[Fry_Day]

I have implemented Lens Flares, and committed the code changes required to CVS.
To create lens flares, you modify stars.tbl, for every sun to include, after $SunRGBI:

Code: [Select]


$Flare:
+FlareCount ;number of flares
$FlareTexture1:   ;texture name
$FlareTextureN: ;goes up to 6 different textures
$FlareGlow1: ;up to 10 glows (actual bitmaps on the screen
+FlareTexture: ;texture number, between 0 to N-1 (references to textures defined earlier, just substract 1)
+FlarePos: ;floating point number, 0.0 is on the sun, 1.0 is the point on the opposite side (treat the center of the screen as the point of symmetry)
+FlareScale: ;scale
$FlareGlowN:
...


For example, the flare I use with every sun is:

Code: [Select]


$Flare:
+FlareCount: 10
$FlareTexture1:   Corona1
$FlareTexture2:   Corona2
$FlareTexture3:   Corona3
$FlareTexture4:   Corona4
$FlareGlow1:
+FlareTexture: 0
+FlarePos: 1.0
+FlareScale: 1
$FlareGlow2:
+FlareTexture: 1
+FlarePos: 0.717
+FlareScale: 1
$FlareGlow3:
+FlareTexture: 1
+FlarePos: 0.25
+FlareScale: 1
$FlareGlow4:
+FlareTexture: 0
+FlarePos: 0.611
+FlareScale: 1
$FlareGlow5:
+FlareTexture: 3
+FlarePos: 0.381
+FlareScale: 1
$FlareGlow6:
+FlareTexture: 2
+FlarePos: 1.026
+FlareScale: 1
$FlareGlow7:
+FlareTexture: 3
+FlarePos: 1.056
+FlareScale: 1
$FlareGlow8:
+FlareTexture: 3
+FlarePos: 0.083
+FlareScale: 11
$FlareGlow9:
+FlareTexture: 2
+FlarePos: 0.656
+FlareScale: 1
$FlareGlow10:
+FlareTexture: 2
+FlarePos: 0.549
+FlareScale: 1

I can't attach files, or I'd show you some screen-shots. Even though the glow I put together is totally half-assed with bad textures, it still looks nice.
If the sun is occluded, the glow won't show up, and as long as you don't screw the table entry up, everything should work. I'm pretty sure the limits can go up a lot without losing stability, so give me a shout if you want higher limits.

[vyper]

Oooh!
I likey the sound of this!:)

[Fineus]

The people cry:

Screenshots! Screenshots!

[Flipside]

If someone can throw up a compiled version of the .EXE I could probs do some?

Flipside

[IceFire]

Excellent!  Should look fantastic!

[Fry_Day]

Sorry, but I don't have any web-space, and I can't attach files, so you'll have to wait for someone else

[Flipside]

LOL

Ok, everyone imagine an Orion, with the sun just above it, specular highlights gleaming almost as bright as the lights, with a lens flare arcing across your screen

Flipside

[Lightspeed]

yeah, specular should be very bright if youre near a sun

extreme contrast

And the lense flare would simply give it the final touch to look

[kasperl]

Originally posted by Fry_Day
Sorry, but I don't have any web-space, and I can't attach files, so you'll have to wait for someone else

[email protected]

add HLP in the subject bar.

[redmenace]

Fry_Day you need to contact stealth about a swooh account.

[kasperl]

www.swooh.com/peon/kasperl/flare.jpg



nice

[Fry_Day]

Sent.

I run x4 AA (I looove my Radeon 9800 Pro AIW ), so the text is kind of garbled, and I spent a grand total of 10 minutes on the table entry, so better lens-flare effects shouldn't be hard to craft.

[kasperl]

Originally posted by Fry_Day
Sent.

I run x4 AA, so the text is kind of garbled, and I spent a grand total of 10 minutes on the table entry, so better lens-flare effects shouldn't be hard to craft.

i seem to post faster then you, but i like this effect already.

[Fry_Day]

Okay, on an off-hand note, I think that thruster glows should be drawn the way sun glows are right now - if you see the thruster, the full glow is drawn without Z-buffering. If you can't see it no glow is drawn. Remember that the glow is simulating a light source so strong that it creates bleeding to adjacent pixels, so if you can't see the light source, there should be no glow.

[Flipside]

Sorry, you confused me a bit there, do you mean that you want no glow drawn when the light is obscured, or that you DO want glow to 'bleed' out, even if the source of the light is hidden?

Flipside

[Fry_Day]

Look at the myrmidon's engine glows. Right now, they intersect and are partially obscured by the hull. The idea is that if you see the point in the middle of the glow, draw it over everything (so it doesn't intersect), because that's the way it's supposed to behave. If you can't see the middle of the glow, don't draw it at all.
FS actually supplies a nice way to check if you can see a point (look at shipfx_point_in_shadow does the check for suns).

[Amon_Re]

*drools*

*drools some more*

Cheers

[Flipside]

Ah yes, I can see what you mean now, and I agree, it always looks a bit 'odd' having the hull intersect with the glow from the Engine, there is this sort of 'jittery' effect as the lens flare flickers.

Flipside

[Lightspeed]

those lense flares -- way too colourful

[Flipside]

That one is, but then, it was only a test to see if it worked. You can define your own lens flare 'Glows' to suit your tastes

Flipside