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2003-04-15

The last three weeks have been very intensive. First there was quite a lot of literature to read through and understand. Some of what was learnt through the literature studies have been presented under the document section. The Crystal Space engine has also been studied to see if it will be suitable for the task at hand; rendering an entire landscape with city and surroundings.

Work has begun programming different modules in C++. One of these, the MapGen has been partially completed and is presented in the documents section. Work has now begun on the much more complex RoadGen, which will create the entire road system. The Extended L-system, which is a part of the road generation, is explained in the document section.

No replies have been received from Parish and Müller, but that was as expected.

The people at the Crystal Space IRC channel were very helpful when it came to questions surrounding the engine, and they saved us quite some time when studying the terrain engine of Crystal Space.

2003-03-20

Access-cards, time-plans, computers, printers and software; almost all practical aspects have been taken care of, except for the fact that our computer still does not have Microsoft Office, which hinders us from updating the webpage from our workstation. Apart from the practical issues, time has been spent studying already established methods for procedural cites, as well as literature covering procedural graphic and fractals. One VR-engine, Maverik, has been downloaded and tested to see if it could meet our demands. Some additional testing will be needed before making a decision. In addition to trying to find a suitable renderer, time will also be spent preparing to come up with a generation algorithm. Also the project description has been completed and can now be found under the Project Description link.

Mails has been sent to both Pascal Müller , asking about availability of the source code for the CityEngine, and to Carmenta AB, asking questions concerning their product SpatialAce.

2003-03-17

The first day was spent trying to get a webpage operational. This included rewriting the project description to reflect upon the most recent meeting with Lennart Ohlsson and Michael Johansson. After careful consideration, it was decided that some additional research was needed before the project description could be completed. This included already established methods for procedural cities and other items of information relevant to the project. More practical issues like time-plans, trying to get access-cards, and waiting for our computer to arrive at the Computer Science Department were also handled during the day.