Posts: 2
Joined: Sun Aug 14, 2011 1:54 pm
Cars: '78 Jeep Wagoneer 5.9l
'96 Fiat Coupé 16V
'98 BMW Z3 1.8i
Mon Aug 15, 2011 1:43 am
My Thoughts And Ideas For Automation
First of all, let me introduce myself.
I'm 25 years old, live in Austria (no kangaroos here
) and I love cars. I'm also into simracing (iRacing, rFactor, etc...). Actually I found out about Automation in the ISR Forums, where Zeussy posted a thread about it. I like the concept of the game and the video (Building a Car from Engine to Completion) just blown me away. I am really fascinated about the possibilities of this game and I think it has great potential. I already submitted a beta application and I hope one day I will be allowed to join in.
In the meantime I already had some ideas and suggestion which I would like to share with you guys and here what you think about it. This will be an ongoing list, as I will add ideas when they come to me.
Engine Sound
iRacing uses a soundengine which is called fmod. Granted iRacing doesn't use it to its full potential, but I think it could be really interesting for Automation, because you can simulate all different kinds of engine without actually recording any samples. I'm not that heavy into programming any more, and I don't understand everything they write on their homepage about it. But to me it seems that this could be really useful, because you can simulate all combinations of engine components without having to record thousand of audio samples. So every engine created could have it's one distinctive sound.
Here is the link to the product homepage with all the technical informations:
http://www.fmod.org/
And here is a link to some fully synthesized engine sound examples made with fmod:
http://www.sonory.org/examples.html
Engine Animation
I would like to see sparking sparkplugs and the explosion in the cylinders. Also it would be awesome if the fuel/air mix (vapored gas, sorry don't know the exact english term) would be visible as they enter the individual cylinders and fill them up before igniting and the exhaust gases as they leave the cylinder.
Engine Parts
I think it would be really cool If we could also choose parts of the cooling system. First of all air vs liquid cooling. For air cooling maybe the size of the cooling elements could be adjustable and for liquid cooling the radiatior amount, size and placement could be adjustable. Also this parts should influence the engine so that you will need a bigger radiator for a performance engine than for a eco engine. This could also be influenced by the climate of the region where the car is sold. (Scandinavia -> low ambient temp -> smaller rad needed, Desert Area -> high ambient temp -> bigger rad needed). The choice and dimension of cooling with the influence of the specific region could be a factor in reliability of the engine.
Car Driving
Yes, I know this has the least priority, I did read the FAQ
. But of course like almost everybody else this was one of the very first wishes which came to my mind. I know from my expierence as a simracer, that developing a proffessional driving simulation is a task for its own and for this project most likely never going to happen. BUT what about using an already existing simulation, like for example rfactor. I don't know if that is possible, but my imagination tells me maybe it could.
Just imagine. You design the car with Automation like intended. And after you are done with it, there is an option somewhere in the game menu to export the car to rFactor. I think it could be possible because all the 3d models and data (most of it) are already there and Automation would "only" need to transfer all the information in the needed formats for rFactor. Of course there are some informations missing in automation at the moment which rFactor would need (like steering rack information, cockpits and so on) but I think this could be doable in the longterm and the whole physics stuff isn't need because it's already there and ready to use.
I'm looking forward to hear from you guys what you think about these ideas.
-Evening
I'm 25 years old, live in Austria (no kangaroos here
) and I love cars. I'm also into simracing (iRacing, rFactor, etc...). Actually I found out about Automation in the ISR Forums, where Zeussy posted a thread about it. I like the concept of the game and the video (Building a Car from Engine to Completion) just blown me away. I am really fascinated about the possibilities of this game and I think it has great potential. I already submitted a beta application and I hope one day I will be allowed to join in.In the meantime I already had some ideas and suggestion which I would like to share with you guys and here what you think about it. This will be an ongoing list, as I will add ideas when they come to me.
Engine Sound
iRacing uses a soundengine which is called fmod. Granted iRacing doesn't use it to its full potential, but I think it could be really interesting for Automation, because you can simulate all different kinds of engine without actually recording any samples. I'm not that heavy into programming any more, and I don't understand everything they write on their homepage about it. But to me it seems that this could be really useful, because you can simulate all combinations of engine components without having to record thousand of audio samples. So every engine created could have it's one distinctive sound.
Here is the link to the product homepage with all the technical informations:
http://www.fmod.org/
And here is a link to some fully synthesized engine sound examples made with fmod:
http://www.sonory.org/examples.html
Engine Animation
I would like to see sparking sparkplugs and the explosion in the cylinders. Also it would be awesome if the fuel/air mix (vapored gas, sorry don't know the exact english term) would be visible as they enter the individual cylinders and fill them up before igniting and the exhaust gases as they leave the cylinder.
Engine Parts
I think it would be really cool If we could also choose parts of the cooling system. First of all air vs liquid cooling. For air cooling maybe the size of the cooling elements could be adjustable and for liquid cooling the radiatior amount, size and placement could be adjustable. Also this parts should influence the engine so that you will need a bigger radiator for a performance engine than for a eco engine. This could also be influenced by the climate of the region where the car is sold. (Scandinavia -> low ambient temp -> smaller rad needed, Desert Area -> high ambient temp -> bigger rad needed). The choice and dimension of cooling with the influence of the specific region could be a factor in reliability of the engine.
Car Driving
Yes, I know this has the least priority, I did read the FAQ
. But of course like almost everybody else this was one of the very first wishes which came to my mind. I know from my expierence as a simracer, that developing a proffessional driving simulation is a task for its own and for this project most likely never going to happen. BUT what about using an already existing simulation, like for example rfactor. I don't know if that is possible, but my imagination tells me maybe it could. Just imagine. You design the car with Automation like intended. And after you are done with it, there is an option somewhere in the game menu to export the car to rFactor. I think it could be possible because all the 3d models and data (most of it) are already there and Automation would "only" need to transfer all the information in the needed formats for rFactor. Of course there are some informations missing in automation at the moment which rFactor would need (like steering rack information, cockpits and so on) but I think this could be doable in the longterm and the whole physics stuff isn't need because it's already there and ready to use.
I'm looking forward to hear from you guys what you think about these ideas.
-Evening
