Great to hear you are a realistic developer that does not expect the world out of all engines. Happy medium and playable is better than realistic and sluggish lol
To get an animated model out of a modelling package such as 3dsMax, it is simply rig, skin, add rootnode and export to FBX.
Most tests i have played with seem to just work as long as they all move relative to the rootnode(usually at 0,0,0).
I do want to have animated models to be offered with a basic script to make them function for the buyers. I don't really see issues there, just me learning the procedure.
This part will become a lot simpler once the visual scripting system is completed. No more syntax errors or having to know the API, simply plug & play.
Anyway of having a mesh be consider static like the terrain without the use of advanced or dynamic physics, or spraying them as in the terrain editor? Things like flags, and wires on utility polls, unmovable machines with working parts, like bridge cranes and stuff like that. Building with multiple stories in them with stairs that the player and NPC can navigate.
Are you meaning static physics? or static in the sense of rendering(batching many things into 1 draw call).
For physics: We do have plans for improving the physics system to include compound shapes(lots of simpler shapes to fill the objects complexity), to stop the use of "Mesh" type in the scene, as this is a slow physics option since it copies each vertices, and we also have planned a constraints system for more complex physics systems, such as ropes and bridges.
For Rendering: We have planned a full performance boosting system from Batched geometries using Hardware Instancing and full occlusion culling support.
If these are not the answers you were looking for, could you perhaps explain this better for me please.
Obviously applying mesh physics to a bunch of these kinds of objects will take a toll on performance. Better to split them up into static and animated parts and combine in the level? Or just skin and use bone animation to make them happen? which will also be taxing on a populated map.
aah, i think the answers above will help this one.
Although, If you are building a level, we do have simple physics shapes in the "Asset Library\Presets\Skyline Scene Types\Physics Colliders", these can be placed over certain meshes to keep performance up. We also have plans to upgrade the presets to contain multiple sceneEntities or groups. So the entire set of objects could be placed back in the scene again.
Too many active animations will take a toll on performance as you say, but it could be scripted to only animate when in a certain range. Simpler skeletons will also keep performance up.
I think there has to be a level of modularity when building a level, so you can hide parts that are not showing rather than them always being visible. This would work even better with an occlusion culling system.
I have a problem finding that happy medium between full transparency and being able to actually see the dust and finger smudges that would be on a glass surface. I am sure it just boils down to my inexperience. but I find the same in most engine with Directx 9, its all or none most of the time and hard to get a realistic result.
right, i honestly haven't needed to get into those levels of details yet, or moreso don't have time lol, so haven't really noticed this. But we have plans for DX11 at some point as well as fixing the openGL rendering side of skyline.
I am getting into the shaders right now to understand adding the different techniques and passes I can apply, to get all the stuff going.
Manually writing materials and shaders will produce you the best and truly unique results possible. Skyline users are not stuck with the materials & shaders that we provide with the engine. The system is designed for rapid prototyping in mind, so you can edit your shader/material and refresh the sceneEntity to see the updated changes in the scene.
Note: Custom materials and shaders will not work in the material editor though, unless you keep to the same material pass names, texture unit names, or use the set params on the top etc.. This is an untested area of skyline by any users. So i look forward to see what you make and achieve.
So keep on you work flow plans, it seems to be working, and you have a bunch of features, I still need to check out anyway.
Many many many features lol
and more on their way hehe.
Have fun!
by SolarPortal » 09 Feb 2015, 10:37 
