Hard Light Productions Forums
Community Projects => The FreeSpace Upgrade Project => Topic started by: Vasudan Admiral on November 26, 2007, 06:36:40 am
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This is just something I have been fiddling with in Blender recently that turned out (part by accident no less) to be a lot better than I'd been expecting:
(Click pic for short video of the rendered effect)
(http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y184/VA--Twisted_Infinities/Effects/Subspace2.jpg) (http://sectorgame.com/ti-file-dump/VasudanAdmiral/Videos/Subspace4.avi)
So I decided to get it in game:
(http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y184/VA--Twisted_Infinities/Effects/Subspace1.jpg)
Since that turned out to work quite nicely, here are two versions of the effect:
1) 28 frames, 1024 res version. (http://sectorgame.com/ti-file-dump/VasudanAdmiral/Effects/Subspace_Big_Short.zip) It's rather wild and fast. I prefer....
2) 90 frames, 512 res version. (http://sectorgame.com/ti-file-dump/VasudanAdmiral/Effects/Subspace_Small_Long.zip) It's slower, smoother, and just generally more purdy. :) (Also takes up a bit less space overall, though more texture slots :\)
Edit: If you get a 'forbidden' page, try right clicking -> save as.
In each zip there's a modified version for that old teal Knossos version included in each as well. I always thought it was a bit of a waste to just have it look like a colourised subspace, so I gave it some energetic swirly things and different, more powerful looking properties compared to the regular.
I've not been able to test the Knossos effect in game though, because I can't seem to get the special warp thing to work. :\
(http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y184/VA--Twisted_Infinities/Effects/WarpMap01.jpg)
(http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y184/VA--Twisted_Infinities/Effects/WarpMap02.jpg)
If anyone wants the source .blend file, lemme know and I'll upload it. :)
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It looks a little out of place and cartoony.....this would need some working on the Z axis...
But I'd say potential to be the best yet.
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Very nice, but a bit chunky and cartoony. Make it smoother, and visually deeper (you can see into the tunnel) and you'll beat Axem any day.
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There's a warp pof included that does give it shape. The shape's not visible from the angle of the piccy though. Have you both looked at in game with Enable 3D Warp checked in the launcher?
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Those are ingame versions? I thought you said it didn't work ingame?
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I said I haven't been able to test the teal knossos effect in-game because 'alt-warp' doesn't seem to work for me in Fred. :p
Edit: Hmm, I think this is a case where screenshots don't help much. You need to see it in-game and in motion in order to be able to get a feel for it.
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Let's give it a try, then. But am I the only one who likes the subspace vortex effect in the 3.6.7 mediavps?
Edit: Let's not give it a try. I'm getting a "you don't have permission to access..." on both of the zip links.
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Ugh - forgot about that. I've asked if Goob can upload them to hard-light, but I'm not sure if he'll be able to get them either. The sectorgame servers got attacked by a virus a while back and the security has since knurdled all remote linking. :\
It works for me if I right-click -> save as, but I'm not sure that'll be the same for everyone.
Also, I didn't make this because I don't like the MVP ones, but because I was trying to work out how to make a vortex in Blender for use in animations and thought it looked cool enough in motion to warrent making in game versions. :)
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Oh - it seems that another way to go might be to click the links in the Sectorgame version of this thread: http://www.sectorgame.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=50869#50869
I guess because it's not off-site remote linking, it works or something. :\
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Yup, sectorgame worked. Downloading.
Edit. Awright, I tested it in The Romans Blunder. Looks kinda cool, though a bit blurry for my taste. Still, there's something quite appealing in this effect. Personally, I really like the watery thing that was in the 3.6.7 mediavps, even though I once got the impression that too many people didn't like it and it was dropped from 3.6.8. Oh well. Luckily the 3.6.7's are still available from the SCP website.
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Looking very purdy :D
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Wait. Why do you have Suzanne (the monkey head) behind the first portal?
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To test how it reacted with objects behind it - because I was fiddling with all kinds of additive layers and stuff, I had to be sure it wasn't going to solidly obscure (or worse) other stuff.
