- Joined
- Jul 11, 2013
- Messages
- 277
- Reaction score
- 20
I would like to make a point on geometry available in StarMade.
Having come back to the game, I find that with the addition of slabs the game has come a very long way in terms of design options.
But it's one thing being able to make feasible armchairs and quite another trying to create a gradual 1/4 height incline.
First off, lack of Wedge slabs is a little frustrating. Creating smooth wedge windows or staircase railings is impossible without having to resort to design ''cheating'' - obscuring an otherwise square block to only show a wedge like shape. Simply being able to squash wedges sideways in the same way slabs work for full blocks would open up a world of possibilities. ''Curved'' ceiling glass for a cockpit? Round/diagonal windows? Railings for staircases? Smooth swept back winglets? Thin diagonal support struts? List goes on - slab wedges, best thing since sliced bread.
Next, to go with the wedge slabs, we could make good use of height and inclination adjustable wedges, corners, hepta and tetra shapes.
The idea is that the ''slab height'' adjustment would stay persistent for all shapes and dictate their visual height. However, 2 new sliders for these blocks would be required:
- ''Slab Offset'' - this would dictate the height at which the angled portion of a block... ''begins'' i.e. If you are given a 1/2 inclination wedge, you will need 2 pieces to complete a full block: a starter piece and a continuing piece, offset by 2 slabs in height, relative to the starter piece.
- ''Inclination Offset'' - this would allow us to select an inclination for the block i.e. Angle of the tilted face, expressed by a fraction of height of a full block. This would mean we could have 1/4, 1/2 and 1 inclines in armor designs or 45/26.56/14.03 degree slopes. 3/4 slope would be possible, however the slope produced would cross over separate blocks vertically and horizontally, requiring far too many intermediate blocks and shapes in order to complete it - simply put, it's not practical and thus out of question. A 1/3 slope would be a more likely a candidate, but again, there's only a slight angle difference between 1/3 and 1/4, rendering a 1/3 slope obsolete. Also, it's out of sync with slab heights.
Note that the only limitation with this system is that, while fully height and angle adjustable, blocks retain their width and depth. This means that, unless a whopping amount of intermediate shapes is implemented in between to allow for a nearly smooth transition from a 1/4 vertical to 1/4 horizontal inclination (forget about 1/4 to 1/2), it's simply not possible. Adding 2 more sliders to adjust width and offset of blocks would be necessary for full compatibility. Possible to do, but not entirely practical at this point without a major headache. This way, blocks simply become squashed, but retain their compatibility with blocks in other orientations without major changes/additions to make them compatible other than the necessary geometry they require to work in the first place. Also note that only the Wedge should have the options to control both inclination, offset AND width to allow for varied angles on slabs.
Here is an illustration to the concept:
Size 1 is the current wedge angle, sizes 1/2 and 1/4 are pretty self explanatory and take 2 and 4 blocks respectively to complete a full block inclination. Note this graph is true for all shapes as this is their profile footprint when viewed from the side. Colored areas represent the footprint of each size.
Offset is simply a measure of how many slabs need to be stacked underneath the block to reach desired height. For 1/2 blocks, offsets of 0 and 2 would be available. For 1/4 blocks, all offsets would be available. Reason for locking out a 1/2 block is that it would not be practical to only raise it by 1 slab, instead it is raised by 2 and raising it by 3 slabs would mean it could extend outside the boundaries of a block - that is also... not practical.
So there we have it, my 2 cents. Let me know what you guys think! Do you agree with me that StarMade could really use some more varied angles for design purposes? What would you have done differently?
EDIT: 1 - Autocomplete, Simplification and a more intuitive system.
So, an idea on how to implement this system in a way that would be as intuitive and easy to use as possible. We could add an option to automate the offset. Then, players simply select their desired inclination (of 1, 1/2 or 1/4) and start placing blocks. The blocks would then attempt to autocomplete the shape based on the block placed directly in front of the current block, taking into account it's output slab offset.
Here's an illustration to explain this better:
In this example, we have a 2 slab height block incoming and we want to create a smooth slope of 1/4 to complete the 1 block height.
To do this, we select the inclination and desired wedge block as appropriate and place it behind the slabs. The game then detects that blocks of 2 slab heights are placed directly in front of the block we are trying to place. In this case, the game detects we have a height of 2 slabs and we want a 1/4 inclination so it offsets the wedge by 2 slabs and continues it from that point.
To prevent errors, if we tried to autocomplete a 1 or 3 slab offset with a 1/2 angle, the game would first complete 1 more 1/4 slab and then switch to 1/2. Going the other way however does not create this issue.
It's important to note Autocomplete would be switched ON by default to simplify the process of making smooth inclines, but could be switched off for manual selection of desired blocks for design and detailing purposes.
This way, if we simply want a 1/2 or 1/4 angle armor, we just select the angle and go. If we want to throw some funky shapes on our ship or make never-before-seen furniture or that sweet sweet cockpit setup, we can manually select all of our blocks.
