Re:Information must be left out (Score 1)

Leaving out information - that's an interesting comment actually. As a "published" mapper for the Half-Life Counter Strike mod, I've spent a lot of time working to create realistic looking but not overly realistic modeled environments for gaming. Basically if you put in too much physically modeled information, the performance of the game engine suffers due to the amount of detail it has to render. One trick when mapping for game engines is to not put in detail where detail is not required. Obviously you don't need to model the details of the top of a light fixture if nobody is ever going to "fly" up and look at the top of the light fixture. Also, there are times when you don't really need to model details, but just create the illusion of detail. For example, you would not necessarily model each exposed bolt in a beam, but rather would just render the "essence" of the bolts in the texture used on the beam solid. For an example of this, check out a picture from a map I am working on at http://www.vintnerd.com/images/fusama/fusuma20000. jpg You will see what look like complexly structured Japanese shoji screens. In truth, I am not modeling every little strip of wood - it is just an image of a shoji placed upon a flat brush (as solids are called in the gaming world). It's extremely effective, and it's not necessary at all to create the actual detail. Another comment. It's very easy to model such things as doors, lights that switch on and off, elevators, etc. in a map. But there are other kinds of "interaction" that could happen. For example, an architect might actually build all the interior details of a typical wall, but then hide the details behind a flat sheet of virtual drywall. During a presentation, the virtual tour guide could "use" the wall, causing it to slide out of the way, and reveal the interior construction details. Then the virtual drywall could be put back and the tour continued. An architect also might use the same idea to "remove" a wall to demonstrate how a remodelling job would change the appearance of a room. Eg, "Let's all go into the kitchen, and I'll remove that north wall as we are planning, and you'll see how you now have a view out to the back yard..."