Creating LoD

Game Engine Game Engine Support and Discussion
#1

Hey Blender community! For all very big game, you need to have LoD. I just have a few questions about it. First, what does is stand for? My best guess is Loading Dynamics, but I don’t know if that’s right. I did some research and couldn’t find ANYTHING regarding a good tutorial on how to create it for a game in Blender Game Engine. I’m talking about wherever the current active camers goes (AKA. the player), the surrounding area will become more detailed, and as the cam/player goes farther away, the topology/detail of the ground will decrease, leaving you room for massive amounts of detail while still having a pretty big game area.

What tools will I need for this feature, do I need to use Python, and is there a way to do it with logic bricks? Thanks :slight_smile:

#2

LOD stands for Level of Detail.

And in current builds of blender, the only way to do it is to through a python script. There is a version with built in LOD, but you have to download a special blender version, which I don’t have the link to.

If you write your own LOD script, you have to be careful it is not slower than displaying everything.

From your lack of knowledge about what LOD stands for, I guess it’s a tag-word you’ve picked up from somewhere. If this is the case, then make sure you have hit a performance limit before implementing it.

#3

I believe that it stands for “Level Of Detail”. There are many different techniques to achieving this in the BGE. I had a video tutorial on my channel but it seems to be gone. I can make another soon (probably friday). But you can find a few by doing a simple search:
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=blender+game+engine+lod+tutorial&sm=3

Hope this helps and good luck.

#4

When is Sir.Kupomans LOD (C level) going to be trunked?

#5

This technique is indeed Level Of Detail.

It is an “optimization” method to reduce the number of processed objects and rendered faces. Games with wide views (open outdoor scenes) benefit from this technique. (A “big game” does not necessarily mean “wide view” :wink: )

This is not the “Eierlegende Wollmilchsau” English:“jack of all trades device” I guess…

It needs additional effort to the logic as there is (Currently) no LOD method build-in. Even if … the additional logic might eat and exceed the performance benefits you get.
As a modeler you need to create the additional detail models which will multiply the work load.
As a level designer you need to care what objects to use. E.g. very large objects (e.g. long walls, terrain) will not fit into the LOD method as they can be near and far away at the same time.

Out of sight behavior needs to be calculated. This means objects with low detail level or even out of sight - still might influence the game status but can use a simplified behavior model.

On the benefit side … with that you will be able to run a whole planet (with limitations) ;).

#6

Thanks guys for all the advice. Hopefully I’ll be able to learn python to get this thing going :slight_smile: