Hard Light Productions Forums

Community Projects => The FreeSpace Upgrade Project => Topic started by: Nighteyes on January 12, 2010, 05:58:01 pm

Title: Missile flares
Post by: Nighteyes on January 12, 2010, 05:58:01 pm
just a quick question, I created a missile, but I don't get the lens flare effect of its thruster when I view it from the front... in the mediavps I know you see torpedos as a flare effects also from the front... what am I doing wrong? :)
Title: Re: Missile flares
Post by: General Battuta on January 12, 2010, 06:01:15 pm
I really like that thruster flare effect. What actually produces it?
Title: Re: Missile flares
Post by: Aardwolf on January 12, 2010, 06:08:51 pm
Ooo! I know, I know!

The lower-res mipmaps have the glow, but the highest-res doesn't. So with trilinear filtering enabled, it fades in as it moves into lower resolutions.
Title: Re: Missile flares
Post by: High Max on January 12, 2010, 06:10:37 pm
;-)
Title: Re: Missile flares
Post by: General Battuta on January 12, 2010, 06:14:31 pm
Hrm. Exactly what part of the missile is the effect stored in? The thruster effect itself?
Title: Re: Missile flares
Post by: blowfish on January 12, 2010, 06:31:00 pm
It's a glowpoint (texture is missile_flare), which should be placed where the thruster is, with no normal.  You'll have to experiment with the size, but the values I've seen indicate that the glowpoint may have more than 10x the radius of the thruster.
Title: Re: Missile flares
Post by: General Battuta on January 12, 2010, 06:43:00 pm
All right, thanks.
Title: Re: Missile flares
Post by: Nighteyes on January 12, 2010, 06:49:06 pm
It's a glowpoint (texture is missile_flare), which should be placed where the thruster is, with no normal.  You'll have to experiment with the size, but the values I've seen indicate that the glowpoint may have more than 10x the radius of the thruster.

so basically if I use a glow point with no mipmaps, then I'm supposed to have the flare visible from close and far ranges right? this dosn't work, as I've tested it extensivly... the glow is only visible when viewed from the back of the missile...

**blowfish, you can see exactly what I mean if you look at the cylon torpedo in Diaspora...
Title: Re: Missile flares
Post by: blowfish on January 12, 2010, 06:49:57 pm
It's a glowpoint (texture is missile_flare), which should be placed where the thruster is, with no normal.  You'll have to experiment with the size, but the values I've seen indicate that the glowpoint may have more than 10x the radius of the thruster.

so basically if I use a glow point with no mipmaps, then I'm supposed to have the flare visible from close and far ranges right? this dosn't work, as I've tested it extensivly... the glow is only visible when viewed from the back of the missile...

You have to set the glowpoint's normal to 0:0:0
Title: Re: Missile flares
Post by: Aardwolf on January 12, 2010, 06:51:24 pm
It's a glowpoint (texture is missile_flare), which should be placed where the thruster is, with no normal.  You'll have to experiment with the size, but the values I've seen indicate that the glowpoint may have more than 10x the radius of the thruster.

so basically if I use a glow point with no mipmaps, then I'm supposed to have the flare visible from close and far ranges right? this dosn't work, as I've tested it extensivly... the glow is only visible when viewed from the back of the missile...

The glowpoint, if blowfish is to be trusted, should have no normal...

And if you want it to fade in like the ones in the mediavps, it should have mipmaps which (afaict) are basically the normal sort of mipmaps, for every LOD (mipmap lod, that is) but the 0th (full-resolution) LOD, which should be black.

Edit:

You have to set the glowpoint's normal to 0:0:0

I was going to guess that's what you meant by 'no normal', but considering for all I know specifying a normal might be some completely optional thing... ah well, you beat me to it :p
Title: Re: Missile flares
Post by: Nighteyes on January 13, 2010, 05:32:12 pm
You have to set the glowpoint's normal to 0:0:0

yess, thank you that fixed it :)
Title: Re: Missile flares
Post by: Galemp on January 14, 2010, 01:58:18 pm
I just import my glowpoint from an existing missile using PCS2.