Ok, I may be being a bit over-ambitious here, particularly as I'm fairly new to 3d programming, but I'd be interested to know if this is possible or if people have tried it.
I'm working on a space game. The stuff in outer space is working fairly well, but I need to be able to go down onto the planets. The obvious way to do this is simply to 'switch screens' when you go onto a planet and then work with a terrain. However, what I'd really like to do, is to be able to seamlessly move from space onto the planet. If the planet has a thick atmosphere, this would be fairly easy as I could just apply some thick fog for a second or two, to simulate re-entry and then switch to the terrain while the screen is covered in fog, but for a planet without an atmosphere, the only way to do it would be to 'build' the planet from the terrain so that it's fully visible from space.
So I guess what I'm asking is, is there a way to make a terrain into a globe? This way, the terrain would actually be part of space too and there'd be no switching. Any buildings on the surface would be visible from space, and once you land on the surface you could look back up and see whatever's up there.
Right now I'm using the simple option of creating a sphere and just drawing the terrain onto it as a texture but obviously, once you reach the surface, it's totally flat.
I'm working on a space game. The stuff in outer space is working fairly well, but I need to be able to go down onto the planets. The obvious way to do this is simply to 'switch screens' when you go onto a planet and then work with a terrain. However, what I'd really like to do, is to be able to seamlessly move from space onto the planet. If the planet has a thick atmosphere, this would be fairly easy as I could just apply some thick fog for a second or two, to simulate re-entry and then switch to the terrain while the screen is covered in fog, but for a planet without an atmosphere, the only way to do it would be to 'build' the planet from the terrain so that it's fully visible from space.
So I guess what I'm asking is, is there a way to make a terrain into a globe? This way, the terrain would actually be part of space too and there'd be no switching. Any buildings on the surface would be visible from space, and once you land on the surface you could look back up and see whatever's up there.
Right now I'm using the simple option of creating a sphere and just drawing the terrain onto it as a texture but obviously, once you reach the surface, it's totally flat.