Mix and Match Units

Started by Ron Miller, December 26, 2006, 11:45:20 AM

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Ron Miller

I find myself constantly annoyed by the seemingly random use of units in TG2. Degrees are used in some places (such a camera angles and sun position) while things such as "factors" are used elsewhere...such as the "lean factor" in Twist & Shear. Why, in the latter instance, is 1 equal to 45 degrees? That scarcely seems intuitive...especially if one is after a specific angle. (Quick, everyone, what angle is a lean factor of 1.27 equal to? What lean factor is equivalent to 16 degrees? If it took you longer than 5 seconds to answer either then I rest my case...) I find this sort of thing throughout TG2...

R

U-Type

I guess the developers will work on simplifying the tweaks and sliders for future versions. This is a technology preview, you have to remember.

swiftstream

Re. Lean factor, I imagine that the lean factor is the tangent of the angle as you've been using it. tan(45) = 1; I had to do [Win]-[R] calc [Enter] to find the other ones, but the angle corresponding to a lean factor of 1.27 would be about 51 degrees, and the lean factor corresponding to 16 degrees would be about 0.287. That takes about 5 seconds each, if you know how to do it. I'm a math major, so perhaps I have an unfair advantage--but 45 degrees mapping to 1 just screams "TANGENT!" to me.

It makes sense, really: a lean factor of 1 tilts a vertical face over as far as it is tall; a lean factor of 2 tilts it over twice as far; etc. Planetside could include a built in converter, but it's really not hard to figure it out yourself.

rcallicotte

To those math major flunkees (raising my hand), it isn't intuitive.

;D
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