but the thing is tracks for racing sims are quite wild animals
, they are not supposed to be easy to deal with, and unless i'm missing something, the purpose of a good track builder is to allow you to easily and intuitively create the track not to build the track in your place.
the problem with the workflow you've suggested is a terrain from heightmap or DEM data it just does not have the accuracy of the track itself and if you project the spline on such terrain the road would be simply too rough to be of any use.
starting the track that way you will still end up tweaking the nodes and creating aditional BTB terrain to fill the gaps just like is done now anyway.
another problem with "Choose terrain size & generate the terrain.." is most of the "terrain" generated from a rectangular heightmap is simply not visible in a normal track due to vegetation, walls and whatever objects you'll choose to place near the road so in the end it will waste your time and the FPS.
until we'll have access to some very acurate DEM data the track should still be started from inside out, so to speak, letting the far scenery as an option at the end of the process, but hey, if you still belive heightmap is the answer for all your problems check out the Xpand Rally's ChromeEd but i have to warn you, there were some quite talented people trying to get that working yet the game and the comunities are all dead and burried along time ago.
Advanced trackbuilding is surely not supposed to be easy to deal with,
I fully agree with you here.
However if you want all the less tech skilled guys to be an active part
of the community as well you do want to make trackbuilding a lil less complicated.
Here is a workaround of the method i described, that could be used for
attracting BTB for the less tech skilled guys and should be fairly easy to
implement for Piddy.
1..Some sort BTB internal: Step by step guide meant for beginners.
( Should be fairly easy to implement i think ) ..
2..Design your track layout, preferred in 3D realtime for easy going.
3..Easy understandable for beginners: Sorrounding terrain generation.
( An -auto terrain fill- feature with a few easy to understand options ).
4..Elevate your terrain if you like, preferred in 3D realtime for easy going.
5..Place your objects..
(Easy objects placement like the "fill terrain with trees" feature is good)
...Race your track..
Beginners would even wish to have an auto-generate track layout
feature including a few easy-going choices like length and track type etc..
( As soon as they get hooked they would wish to learn more, i think ).
This is of course only meant for beginners since the current BTB features
are easy enough to use for more experienced trackbuilders.
I think it would be in everybodys best interest to get the less tech skilled
guys to become active members of the BTB community as well, since most
of the more tech skilled guys (most likely) already has "joined up".
...Personally I'm much more interested in the organizing more Xpacks
discussion we got going in this topic as well, since that is something
that could benefit most/all of us.
Cheers,
Dac.