Creating an Open House.

[thestigma]

 

In a similar vein, do you guys think there's any way to "fake" a view from a window? Like instead of a real view have kind of a parallax effect with a few images on planes, so it isn't just a picture on the wall but also isn't as resource-intensive as really having LOD there

THIS. I'd be all about this shiz, this sounds like something that could help when I will inevitably have to compromise and "seal in" the cell.

 

 

Lots of ways to do this - from opaque fake windows that emit light (placed high up as to just hint of a connnection to the outside without being able to really study them in detail),

to actual transparent windows showing off a set-piece that imitates a part of the outside but it cleverly bounded in a way that you cant see from the inside.

 

For example, if you have a window out to a small garden backed against a cliff (or maybe just a tall hedge or fence) then you could render the part of the garden you can see from the inside by just having a copy of it there.

A window to the outside bounded by another wall of the house could work great as well. If you had an enclosed outside atrium you could even put a real "outside" area like a small garden as part of the house - one that you can actually walk into. That sort of thing tends to make you forget that the house is an isolated cell if done well.

 

This is by far the most intricate and performance expensive way to do it - but if done well (and not too obviously) then it can create perfect mimicry. The trick is to have a way to limit the view-distance outside without it being obvious that this is what you are doing.

 

There are some very good housemods that do all these sorts of tricks. I'd learn from the masters by browsing through the best ones and doing similar things with your own twist.

 

-Stigma