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Modding, Mission Design, and Coding => The Modding Workshop => Topic started by: blowfish on February 19, 2008, 11:37:24 pm

Title: Is there a way to make glowing missile trails?
Post by: blowfish on February 19, 2008, 11:37:24 pm
Self explanatory — it there a way?
Title: Re: Is there a way to make glowing missile trails?
Post by: Getter Robo G on February 20, 2008, 07:21:35 am
Interestign idea... What's the context?

I was thinking of glowing musical notes as a primary weapon (for Basara Macross 7), but now you got me thinking weapon trail as well...  :lol:

Have you tried something as elemental as copy the effect, adjust as you want glowing, and save as -glow? Either leaving in effects folder or maybe moving to maps? Would that work?

Title: Re: Is there a way to make glowing missile trails?
Post by: blowfish on February 20, 2008, 09:49:26 am
Interestign idea... What's the context?

I was thinking of glowing musical notes as a primary weapon (for Basara Macross 7), but now you got me thinking weapon trail as well...  :lol:

Have you tried something as elemental as copy the effect, adjust as you want glowing, and save as -glow? Either leaving in effects folder or maybe moving to maps? Would that work?


I could try that, but I think that the -glow file is only for textures.
Title: Re: Is there a way to make glowing missile trails?
Post by: Retsof on February 20, 2008, 05:32:13 pm
Urhm.. the missile trail is a texture.
Title: Re: Is there a way to make glowing missile trails?
Post by: blowfish on February 20, 2008, 05:44:37 pm
Urhm.. the missile trail is a texture.

I meant model textures, the ones that go in data/maps.  Sorry for the confusion.
Title: Re: Is there a way to make glowing missile trails?
Post by: Herra Tohtori on February 20, 2008, 05:47:15 pm
It's easy, just make a missile trail texture that is... glowy. Kinda like the beam effect textures do it.

I'd start experimenting with some arbitrary beam texture and work my way from there, see which appears like "glowy" and which doesn't.
Title: Re: Is there a way to make glowing missile trails?
Post by: blackhole on February 20, 2008, 05:58:40 pm
*cough*bloomshader*cough*

 :nervous:
Title: Re: Is there a way to make glowing missile trails?
Post by: blowfish on February 20, 2008, 06:14:15 pm
It's easy, just make a missile trail texture that is... glowy. Kinda like the beam effect textures do it.

I'd start experimenting with some arbitrary beam texture and work my way from there, see which appears like "glowy" and which doesn't.

But beams are different from missile trails.  Beams are actually rendered as a glow effect, while missile trails are not.  Its like the difference between the standard texture and the glow texture in a model texture.
Title: Re: Is there a way to make glowing missile trails?
Post by: Herra Tohtori on February 20, 2008, 06:29:01 pm
Are you sure that makes any difference? It's relatively easy to make a simple additively blended effect look like it's glowing. You wouldn't get actual lighting effects from it, but it doesn't require using any special glow effect mode to make an effect look like it's glowing...

(http://users.tkk.fi/~lmiettun/Kuvat/FS2_Open/Vasudan_beam_1.png)

For example, this beam that I made a long time ago when I was fiddling with beams, looked rather similar in-game (of course, the in-game effect version was animated and didn't have the background stars on it, but that's irrelevant). On that, the beam texture (frame) is essentiall pasted on top of the star background, and then I made black transparent (similar to what additive blending mode does on effects). The point is, additive blending is well enough to make a glowy effect happen. You can't get make the screen brighter than (255,255,255) anyway... just bake the glowyness onto the trail texture and it should work. At least by my limited understanding of FS2_Open, it should work. :nervous:
Title: Re: Is there a way to make glowing missile trails?
Post by: TrashMan on February 20, 2008, 06:50:01 pm
I was thinking of glowing musical notes as a primary weapon (for Basara Macross 7), but now you got me thinking weapon trail as well...  :lol:

Macross 7 must die! It is a plague upon the universe. A work of the Devil I say!
Title: Re: Is there a way to make glowing missile trails?
Post by: Hellstryker on February 20, 2008, 11:41:20 pm
Watch trashman make a giant glowly musical note as a ship now which will be unlockable in FoW  :rolleyes:
Title: Re: Is there a way to make glowing missile trails?
Post by: Warp Shadow on February 21, 2008, 09:55:53 am
Watch trashman make a giant glowly musical note as a ship now which will be unlockable in FoW  :rolleyes:

PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ;)