So, a single slider for when you want a nice and smooth slope, full control for when you want to create custom details.
Having come back to the game, I find that with the addition of slabs the game has come a very long way in terms of design options.
But it's one thing being able to make feasible armchairs and quite another trying to create a gradual 1/4 height incline.
First off, lack of Wedge slabs is a little frustrating. Creating smooth wedge windows or staircase railings is impossible without having to resort to design ''cheating'' - obscuring an otherwise square block to only show a wedge like shape. Simply being able to squash wedges sideways in the same way slabs work for full blocks would open up a world of possibilities. ''Curved'' ceiling glass for a cockpit? Round/diagonal windows? Railings for staircases? Smooth swept back winglets? Thin diagonal support struts? List goes on - slab wedges, best thing since sliced bread.
Next, to go with the wedge slabs, we could make good use of height and inclination adjustable wedges, corners, hepta and tetra shapes.
The idea is that the ''slab height'' adjustment would stay persistent for all shapes and dictate their visual height. However, 2 new sliders for these blocks would be required:
- ''Slab Offset'' - this would dictate the height at which the angled portion of a block... ''begins'' i.e. If you are given a 1/2 inclination wedge, you will need 2 pieces to complete a full block: a starter piece and a continuing piece, offset by 2 slabs in height, relative to the starter piece.
- ''Inclination Offset'' - this would allow us to select an inclination for the block i.e. Angle of the tilted face, expressed by a fraction of height of a full block. This would mean we could have 1/4, 1/2 and 1 inclines in armor designs or 45/26.56/14.03 degree slopes. 3/4 slope would be possible, however the slope produced would cross over separate blocks vertically and horizontally, requiring far too many intermediate blocks and shapes in order to complete it - simply put, it's not practical and thus out of question. A 1/3 slope would be a more likely a candidate, but again, there's only a slight angle difference between 1/3 and 1/4, rendering a 1/3 slope obsolete. Also, it's out of sync with slab heights.
Note that the only limitation with this system is that, while fully height and angle adjustable, blocks retain their width and depth. This means that, unless a whopping amount of intermediate shapes is implemented in between to allow for a nearly smooth transition from a 1/4 vertical to 1/4 horizontal inclination (forget about 1/4 to 1/2), it's simply not possible. Adding 2 more sliders to adjust width and offset of blocks would be necessary for full compatibility. Possible to do, but not entirely practical at this point without a major headache. This way, blocks simply become squashed, but retain their compatibility with blocks in other orientations without major changes/additions to make them compatible other than the necessary geometry they require to work in the first place. Also note that only the Wedge should have the options to control both inclination, offset AND width to allow for varied angles on slabs.
Here is an illustration to the concept:
Size 1 is the current wedge angle, sizes 1/2 and 1/4 are pretty self explanatory and take 2 and 4 blocks respectively to complete a full block inclination. Note this graph is true for all shapes as this is their profile footprint when viewed from the side. Colored areas represent the footprint of each size.
Offset is simply a measure of how many slabs need to be stacked underneath the block to reach desired height. For 1/2 blocks, offsets of 0 and 2 would be available. For 1/4 blocks, all offsets would be available. Reason for locking out a 1/2 block is that it would not be practical to only raise it by 1 slab, instead it is raised by 2 and raising it by 3 slabs would mean it could extend outside the boundaries of a block - that is also... not practical.
So there we have it, my 2 cents. Let me know what you guys think! Do you agree with me that StarMade could really use some more varied angles for design purposes? What would you have done differently?
EDIT: 1 - Autocomplete, Simplification and a more intuitive system.
So, an idea on how to implement this system in a way that would be as intuitive and easy to use as possible. We could add an option to automate the offset. Then, players simply select their desired inclination (of 1, 1/2 or 1/4) and start placing blocks. The blocks would then attempt to autocomplete the shape based on the block placed directly in front of the current block, taking into account it's output slab offset.
Here's an illustration to explain this better:
In this example, we have a 2 slab height block incoming and we want to create a smooth slope of 1/4 to complete the 1 block height.
To do this, we select the inclination and desired wedge block as appropriate and place it behind the slabs. The game then detects that blocks of 2 slab heights are placed directly in front of the block we are trying to place. In this case, the game detects we have a height of 2 slabs and we want a 1/4 inclination so it offsets the wedge by 2 slabs and continues it from that point.
To prevent errors, if we tried to autocomplete a 1 or 3 slab offset with a 1/2 angle, the game would first complete 1 more 1/4 slab and then switch to 1/2. Going the other way however does not create this issue.
It's important to note Autocomplete would be switched ON by default to simplify the process of making smooth inclines, but could be switched off for manual selection of desired blocks for design and detailing purposes.
This way, if we simply want a 1/2 or 1/4 angle armor, we just select the angle and go. If we want to throw some funky shapes on our ship or make never-before-seen furniture or that sweet sweet cockpit setup, we can manually select all of our blocks.
So, a single slider for when you want a nice and smooth slope, full control for when you want to create custom details.
Last edited:
