to liven the skies and fields

View attachment 451064View attachment 451065

I know, it is a car sim but maybe if we add to it alongside Sol's excellent weather system a few flocks of moving birds it will be even more enjoyable. So I went searching for free images of silhouettes to compile a flock and try it out. Sure is easy to find them when the...

Read more about this resource...

 

[Billy Pilgrim]

Wow! Really nice.
Thank you for this great bit of modding.

I'll ask the question that folks will be wondering about: any FPS cost?

 

[alekabul]

Wow! Really nice.
Thank you for this great bit of modding.

I'll ask the question that folks will be wondering about: any FPS cost?

Not from what I can see. GTX 1660 /w 6gb GDDR5 here. I used 512x2048 px texture on 8 surfaces (4 visible flags) for grand total of 444 added faces and that poses no threat. If someone goes 2048x8192 px on many surfaces with huge face count that may be too much.

After all, Kunos placed many flags on all of their tracks and they know about cost efficiency.

 

[Tyrone - Nukedrop Mods]

Hey,

Im guessing you could make these 'fly across' the track aswell, using something like this in the ext_config.ini file (this is from when I made a plane circle hong kong but the principles will be the same.

Would I be allowed to use the textures in my tracks?

[WRAP_MESHES_...]
NAME = airbus
MESHES = airbus0_SUB0, airbus0_SUB1, airbus0_SUB2, airbus0_SUB3, airbus0_SUB4, airbus0_SUB5, airbus0_SUB6, airbus0_SUB7, airbus0_SUB8, airbus0_SUB9, airbus0_SUB10,
PIVOT_POS = 2340, 10 , -600

[ANIMATED_...]
NODE = airbus
WINDMILL_DIR = 1, 1, 1
WINDMILL_DIR_EXP = 0
WINDMILL_DIR_BOTH_SIDES = 1
SPIN_AXIS = 0.01, 1, 0.01
SPEED_MULT = 0.007
WIND_SPEED_KMH_MIN = 1
WIND_SPEED_KMH_MAX = 20
WIND_SPEED_KMH_STOP = 40
LAG_UP = 0.0
LAG_DOWN = 0.0
LAG_BRAKING = 0.0

 

[Tyrone - Nukedrop Mods]

Or even just spawn loads of birds in a migratory pattern with something like this.

[DYNAMIC_OBJECT_5]
PROBABILITY=100
MULT=100,100
FILE=scorpion.kn5
POS_MODE=RANDOM
RND_POS_CENTER=0,0,0
RND_POS_RANGE=9000,0,10
VEL_MODE=RANDOM
RND_VEL_BASE=-6,0,0
RND_VEL_RANGE=2,0,0


in the models.ini

 

[alekabul]

use the textures in my tracks

Do as you like with this. I don't insist on copyright. However my hope is that you guys will take it many steps further with colorful textures, bending and tilting of the meshes, etc.

As for the path-following I will try it out for sure. For now I have two larger flocks for dynamic objects but theirs is a one-way trip...

 

[Fat-Alfie]

From 4 years ago...

 

[Fanapryde]

The kn5 is named flags_s, while the shader replacement code is for flag7. That is correct ? (I don't know much about it, just wanted to check)

 

[kismaci85]

well i installed it and I cant see any birds ?

 

[Zombie Boy]

Just curious if this works with vanilla AC? I've followed the instructions but see no birds.

Oddly enough, I've never seen birds at the Thomson race track either, despite that being released prior to CM / CSP.

Am I doing something wrong?

 

[Fanapryde]

From 4 years ago...

I thought I completely missed that, tried again, used also F7 cam... no flock of birds in sight ?
I now see that @Zombie Boy has the same.
I do see 9 bird kn5 file sin the track folder and in the models.ini, but never seen one bird while driving ?

My system is probably not bird friendly since I couldn't spot one bird at Wicklow Mountains either (using CSP 0.1.74

 

[alekabul]

I thought I completely missed that, tried again, used also F7 cam... no flock of birds in sight ?
I now see that @Zombie Boy has the same.
I do see 9 bird kn5 file sin the track folder and in the models.ini, but never seen one bird while driving ?

My system is probably not bird friendly since I couldn't spot one bird at Wicklow Mountains either (using CSP 0.1.74

Just curious if this works with vanilla AC? I've followed the instructions but see no birds.

Oddly enough, I've never seen birds at the Thomson race track either, despite that being released prior to CM / CSP.

Am I doing something wrong?

well i installed it and I cant see any birds ?

To see the example you need to reach the x-junction on the top of the mountain. I placed them there as permanent occupants so no need to check all of the big sky in Wicklow. Look to your left when approaching and go past the junction.

 

[alekabul]

The kn5 is named flags_s, while the shader replacement code is for flag7. That is correct ? (I don't know much about it, just wanted to check)

The model's name is "flags_s.kn5" and the material on the object inside is "flag7", that's right.

Actually, what got me thinking of this idea was the lame eagle in "Pikes Peak". Haven't seen the birds in "Thomson Road" before. I will try to update my "ext_config" for it so those start moving around the track.

 

[alekabul]

Animated track objects tutorial – Trained Monkey Modding

This is handy for the flocks moving about.

 

[alekabul]

That is one fine WIP animated track!

 

[alekabul]

I thought I completely missed that, tried again, used also F7 cam... no flock of birds in sight ?
I now see that @Zombie Boy has the same.
I do see 9 bird kn5 file sin the track folder and in the models.ini, but never seen one bird while driving ?

My system is probably not bird friendly since I couldn't spot one bird at Wicklow Mountains either (using CSP 0.1.74

I managed to spot a single bird on Thomson Road after a hard look around and changing the probability to 100. With the flocks I think "subtlety" is not the right approach. There is nothing subtle in more than 10 birds gathered together. They need to be more up front.

 

[alekabul]

alekabul updated Animated bird flocks tutorial and sample with a new update entry:

Dynamic objects

flocks - Google Drive

drive.google.com

To get the other two different flocks from the link to circle above the course
put the kn5 files into the track's folder and add to the models ini file

[DYNAMIC_OBJECT_0]
PROBABILITY=100
MULT=1,1
FILE=flock_1_dyn.kn5
POS_MODE=RANDOM
RND_POS_CENTER=-500,-600,0
RND_POS_RANGE=0,0,0
VEL_MODE=RANDOM
RND_VEL_BASE=1,0,1
RND_VEL_RANGE=0.8,0,0.8

[DYNAMIC_OBJECT_1]
PROBABILITY=100...

Read the rest of this update entry...

 

[NightEye87]

To see the example you need to reach the x-junction on the top of the mountain. I placed them there as permanent occupants so no need to check all of the big sky in Wicklow. Look to your left when approaching and go past the junction.

It would be best to place the bird "flags" at the 0,0,0 point. Then add the kn5 to the track with the right POSITION=x,z,y values. It would be way easier to implement them on other tracks.

Also I don't think the flock looks really good. It's a strip (even Kunos flag shaped) rather than an actual flock. Might be best to experiment with something like this:

Although I did and it looks terrible. AC just isn't made for this.
For the migratory birds like on Thomson this works absolutely fine, but to simulate a flock to be flocking just isn't gonna work. Not realistically.

I managed to spot a single bird on Thomson Road after a hard look around and changing the probability to 100. With the flocks I think "subtlety" is not the right approach. There is nothing subtle in more than 10 birds gathered together. They need to be more up front.

It would be a bit unrealistic if those birds are there every single time. The probability is not 100% for a very good reason
The "wow, birds! I've never seen them before" feeling is something that makes a track come alive.

 

[alekabul]

to implement them on other tracks

I'm not against ease of use but each track has its own dimensions and origin so inevitably the flags have to be adapted each time. No params in models.ini for scale. Also the diffuse have to include different number of "birds" in accordance with the change of scale.

As for the mesh - I'm pretty sure that after bending it into semi-cylinder and setting up the distortion and frequency right it will begin to flock like a flock. Stand by for an update two... But first i will have a nice rest.

Birds are everywhere and everyday. Looking at empty sky feels spooky. I've just checked today - yup, they are out there as usual. What I am very interested is how to cause ripples in the CSP lakes or sea at a place where birds dive for fish. Only a use of alpha blended horizontal mesh of white foam comes to mind. And animated with ksFlags to heep the theme going.

 

[TheBigHase]

Thx! Wanna give this a try and need to knöw where to put the CSP entries - which folder / file would that be pls!?