Racing Legends Update [29-01-2004 | JZ | Comments (12) ]
Tony is the same with his modeling, he doesn't start a model until he has hundreds of pictures of all parts of the cars, has blueprints to work from and a complete set of measurements (that goes for buses as well). Although, he doesn't knock out cars as fast as Jure and Ricardo, there is a lot more that has to go into the cars in design of the model which isn't needed if being done purely for rendering purposes. The cars also need to be built to work with the 3d engine in the best way possible, making materials match textures, applying extra maps for extra shader info, collisions info etc, as well as full rigging. As Tony says often we arnt interested in doing RL as quick as possible but as good as possible...

Racing Legends 2 New Renders [21-10-2003 | JZ | Comments (5) ]
Here are 2 new renders. One showing the Lotus Team Transporter and the other one showing the Lotus outside the garage.

Racing Legends Update [21-10-2003 | JZ | Comments (0) ]
In the last update I mentioned that I would be working on something different and here it is, Racing Legends recreation of the Lotus Team Transporter as used by Team Lotus between 1968 and 1971. It is currently just the body that has been done, and that is not complete yet. The image below shows it how it stands at the moment. The rest of the work this month has been dedicated to in-game presentation and the user interface. Over the past year I have had various goes at sorting this out and I think I have now found something that we like. Its not really practical, or very interesting to show any of this at this time so I will hold off on this until it has been integrated into the sim.

Programming wise what has been occurring? Gregor has been adding to the physics engine with the result being that 'motorcycle legends' is now possible :O) I not really sure how he does it I just know we are really glad he does. There has also been some theorising and testing of some new multiplayer ideas to help minimise the dreaded lag that spoils the experience of online racing. Its early days but so far the results are very promising. Chris has been doing more work on the inverse kinematic system and the implementing 3D into the user interface. He also have a nice new text rendering system that allows us to use any font in any size and any style. All this should make it easy for users to customise the interface to their own preference. To finish with a number of people have asked to see more of the garage area so here is a different angle. I can't show anymore than this at the moment as the model stops just off each edge of the picture. I will show more once the builders return! That's it for this update. During the next month we plan to get the user interface up and working and I hope to get some more done on the transporter.

Racing Legends Wallpapers [13-09-2003 | JZ | Comments (0) ]
We have posted 2 Racing Legends wallpapers in 1600x1200 and 1024x768 resolutions. One is showing the Lotus in the garage and the other one in the pits.

Racing Legends Explanation [12-09-2003 | JZ | Comments (6) ]
It is necessary to understand that there are 2 sides to the development of Racing Legends, namely coding and graphics. There is a lot more development work required in the programming side than in the graphics. This gives me the relative luxury of of having time to develop the art for the sim and to include considerable detail without impacting on the coding time. The amount of time it takes to write code to display a car of 10,000 polys is the same as it would be to display a cube. More complex models does not require more complex code.

My role in the development of RL is clearly defined and that is to make it as realistic and as graphically impressive as possible. We have a clearly defined development path mapped out and we are sticking to it. We know what we ultimately want to deliver and all our efforts are dedicated to that goal. I can assure you there is no waiting game as we are definately not looking for a publisher or any funding. I can also assure you that if the complexity of the graphics were to start delaying the coding side of RL both Gregor and Chris would be on my case to calm it down. The whole idea of releasing RL in stages is in recognition of the fact that if we were to wait until we felt the product was 100% complete it may well be the end of the decade before anyone got to race RL.

Concern has also been expressed that no PC will be able to handle all the detail when you have a full field racing. These concerns are well founded and we fully expect it to be more than all but the best pc's can process but cast your minds back to when GPL came out and the frame rate then with a full field. It was slow at that time but I think everyone is more than happy with its performance on todays machines. RL is definately a product to test a machines performance but ultimately, as the PC's get quicker, you will be able to load up RL and experience more and more detail. Just because the detail is included it doesn't mean it has to be displayed.

Racing Legends Update & Renders [11-09-2003 | JZ | Comments (0) ]
Racing Legends will feature various 'diorama' areas. We have ideas for a number of these areas eventually and the accompanying images show the current progress on one of these areas. This is the classic courtyard scene. This is where all off track work will be based. Initially a lot of the garages will be empty but as you add more cars to your collection each will be allocated its own garage area and the various cars can be wheeled out and inspected at anytime. When all the bays are full you can transfer some of the less used cars to the storage area to make room. There will be workshop areas where the cars will go to be dismantled, inspected and race prepared and somewhere to display all the trophies you win.

