We are proud to announce the release of the First Laser Scanned Track for rFactor.

As a "Proof of Concept" project Sydney's International Raceway Eastern Creek has been laser scanned and the results are now available for everyone to try.

DOWNLOAD LINKS:

Download Site 1 - Rapidshare
Download Site 2 - Megaupload
Download Site 3 - Filefront

(Unzip into your rFactor\GameData\Locations\ folder).

See YouTube footage

Thanks

Thanks to the guys at Eastern Creek for allowing me so much access to their track in order to scan the road surface and obtain all the media required to get this track built. Thanks also to the BMW driver training team for allowing me to use their track time and for not running me over whilst scanning.

This project would not be half as good without the modding guys who volunteered their time to build many 3d objects, create camera positions and build the AI paths in order to make this track come alive. So a HUGE thanks to the following for their contributions!!

• Neil Faichney (Krunch) - Trees, Texture work & good advice.
• Mike Cantwell (Mikec87) - Footbridge & Hinxman building.
• lasercutter - Food stand, toilet block, outhouses, marshal stands.
• Eric Tozer (ennisfargis) - Officials race tower.
• The Lonely / SLN - Power line towers & some textures.
• vorra44 - Start / Finish box & start lights.
• ISI - for the use of some models.
• Woffin - Cameras.
• Banger - AIW.
• Fernie Prieto - Grandstand.
• JFerrell - Video (to come).
• Brendon Pywell (Piddy) & Bob's Track Builder - Everything else.

Thanks also to my wife for her patience and understanding and to my kids who are not as patient and understanding.

This project has been a "Proof of Concept" to test how laser scanning can be combined with Bob's Track Builder (BTB) to produce an accurate track. A relatively cheap laser scanner was used (in future an even more accurate one will be employed) to obtain a "Point Cloud" of data. My knowledge of surveying was non-existent as was my knowledge of laser scanners and considering that this has been brought to life in only two months of part-time work, the track's turned out rather well.

Future work will involve using better tools to give even more detailed, precise results and greater coverage. If you are a track owner or games developer and would like to have a track scanned and modelled, please contact bob@bobstrackbuilder.net .

After seeing the height, cambers, bumps all generated from a previously flat track purely using the point cloud data, I can see a huge future for laser scanned tracks!

The Scanning Process

Laser scanning has been used for the past few years in many games allowing the modelling of 3d objects to new levels of accuracy.

A new era begins for sim racers as laser scanning can now be used to replicate real life tracks in unprecedented detail.

As the developer of Bobs Track Builder I realised the laser information (point cloud data) could be used by BTB to position the road and terrain thus making it relatively easy to transform the laser scanner's data into a driveable surface.

I spent two days walking around Eastern Creek collecting the laser data, taking still photos and video footage in order to create the most realistic Eastern Creek possible.

A customised a version of BTB was developed in order to load, sort and manipulate the cloud point data. The track surface and terrain generation modules were altered to use the new vast amount of data and voila, the track was half done.

Limitations & Future Versions?

This has been a great learning experience and a very successful Proof of Concept. There are many things we would like to have spent more time refining. With financial backing future tracks will include an even more accurate surface and finer object detail.

Track development is a very time consuming task and the volunteers for this project were stretched to get so many pieces ready in such a short period during their own personal time.

If you are inspired by this and would like to continue refining this track please contact me on the email address below.