Hard Light Productions Forums
Modding, Mission Design, and Coding => FS2 Open Coding - The Source Code Project (SCP) => Topic started by: DaBrain on September 23, 2004, 11:43:19 am
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Ok the hard was is implementing the possibility to use *.ani for beamglows.
But here is a simple way:
The beamglows consist of three (or more?) maps:
(http://img26.exs.cx/img26/2906/idea1.jpg)
How about rotating two maps in different directions?
(http://img26.exs.cx/img26/8382/idea2.jpg)
I'm no coder so I'm not sure about is, but at least I think that's pretty easy.
Same could work for thrusterglows, but AFAIK they are only displayed once...
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Rephrase. I can't make out any sense from that post :)
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thrusters already do something similar to this
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I just thought about spinning. Two of the three maps should spin in different directions.
I can't see the thrusters do this already.
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Ok, this is what I mean:
http://www.8ung.at/dabrain/1.avi
A bit short, but you should get the idea.
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Thats the sexiest looking beamglow I've ever seen.
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That'd be nice for beamglows :)
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Kewl:yes:
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Yeah, it is awesome. Inferno did that with the EA beam cannons, if I can remember correctly.
*checks
Yup, they did. Came out AWESOME, too.
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Can we make it so beamglows DONT use the same map 3 times? I really hate the way it kills the effect I want when I design a beamglow.
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I think if you use different maps, you'll be able to see that it's just three maps spinning. Depends a bit on the maps you want to use.
At least the two spinning maps should be the same.
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Some should redo the standard beamglows to use this effect.
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Actually DaBrain that would look really good if you'd start the animation with it spinning at full speed. It revs up right now and so a loop looks very odd. The animation doesn't have to be long; the symmetry of the glows is such that the most you'll ever have to see is a 180 degree rotation, and more often something in the 30-45 degree range.
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Don't think too much about this example. It's just a mock-up. But I does represent pretty exactly how it will look in-game.
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:jawdrop:
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So...
Is someone actually going to code this?
I can't live in the fear this nice idea won't be used any longer.
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Do it or BAN.
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Originally posted by DaBrain
So...
Is someone actually going to code this?
I'm interested in this but it would be a while before I can get to it so I was hoping someone else would volunteer. If no one else gets to it first I'll code something up when I get the chance.
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I hope it's not too much work. :)
It will sure make FS look less "static".
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My god, that is awesome. Add more frames and speed it up and it could almost look like a moving blur! =D
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Is there any progress on this?
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i think this would make it look too cartoony.
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I need to dig up my high quality beamglows again
i reformatted my hd like 3 times since then, I'll probably have to make new ones, but i remember that they looked realistic, instead of just flare-ish, i put lens flares on them etc.
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Originally posted by Carl
i think this would make it look too cartoony.
Why would that be?
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Originally posted by DaBrain
Is there any progress on this?
Nope. It's still on my list but I've been really busy lately and haven't had much time to get some current code bug-fixed and in CVS. Primary weapon particles (ani, eff) will be properly animated and beams can use animated textures as soon as I get a chance to commit things to CVS. That's the best I can offer at the moment since bug fixes are taking priority and both of those were filed in Mantis.
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it's on the list, that's good enugh for me.
Just dont loose the list. :Undue worry:
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Originally posted by taylor
Nope. It's still on my list but I've been really busy lately and haven't had much time to get some current code bug-fixed and in CVS. Primary weapon particles (ani, eff) will be properly animated and beams can use animated textures as soon as I get a chance to commit things to CVS. That's the best I can offer at the moment since bug fixes are taking priority and both of those were filed in Mantis.
Animated beam(glow?)s? That's even better. Looks like I'll have to do some animations soon. :)
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Just remember DaBrain, since the current anis use 8-bit, you may have some difficulty getting good looking ani effects. If you haven't done so already, I highly advise you read through this (http://www.sectorgame.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1230) thread from Sectorgame's SCP Forum section. It discusses Taylor's eff implimentation. Its kinda an alternative to ani files that is a little more flexible.
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Look through this thread. I've already posted there a while ago. :)
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EFF beamglows? You crazy or something? :wtf:
(imagines 70 MB/glow - shudders)
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Pehrpahps DDS does the trick for big animations like the shockwave.
I'll give it a try but not anytime soon...
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Yeah, DDS will have to be tested properly. It'll be interesting to see how it turns out - the rapid succession of images might weaken the influence of the compression artifacts - or... just the other way round. :doubt:
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DDS can be superior to PCX even when it comes to gradients. Even for static effects!
This is an exaggerated example:
Base map:
(http://img73.exs.cx/img73/636/TGA.jpg)
256c PCX
(http://img73.exs.cx/img73/226/PCX.jpg)
DDS
(http://img73.exs.cx/img73/3706/DDS.jpg)
Well, but who needs this ammount of colors?
Probably nobody, but some of my effects look better as DDS than as PCX. Not very much though.
I'm not sure about this, but I think DDS has one big advantage over PCX. The way 8-bit images get resized in-game (distance-wise) is just ugly.
I think it's like this:
Base map:
(http://img73.exs.cx/img73/2006/base2.jpg)
Resized PCX:
(http://img73.exs.cx/img73/491/res_Pcx.jpg)
Resized DDS:
(http://img73.exs.cx/img73/4205/res_dds.jpg)
So for animations DDS is the better solution, because animations often have many different colors and grafients. And i.e. shockwaves will look better when you're close to them.