Java Combat Simulator.doc

Java Combat Simulator David Carver CIS 587 Final Project Overview The game is a combat simulator written entirely in Java. The game uses 3D models to represent the terrain and the planes. It uses real relief maps called DEMs (Digital Elevation Model files) from the USGS. Here is a (very small) example of how texture and elevation data are combined. Each colored square represents a pixel. Java Combat Simulator does not render each pixel as a flat area, it rather interpolates both the elevation and the texture data (it creates a seamless mosaic of Bezier surfaces). DEM (Digital Elevation Model) Specifications A DEM is an array of elevation data. Here we refer to regular grids only. A landscape can be described as a table of z (elevation) points having (x, y, z) coordinates each. The layout of the data can vary. The 1 degree U.S. Geological Survey DEMs for example are ASCII files. DEM Sources, data characteristics. Bold numbers represent exact values, other numbers are approximate values. Name Height of a pixel Width of a pixel Vert.reso-lution Average file size Coverage ? meters arc sec. Meters arc sec. meters zipped un-zipped ? USGS 1 degree DEMs 90 m 3 depends on latitude, 64 m on 45° N 3 1 m 2 MB 9.5 MB U.S. + Puerto Rico (100%) USGS 30 meter DEMs 30 m 1 30 m depends on lat., 1.41 on 45° N 1 m 180 kB 1.1 MB U.S. + Puerto Rico (approx. 50%) USGS 30 arc second DEMs 900 m 30 depends on lat., 636 m on 45° N 30 1 m 12 MB 60 MB Global coverage For more information on DEMS, please reference /main.html Camera Position There are a number camera positions offered in the simulation. The Java3D API allows for different points-of-view and zooming rendering. The simulation sets the camera position automatically based on the speed of the plane and the flight behavior. User Interface Design The game contains an introduction screen that provides instructions and allows the user to change many of the game options. Below is a screen shot of the introduction: Th