Hard Light Productions Forums

Modding, Mission Design, and Coding => FS2 Open Coding - The Source Code Project (SCP) => Topic started by: x3110 on May 18, 2010, 01:19:12 am

Title: Postprocessing???
Post by: x3110 on May 18, 2010, 01:19:12 am
Can somebody Explain What Post Processing is?
Also ther is no explaination of the -post_process flag in freespace wiki's command line reference!!
Title: Re: Postprocessing???
Post by: The E on May 18, 2010, 04:12:43 am
"Post Processing" refers to the use of specialized shaders to do effects work on an already rendered image. Like the common "Bloom" effect, for example.

And it's not on the wiki because no stable build (that is, no final build) has been released that includes it.
Title: Re: Postprocessing???
Post by: chief1983 on May 18, 2010, 09:47:30 am
That said, probably wouldn't hurt to add it to the Wiki anyway...
Title: Re: Postprocessing???
Post by: PeterX on May 18, 2010, 09:53:59 am
Is this-processing a bugfixing or an adding of features to an application?(specially FSO/FSU)  I think yes.
May be it´s also a fully use of new features in the newer versions. :nod:
Peter
Title: Re: Postprocessing???
Post by: chief1983 on May 18, 2010, 09:55:49 am
It's a new feature, it's been moved to experimental for 3.6.12 final as there are still some issues with it.  But the feature as it is will be in 3.6.12.
Title: Re: Postprocessing???
Post by: x3110 on May 18, 2010, 12:18:36 pm
Anyone please elaborate the concept from a players and fredders point of view! How can a fredder using 3.6.12 rc2 can use it in his mission/campaign?
Title: Re: Postprocessing???
Post by: The E on May 18, 2010, 01:00:55 pm
Have we mentioned that it's an experimental feature, and not likely to stay in its current form for too long?

Also, please read http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?topic=66752.0 for more info on how to use it.

But, bottom line is that it's a highly experimental feature. Use with caution.
Title: Re: Postprocessing???
Post by: silverwolf on May 20, 2010, 06:05:34 pm
at current does it work on the inferno build or do i have to get the normal executable for it to work
Title: Re: Postprocessing???
Post by: The E on May 20, 2010, 06:08:13 pm
There is no difference between Inferno and regular builds except for a few raised limits. The rendering engine is exactly the same.
Title: Re: Postprocessing???
Post by: x3110 on May 21, 2010, 10:58:13 am
postprocessing is not working for me!I downloaded the .sdr files and the mission but I see no difference in the  gameplay when I play the demo mission.Does it need any other files or anything.
Title: Re: Postprocessing???
Post by: Aardwolf on May 21, 2010, 03:02:41 pm
It's a subtle effect. If you turn up the bloom intensity to the maximum allowed value (150) it'll be obvious whether or not it's working (but it'll look ridiculous).

That said, if your graphics card doesn't support GLSL, the SCP-engine's GLSL-based post-processing won't work.
Title: Re: Postprocessing???
Post by: chief1983 on May 21, 2010, 03:32:49 pm
The log will state whether or not it could be enabled as well.
Title: Re: Postprocessing???
Post by: Sushi on May 21, 2010, 04:02:29 pm
It's a subtle effect. If you turn up the bloom intensity to the maximum allowed value (150) it'll be obvious whether or not it's working (but it'll look ridiculous).

That said, if your graphics card doesn't support GLSL, the SCP-engine's GLSL-based post-processing won't work.

Did something change? I swear the post-processing worked for me when it first came out, but I've not been able to notice it in recent builds.
Title: Re: Postprocessing???
Post by: The E on May 21, 2010, 04:06:35 pm
Yes, something changed in RC2 that somehow broke pp for a lot of people. It has been brought up before, but due to a shortage of graphics guys, there doesn't seem to be a solution in sight.
Title: Re: Postprocessing???
Post by: chief1983 on May 21, 2010, 08:46:22 pm
Yes I've been trying to draw attention to that issue for some time.  Taylor fixed the crash that happens when the post processing is enabled without the shaders being present, and that seems to be the most likely culprit for why some users can't enable it now.  Another requirement was added in that there needs to be at least one post proc effect present, not sure if it's a specific set, or it won't enable either.
Title: Re: Postprocessing???
Post by: x3110 on May 22, 2010, 05:03:54 am
For one thing i am certain that i have the necessary sdr files and additional blue planet post proc effects,what do i do?
And can anybody post a video or a link for a video showing post proc effect so i can compare if it's working or not??
Title: Re: Postprocessing???
Post by: Don-DiZzLe on May 22, 2010, 09:05:36 am
So from what I gather, the post_process and bloom_intensity flags are currently non functional?
Title: Re: Postprocessing???
Post by: chief1983 on May 22, 2010, 10:02:28 am
Just for some people possibly.
Title: Re: Postprocessing???
Post by: taylor on May 27, 2010, 06:29:56 pm
Yes I've been trying to draw attention to that issue for some time.  Taylor fixed the crash that happens when the post processing is enabled without the shaders being present, and that seems to be the most likely culprit for why some users can't enable it now.  Another requirement was added in that there needs to be at least one post proc effect present, not sure if it's a specific set, or it won't enable either.
If you can point me to more info on this I'll take a look at it.  I tested it after the fixes that I had made and it still worked for me.  Nearly all of my changes were just fixing bad/broken code, but it can be kind of difficult to keep track what kind of effect bug fixes have on wonky code.
Title: Re: Postprocessing???
Post by: chief1983 on May 28, 2010, 09:28:14 am
I believe the RC2 (http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?topic=68944.0) release thread has the most comments about it.
Title: Re: Postprocessing???
Post by: taylor on May 28, 2010, 11:18:38 am
I skimmed that thread already and didn't see anything that really points out the issue (as far as cause/situation).  I'll take a closer look tomorrow though and see if I can come up with some fix before the weekend is over.
Title: Re: Postprocessing???
Post by: chief1983 on May 28, 2010, 12:36:36 pm
Yeah unfortunately this bug has only reached a level of whispers in the dark it feels like.  But the general theme is that it somehow became more difficult, and in some cases impossible, to get post-processing to enable.  There may have been other changes in RC2 that contributed to that as well.
Title: Re: Postprocessing???
Post by: taylor on May 28, 2010, 10:24:43 pm
Found and fixed.  Just a couple lines of left-over debug code for testing the post processing tbl settings.  Stupid of me, but what can I say, my brain just doesn't work all that well when having to deal with messy code. :)

So the bug was triggered for anyone that didn't have any extra effects enabled in post_processing.tbl.  If you did have something enabled in there then everything worked fine.

I'll commit in a few hours when I start syncing stuff.
Title: Re: Postprocessing???
Post by: x3110 on May 29, 2010, 01:15:03 pm
So if the bug's fixed where would i find the fixed EXE.
In the nightly builds or by re-downloading RC2.
Title: Re: Postprocessing???
Post by: chief1983 on May 29, 2010, 01:25:27 pm
It's only fixed in code, I'll make a small test build hopefully soon for you guys to verify it's been squashed.