Selecting a car to go racing with will be a case of opening the doors, wheeling the car out and having it loaded onto a transporter to be taken to a track. Obviously you don't have to go through this procedure if you don't want to but its nice to have the choice. Imagine the scene as you roll out your latest addition, the crunch of tyre on gravel, the sun gleaming off the freshly polished paintwork, the transporter waiting! Definately a photo opportunity.

Next we have the DFV again. A lot of work has been done refining and tidying up, however most of the work has been on the workings of the engine. We now have all the major components of the engine modelled including gaskets and seals and these are ready to be linked together. When done you will be able to watch the engine in action. There are few bits to do, mainly the fuel system but its very nearly complete now.

Racing Legends Update & Renders [07-08-2003 | JZ | Comments (0) ]
The long, enforced, break is over and we can now return to developing Racing Legends fulltime. The break has seen considerable changes in our personal and business lives and has resulted in a lot more security for both us and Racing Legends. We are now able to concentrate on developing Racing Legends free from all the stress we had before. an I also take this opportunity to restate a previous comment. There seem to be a number of people who, for whatever reason, take exception to what we are trying to do and take it all very seriously. We are absolutely the first people to say that Racing Legends should be taken for what it is currently and that is simply words, pictures and promises of what we hope to deliver. And words mean nothing, some of the pictures are quite nice I feel, but again mean nothing. Until there is something to try Racing Legends will continue to be words and pictures and should be taken that way. There are those who don't believe we can deliver what we say but the fact is we believe we can and with the sale of our house we have staked everything upon it. Unless we try we shall never know and the only people that stand to lose anything, at the end of the day, are ourselves. So on to what we have been able to get done since the last update. The cockpit of the Lotus 49 is progressing well. Below we have an in-car shot showing how it looks at the moment. The dials still need individual textures. the battery needs to be connected, the dash has no back and there are currently no pedals but thanks to Goodwood I now have some excellent reference shots of all these features so they can soon be added. And whilst on the subject of Goodwood may I take this opportunity to thank all those who allowed myself to crawl all over their cars, and especially to Colin Banstead (I hope I have remembered that correctly!) who removed all sorts from the 312PB so I could get the shots I needed. The next image shows the entire 49 tub, make a nice controller don't you agree? The tub is about complete save for a few small details. The inspection hatches need to be finished, the roll hoop needs some mounting plates, more mounts required for the water pipe down the sides and some brackets are missing to which the rear suspension is attached. The main jobs now on the 49 are the front suspension and cooling system. More work has been done on the motion blur system. In a previous update I mentioned that we have a progressive motion blur in Racing Legends. We have added to this to allow us to blur not only the textures but the objects as well so we can have 3D rims that look correct as the car speeds up. Below are some stills that I hope demonstrate this. If you look closely at the spokes of the wheel you should be able to see that in the first frame they are modeled and have depth but as the wheel speeds up these spokes become less visible as motion blur takes over. Chris and Gregor have also been progressing in their areas. Gregor has been working on 'chassis flex' which is an important and often overlooked part of the cars handling and has also been optimising the core physics engine. Chris has been developing the lighting system to provide more realistic lighting and to permit real-time lighting so we can have time of day and weather effects. In the upcoming weeks I am keen to do more on the 312PB. I love this car and as can be seen from previous updates a lot of work has already been done on this car but it came to a halt due to a lack of decent reference material. I now have all the reference I need to complete this car and think it will provide an interesting comparison for the Lotus 49B. The test track is also calling and I hope to get some more done on this soon. On a sadder note I must post that Spooky was run done and killed earlier this year. He was a great character and had become quite well known in the community.

Racing Legends Screenshot Joke [02-04-2003 | JZ | Comments (0) ]
To all who started writing hate mail or abusing their dog, let me just say, it was an april fool's joke. Lets just hope, that Racing Legends isn't a joke.

Racing Legends In-Game Screenshot [01-04-2003 | JZ | Comments (17) ]
Finally... the screenshot is here. Tony should be sending more of them anytime now.

