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[KelvinNZ]

OK, so we already know that the use of vector data may be possible in the future through the use of the API but I am wondering if there will be a possibility of placing object randomly/procedurally based on other relevant/connected objects. I will explain...

If I create a street sign i.e stop, give way, pedestrian crossing, etc... then want to place it with the placement of roads could this be done through some sort of random placement generator or road builder? another example of this would be for every 100 metres of roadway there can be a specific model generated  (in this case a pedestrian crossing)? Maybe between two vectors it could place the model/sign. I suppose we could also include hedges and foliage as well i.e additional scrubs, plants (for those you like gardening maybe you could be an Outerra council worker who wants more plants around the place  )

If this is possible and could be implemented then if vector data is used to place roads in the future, to increase the immersion of the plausible world it could place models like bus stops, parking signs, street signs... and the fact that anybody could create their own set of signs/models would mean total diversity. There are alot of items in the real world which could be "procedurally" placed such as the ones mentioned above to give the world some more depth. You could see it like this, for every primary object (let's use a road) you could have secondary objects (lets use bus stops) attached and you could then have a radial parameter to determine the density of those secondary objects in a given radius.

I'm purely talking about the procedure here not the creation of models/textures as I understand that this will be a generalised engine not for one specific context. My main idea here is to use the current model technology and the procedural generation technology with some sort of linking of the two that could provide a diverse placement of many items that are linked.

I hope you get my drift here? I'm in a thinking mode right now 

[Timmo]

I think the devs have already indicated that this will happen

[KelvinNZ]

Hi Timmo,

I was thinking more about the process of linking two objects together when procedurally generating one (even though technically it would procedurally place two objects), a second object would be generated based on what object the user selects. \

I guess this has been covered to some degree in terms of vector data input but i've not seen a thread that speaks to the mechanics of procedurally generating a parent object and then attaching/placing a child object of that parent, globally. Where there is a road there is always going to be a sign or a bus stop etc... somewhere so instead of writing the vector parameters in the actual vector data, the Engine could manage placement especially if some data is not publicly available. For instance putting rubbish bins next to bus stops and animated objects (people) in the bus stops and these objects even being randomised so different objects can be used based on whatever models you have to use. Keep in mind my thinking is about immersion for both ground and air genres.

I'm talking about if this could be defined in the Outerra Engine rather than a lot of external work through the API as vector data alone will not generate the objects. Further to my point my thinking focuses on randomisation as in most engines that try to be an open world there are repetitions and lack of depth.

However, I'm open for a good discussion on this topic.

[cameni]

I think this would be best left for a scripted plugin for things that aren't directly associated with the road itself. Things like road markers or poles should be ok, but bus stops and even people wandering around is something else. What you want sounds more like an autogen for a flight sim, making procedural content so that the world appears richer and more alive, but that's not what a core engine is supposed to perform.

I see this as a task for urban area generator, which is supposed to populate a designated area with buildings and infrastructure of given type.

[KelvinNZ]

I think this would be best left for a scripted plugin for things that aren't directly associated with the road itself. Things like road markers or poles should be ok, but bus stops and even people wandering around is something else. What you want sounds more like an autogen for a flight sim, making procedural content so that the world appears richer and more alive, but that's not what a core engine is supposed to perform.

I see this as a task for urban area generator, which is supposed to populate a designated area with buildings and infrastructure of given type.

Initially I thought that if this was to be a world sim it could provide the depth of the real world, then my sights shifted to flight sim world, but either way, it would have to be in context so I can see that this would be a function of a script rather than the engine itself in that the fact is that this is an engine and not a game (yet).

I suppose once we are there then these topics can be expanded on in terms of the urban generator and how it will be implemented.