Hi, to try and answer a few questions.
Yes theres a LOD system, trees have several states of LOD
1a) Full detail / animations
2a) Partial anims
3a) at user defined distance the tree is replaced with a 2 poly billboard.
Theres alot of 'under the hood' tricks going as well, for example - some surfaces are combined at greater distances.
The entire system is actually built for speed. I made this system for a game project im working on and decided to localize it and release it as a lib. I needed a system simular to LOTRO's where I could have the feeling of many hundreds of trees in the distance but yet keeping the detail 'real' for upclose ranges.
Yes theres a LOD system, trees have several states of LOD
1a) Full detail / animations
2a) Partial anims
3a) at user defined distance the tree is replaced with a 2 poly billboard.
Theres alot of 'under the hood' tricks going as well, for example - some surfaces are combined at greater distances.
The entire system is actually built for speed. I made this system for a game project im working on and decided to localize it and release it as a lib. I needed a system simular to LOTRO's where I could have the feeling of many hundreds of trees in the distance but yet keeping the detail 'real' for upclose ranges.