Lobo, well if you're using the smoother one - it's still a 512 map being enlarged to a surface that expands to massive proportions. I'm trying to figure out how to make a smooth 1024 version that doesn't appear to be cycling through about 5 frames total, while at the same time doesn't take up the better proportion of your HDDs storage space - let alone your RAM. :\
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Say, that looks pretty neat. I'm still waiting for a kickass version that looks closer to the FS1 end cutscene subspace, though.
edit: I suppose it all comes down to personal preference.
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I'm trying to figure out how to make a smooth 1024 version that doesn't appear to be cycling through about 5 frames total, while at the same time doesn't take up the better proportion of your HDDs storage space - let alone your RAM. :\
I have noticed that DDS texture compression is merciless when it comes to gradients. If you want a gradient-intensive effect to be used in big scale well without the artefacts becoming apparent, you pretty much need to use TGA files, or you need to use huge resolution to keep the upscaling minimal and the artefacts non-noticeable.
I myself have gone through Axem's subspace effect DDS files, blurred the artefacts away, then saved them as TGA's. It loses some of the detail, but at least the compression artefacts go away. As for memory requirements, it obviously uses more than DDS textures... But as long as I can't notice any performance drops, I rather take the smooth effect with no artefacts and big memory signature than a version with artefacts and smaller memory use. :blah:
That said, the effect itself looks closer to the retail/canon effect than the earlier ones... which is good. :yes:
But why is the blue normal subspace effect so much smaller than the cyan Knossos effect? :confused: Also, the normal subspace effect seems to end a bit too soon in-game.
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hello 2gether
in the cutscene-thread i posted a completely new subspace-vortex i did out of my mind and of course it is wrong compared to the original one, but it seemed that the general response was very good. i think to put all proposals in one thread i put it also in this thread.
thats what we are talking about:
(http://iceyjones.de/wip/lucy/warpout.jpg)
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:eek: :eek2: That ..can't be in-game...
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it´s rendered of cause.....i only want to post it as an idea....
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It's not wrong. It's your interpretation of a fictious object. Look at Axem's. His looks like yours, )albeit lower detailed) and is the standard effect for INFA.
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In my opinion, swirling vortices belong to B5 (TBP).
FreeSpace subspace effect should depict rippling space-time. Ideally, it would use a shader that causes a wavy distortion to the background seen through it, but I don't think how that could be made (if I'm not compltetely wrong, though, material system will be needed before this kind of effects will work...). Ripples of light spreading from the center, kinda like in the canon but much higher details.
Hmmm.... I'll be soon back with something. :drevil:
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Ugh. VA, check your permissions, because using Save As on a 403 file results in a corrupted download. And I want this effect.
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Hmmm.... I'll be soon back with something. :drevil:
(http://i10.tinypic.com/6ueckdg.gif)
Original is in 1024^2... :drevil:
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Ooh, purty.
But can someone mirror that effect? :P
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You people are amazing! Except for Cobra. :p
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*sigh*
Grow up, will you?
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Ooh, purty.
But can someone mirror that effect? :P
...Isn't that kinda trivial? Just swap the index numbers to run to other direction...
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I meant mirror it on a website. My bad. :nervous:
Feh. I found the sectorgame link. Joy! But I still wanna see what you did ingame though. :nervous:
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(http://i14.tinypic.com/6ui34oy.png)
(http://i9.tinypic.com/6uooo7n.png)
(http://i3.tinypic.com/6xlt8cx.png)
In-game. This is the 1024^2 x 60 frames, but the low FPS was consistent throughout the mission due to 16xAA I have taken a liking to...
I used VA's model, and it seems the effect becomes a tad bit oversized this way (my subspace effect fills more of the texture than VA's effect - perhaps I should just resize that subspace model or make a new one...)
I aimed for Retail FS2 in-game effect impression more than anything else... It does not rotate at the moment, and I tried it with Axem's twisted UV-map model and it didn't look very good that way. Making the texture rotate would be problematic to say the least, because it would either have to have all frames for 360 degree turn, or alternatively the effect would need to be kinda "slice-tiled", so that when it has rotated, say, 45 or 90 degrees it would begin a new phase... but that would easily make the effect look tiled and I don't want that.
