I tried these places in SE, and... Well, banding artefact is awful even on exported images. They should be at least 16-bit floating point to avoid this. But this will make file size huge, and even more video memory will be needed to load them. Or maybe don't use dawn scenes. In deep space scenes banding is also noticeable, this time on milky way. Maybe I indeed should use full 3D scene for main menu, despite on it's loading time.
Oh, that's really too bad. I can continue looking for a good scene (That's not dusk) if you like, but my personal preference would be a 3D scene. Regarding the loading time, as you suggested, I think it would look quite nice if it were to show a blurred picture of the scene while it loads. My only concern would be that on slower computers, the loading could take a significant amount of time. It could look strange if the blurred picture stayed there for a while before switching to the 3D scene. So I think it should definitely be of a galaxy, nebula, or some other large structure that doesn't take too long to load. Possibly something like this?
My 3 submissions. Skybox export takes AGES, so I've shared the locations too from the places-user.cfg. I'll upload the skyboxes later if it saves you time Vlad.
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Place "menu 5" { Ver 980 Body "RS 8474-1353-8-10982582-753 A4" Parent "RS 8474-1353-8-10982582-753 A" Date "214110.03.01 06:50:16.63" Pos (+00000000000001B01A8E7386F6D32BAE -0000000000000027F0C8A4EA65E6B7BE +0000000000000033946DCC6B45398EE1) Rot (-0.3165079549417261 0.2273969636231271 -0.2718082278174586 0.8799054623562244) Vel 9.2031591e-012 Mode 2 }
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Place "menu 4" { Ver 980 Body "RS 8474-1353-7-1372822-819 B4" Parent "RS 8474-1353-7-1372822-819 B" Date "2156.04.01 07:47:47.59" Pos (+00000000000001B2A50E73F132C307C9 -0000000000000027B55F29EA8148A80A +0000000000000034A27911305F71C3C8) Rot (0.9333060628516195 -0.1630902952876362 0.2718152003632419 -0.1686945330438756) Vel 3.277221e-010 Mode 1 }
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Place "Menu2" { Ver 980 Body "RS 8474-914-6-200691-117 5.2" Parent "RS 8474-914-6-200691-117 5" Date "2017.07.31 08:23:42.67" Pos (-00000000000001C1FB6B638D88AF2B0E +00000000000003FD2F77E4A0FC34A05E +000000000000001086A87F3AB1A988EC) Rot (-0.397167256243157 0.8017652565291874 -0.04281193906746026 0.4445197204447208) Vel 4.9798138e-011 Mode 1 }
My only concern would be that on slower computers, the loading could take a significant amount of time. It could look strange if the blurred picture stayed there for a while before switching to the 3D scene. So I think it should definitely be of a galaxy, nebula, or some other large structure that doesn't take too long to load. Possibly something like this?
Scenes with planets in a distance, like in yaqdark's second place, would not take much time to load. You may test it yourself: exit SE in such place and launch it again. Measure time between pressing "Planetarium" and disppearing of the loading circle.
QuoteSalvo ()
How much time does it take to make a small cubemap? The resolution could be the lowest possible
Few missiseconds Black holes and ship warp effect are using dynamic skyboxes with resolution of 1/4 of the screen resolution.
Quoteyaqdark ()
My 3 submissions.
Dawn scene is bad becaue of banding artefact...
Ok, maybe this thread should be changed to "contest for the loading screen place, made using scripts". It can be exported real procedural system, tweaked to have better visuals, performance and loading time. I.e. changed atmosphere model, reduced number of cloud layers, removed unnecessary objects (other planet with their moons, asteroids, comets), tweaked radius and orbit parameters, etc.
I will make support of special catalog entries files for such systems. Easy way is support only custom star catalog and planets catalog for them, ie locate system in a real galaxy/near real nebula. More complex is support of custom galaxies and nebulae, but this also will require more work to make a startup scene.
If there are multiple startup scenes provided, they could switch randomly at SE loading, or even at each exit to the main menu. Or, alternatively, link to the startup screen catalog files will be in the skin script. This will enable easy making of mods/addons: just add a new skin, and user would be able to switch to it in the players settings menu.
Linking the startup scene to a skin could boost customizations
Good idea.
Otherwise since it is a space simulation that ships, why not take a catch in a vessel and if there is a dash or a screen, it will serve to put the interactive buttons.
Yes, unfortunately. Well, if we were doing a screenshot that is, instead of a 3D scene, which it looks like isn't going to happen.
QuoteSpaceEngineer ()
Dawn scene is bad becaue of banding artefact...
He also said that it coudn't be close up of a planet's surface, because that would take a long time to load. Which is a shame, because that screenshot you have is absolutely gorgeous. You can read the descussions earlier in the thread if you want.
Edited by sclarinval - Thursday, 25.08.2016, 16:13
If there are multiple startup scenes provided, they could switch randomly at SE loading, or even at each exit to the main menu.
Hmm, I think that's a bit too game like. Since SE is supposed to be a scientific program the menu should be clear and plain and not change every time (my opinion). :)
I designed a new menu interface using the image of sclarinval. What do you think about it? EDIT: or that I will also make some own backgrounds in the future.
I designed a new menu interface using the image of sclarinval. What do you think about it?
I like these! Though personally, I think that if the look of the menu is going to be redesigned, the rest of the interface should be redesigned to match.
I like these! Though personally, I think that if the look of the menu is going to be redesigned, the rest of the interface should be redesigned to match.
ENG
New site
Pirate 
Italy 
Russian Federation 
Israel 
United States 
Germany 
