What is the best method to create tracks like these that span across a large open world. I can’t imagine having a bunch of decals would be good for performance, nor efficient.
Hello,
you can use a lot of methods (PCG, vertex paint, material instance, spline mesh…) to create something like this.
If performance is a critical factor and you are looking to create tracks over a large area with minimal impact, using a material with height map to simulate tracks on the ground might be a more efficient approach. However, if you require physical accuracy, interactive terrain modifications, deforming the landscape could be more suitable despite the potential performance implications.
It’s best to spend some time on these methods and figure out what works best for you and your project.
Doesn’t seem like the guy above has the first clue.
You use render targets.
You set them to capture render target visible objects dropped by whatever other object - vehicle, walking person, animal, etc.
While the render target is realtime (so you can visualize new footsetps happening) the previously left objects can be set to fade out over time.
Generally the objects you leave behind are custom vector fields, allowing you to easily derive normal maps of the deformation.
You can now use the RT in any way you want.
Be it for displacement on a virtual heightmap, or to just feed into a material to color areas different/add normals. Or even have decals make use of it somehow.
Cost wise, its integral part of the gameplay for RD2, so it doesn’t really matter how much it costs (within reason, you can provide lower quality visual options like they do).
The RenderTarget way is very fast, you probably won’t see any drop in framerate - even if you use something like POM PDO with you normal calced from the height (mostly because the vast majority of the landscape will have a 0 PDO).
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