...Or. Is it possible to make a subspace vortex model with rotating subsystem(s)? :drevil:
Discuss. ;)
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Oh wow - looking back at this one compared to what I've now got, it really is quite crappy looking in static images.
For those who haven't been following the cutscene development thread in the Port forum:
(http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y184/VA--Twisted_Infinities/Cutscenes/LuciferSurvivedWIP10.jpg)
It behaves and looks pretty much as close to the FS1 cutscene one as I'm able to get, so I'll be putting this one in-game when I can figure out how to do the same thing in-game. I don't know about you lot, but I'm getting sick of how poor the subspace effect always looks side on. I wanna try and fix that...somehow.
Herra Tohtori: Not bad at all. :)
It actually looks quite similar to the previous version that I had here:
(http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y184/VA--Twisted_Infinities/Cutscenes/LuciferSurvivedWIP2.jpg)
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Is there any plans at getting the subspace sound effect working as well?
No, nevermind, I'll get to the Port forum to check this out, because that effect is pretty cool looking... :nod::yes:
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Herra, VA... I want both of those. :P
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gorgeous....give it! :eek:
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I don't have a lot of time actually playing FS2, and not sure if this warp effect in FS2 is suppose to be like a wormhole opening up or what... but thinking along the lines of the Star Wars Conversion or Battlestar Galactica BtRL... shouldn't the warp effect start at the nose of the craft as it breeches subspace and then zip its way down the fuselage of the craft? And then snap shut and flare at the tail or something?
:confused:
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wormhole opens, ship emerges, wormhole closes.
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Think Stargate. The ship comes out of the wormhole, the wormhole doesn't go over the ship.
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My comment was thinking towards the Star Wars Conversion (where they don't have wormholes), but I went back and looked at bits of Star Wars movies and they don't really have any kind of effect. The ship just begins to blur and bolt forward and disappear. Then when they come out of lightspeed they blur back in and decelerate.
But the effects above look good for FS2.
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I really like Herra's effect. However, I think the blue wavy bits are too dense outside the white centre. I think they should start becoming more sparse, closer to the centre, rather than right at the edge of the frame.
Conversely, I think the centre - the bit that the ship actually comes out of - should continue to be almost solid white; to maintain the illusion that the ship is coming out of a tunnel rather than nothingness. Herra's seems to have this already.
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:bump:
HerraTohtori_Warp.7z (http://www.megaupload.com/fi/?d=4WO4EHIG)[MegaCrapload link]
HerraTohtori_Warp.7z (http://www.mediafire.com/?6kt49xdpw2u) (MediaFire, hopefully works better)
There's the effect I used in those couple screenies a while back. It's... fairly big file for one effect, though. That's because it's 2x60 frames (for standard and knossos warp), each being 1024x1024 TGA files.
Well, at least the animated motion is pretty smooth... :rolleyes:
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Woo, Herra!
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Screens or it didn't happen.
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Okay, but I don't get why you would want a sieve.
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/00/Sieve.jpg)
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Buh. I downloaded it, but now it's gone, and the file's been deleted because it "violated MegaUpload's terms of service." :wtf:
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Buh. I downloaded it, but now it's gone, and the file's been deleted because it "violated MegaUpload's terms of service." :wtf:
Yeah, useful files aren't allowed to be hosted on that site.
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Buh. I downloaded it, but now it's gone, and the file's been deleted because it "violated MegaUpload's terms of service." :wtf:
What? :wtf:
EDIT: It doesn't seem gone to me - just daaayumn slow. Slower than the upload even. :sigh:
Oh well, perhaps I need to consider the fact that the site's name doesn't actually say you can download the files you upload as well...
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Weird, it's back up again. :wtf:
[EDIT] Oh for f- The download literally froze at 2%! :hopping:
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A new attempt. (http://www.mediafire.com/?6kt49xdpw2u)
Hopefully MediaFire works better... :rolleyes:
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Well, this link works. I'm gonna mirror this on FileFront. ;)
http://files.filefront.com/HerraTohtori+Warp7z/;9401529;/fileinfo.html
I also figured out why FileFront was so screwy for me. Seems my firewall caused issues.
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I would freaking LOVE the .blend file! Or you could just tell me how you did it ;)