Racing Legends Update [26-03-2003 | JZ | Comments (1) ]
From Tony West: "I need to let people know the reason for a lack of action recently on the website. After a long period of trying to avoid it we are currently in the position of selling our house and finding new accomodation. This is a necessary action if we are to continue developing RL. This will mean a disruption to development and news posting until we are established at a new address.
Can I also take this opportunity to say something else. There seem to be a number of people who, for whatever reason, take exception to what we are trying to do and take it all very seriously. We are absolutely the first people to say that Racing Legends should be taken for what it is currently and that is simply words, pictures and promises of what we hope to deliver. And words mean nothing, some of the pictures are quite nice I feel, but again mean nothing. Until there is something to try Racing Legends will continue to be words and pictures and should be taken that way.
There are those who don't believe we can deliver what we say but the fact is we believe we can and with the sale of our house we have staked everything upon it. Unless we try we shall never know and the only people that stand to lose anything, at the end of the day, are ourselves."

Racing Legends Update & Screenshots [17-02-2003 | JZ | Comments (0) ]
GRAPHICS - Lots of little bits and pieces this month and unfortunately some of them not graphic related but I have managed to get some more done on the Lotus 49B. I have the cockpit in and almost done. It currently needs more textures for the dials, switches and indicator lights and also some pedals and proper seatbelts. The battery needs finishing and there is all the 'behind dash' detail to be included. That will then only leave the front suspension geometry and some more work on the engine remaining to be done. As I mentioned in the last update after all that comes the rigging and preparing for inclusion into Racing Legends oh and I mustn't forget a general tidying up, a polish and a few finishing touches. After a number of abortive attempts to design a proper logo and the in game presentation I think I may have finally come up with a look and feel that I am happy with. I am going to live with it for a while to see if loses its appeal but if all is well then we can draw a line under that particular task. The designing of the logo was bought about from the need to start thinking about the GUI (graphic user interface) for Racing Legends and you cannot do that until you are happy with the way it is gong to appear. Chris is about to do more work on the GUI so it was important to get a style finalised, well nearly finalised, there is more work yet to be done on it. I think the following few weeks will see me working more on the presentation of Racing Legends than on anything else but I do hope to finish modeling the Lotus. A couple of shots of the right rear upright, brake and wheel assembly. The left shot shows how it will appear at rest and the right image is at speed. There will be a number of graphics to represent degrees of motion blur and these will fade between each other to get smooth transitions. You may also notice that all parts that spin have these motion blurred textures. I couldn't resist the temptation of loading up Westlake and having a little play. I enjoy doing the cars but it certainly is nice to have a change. I deliberately didn�t do much as I wouldn't be able to stop myself but I had a little play with some textures and tried some new ideas and anyway its been a while since you had something other than cars to look at.
CODING - As ever a brief synopsis of what is happening on the coding side of Racing Legends as there jobs are a lot more involved and complicated and unfortunately do not always result in anything that can be seen but yet is absolutely vital. Gregor is still hard at it. He has been working on the constraint system and improving his solvers apparently. He is also experimenting with some new ideas for the tyre model. Chris, apart from the GUI as I have mentioned has been converting a lot of the code over to work as DLL's. This will allow us much more flexibility and will make updating Racing Legends a lot easier. Whilst he has been doing this he has taken the opportunity to document a lot of the code. As we plan to make the engine available at some time for people to create their own add-ons it needs to be very well documented to make it as easy as possible. We are creating an SDK for Racing Legends and Chris has been busy preparing his code for this end. See the new screenshots here.

Racing Legends Progress Report [21-01-2003 | JZ | Comments (0) ]
CODE: The last couple of weeks have been spent working on the Render Pass system for the 3D engine. Now if any of you have any idea at all what I am talking about you are a better man than me. I believe it�s the system for making sure all the shaders work properly together without any unpredictable effects as well as having other benefits but I have no idea what they are!
PHYSICS: I understand work is still progressing nicely on the tyre model. I haven�t seen anything on this in the last couple of weeks as I have been too busy with my own work but from what I have been told it�s all looking very promising.

Racing Legends New Screenshots [21-01-2003 | JZ | Comments (0) ]
From West brothers: "I was meant to be showing more on the shaders but unfortunately some more work is required on the shader and render system before I can do this. This has therefore given me the opportunity to back to some modelling. First up is the DFV engine. I have included a couple of shots of the engine on its own... as well as one of it in position in the old Type 49. Please ignore the flipped texture on this image. There is still some work to be done but I think it is getting there.

Racing Legends Webcam Archive [17-01-2003 | JZ | Comments (0) ]
Check out all the webcam images starting from Jan. 14th.

Racing Legends 2 New Screenshots [07-01-2003 | JZ | Comments (0) ]
Here are 2 new screenshots from Racing Legends, the winner of Blackhole Motorsports Sim-Racing Award for Most Promising racing game. West Brothers promised to release first in-game shots with their next update. I am sure we are all looking forward to this.