the sun the moon and everything

S

Simon Peace

Registered
Hi,

I was just browsing another thread and i noticed someone using a google reference image (like a lot of people do). The thing i noticed was that they had turned the image to South facing upwards. I am guessing that if you are modelling a real track and want the sun and moon to be in the correct places then you model your track in max with North "to the top" then the sun and moon etc... will be in the correct place...?

I just looked in the GDB and there is a setting "NorthDirection=xxx (0to359 degrees) is this an offset for rotation and is this still used?

I can also see a Latitude setting but no obvious longitude... (and I guess this relates to 0,0,0 in the model)

Cheers
S
 
I just plugged in values in the weather portion of the dev editors and the sun is pretty much due south!?

my model is geographically orientated correctly (north up)
car spawns at 0,0,0 facing due south and there is the sun (and because it is winter the moon) but they are in the wrong place as the sun should rise in the East?
 
Surely that depends on the time of day? (Hence why longitude is irrelevant.) At mid-day in the northern hemisphere the sun is in the south, in the southern hemisphere it's north at mid-day and between the tropics of cancer and capricorn but especially on the equator it's more-or-less overhead.
 
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This is from the Mills .gdb

ShadowMinSunAngle=20.0
NightLightThreshold=0.5
SunApeture=0.06

ShadowMinDiffusion=-0.6
ShadowMaxDiffusion=0.2

Latitude = 37.41 // degs from Equator (range: -90 to 90, positive is Northern Hemisphere)
Longitude = -78.60 // degs from GMT (-180 to 180, positive is East)
Altitude = 182.0 // meters above sea level
RaceDate = June 07, 2009 // default date for the race
TimezoneRelativeGMT = -5.0 // hours compared to Greenwich Mean Time (should be negative to the West)
DSTRange=(1.0, 1.0, 0, 9999) // (start day 1.0-367.0, end day 1.0-367.0, start year, end year); multiple lines allowed
// U.S. example, where DST changed in 2007 (previous and future changes not simulated here):
// DSTRange=(94.8, 301.3, 1987, 2006) // approximation of 1st Sunday in April to last Sunday in October
// DSTRange=(70.8, 308.3, 2007, 9999) // approximation of 2nd Sunday in March to first Sunday in November

It looks like joesville uses the rF1 format

Tony
 
seems that we are guessing which parameters we should fill in... I know the isi guys are busy but when will we have a manual for all these parameters which says, what they do, and which version of rFactor they apply to... im not very keen on maintaining values in parameters that make "no difference" - possibly!

Also, appologies for the poorly worded original question, yes of course the sun stays low in the sky in the winter for the northern hemisphere, and yes it can appear to be due south. actually my real question was more about the valid position to model the track in when building a real track. and the offset parameter is interesting as a "rotator" after modelling if I understand it correctly. Would like some confirmation (from isi) tho.
 
Longitude, Latitude and Altitude define where the world-zero is located.
The Mills GDB is more recent and it's the one I'd use as a template right now :) .

Further documentation WILL come in the future.
 
As far as I know, it's impossible to change the direction of the track. Always model with North facing up in the Top viewport.
 
Yes, I'm sorry. I just tested it out, and changing NorthDirection in the .gdb does not affect the sun's position. :o Model with North = +Y in 3DSMax.
 
Yes, absolutely correct. For the sky system to work properly the North side of the track must face +Y in MAX. Most of the time this is no big deal, but sometimes when a track is off angle it can make working on the garage and paddock area a bit cumbersome...
 
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