[karajorma]

Why not just alter SCP so that when you specify the location of a star in FRED, you can also set a scale of size, which also affects the brightness.  eg, Sun A is at x,y,z scale .79 (79%); Planet B is at x,y,z scale 1.23 (123%).  Of course you'd have some problems with over-stretching some planets, etc. but I think that could be fixed by using different images, eg  have a maximum scaling that a planet can do over 100%, if you need it bigger than the scale limit, use a bigger image of the same planet.

Not sure what you're on about here. You've been able to give a scale for any background bitmap since retail.

[jr2]

I haven't played with the location of sun etc from FRED... but bfobar's quote that I mentioned seemed to indicate that it would cause some problems if the mission was in different locations or even timeframes...

Depending on the location and distance of your mission from the sun (basically, whether you're at venus or pluto), the sun will be differently sized or in a different location with respect to the background nebulas and star clusters or whatever.  Planets would be different from mission to mission in the background too, depending on what time and respectively where the mission occurs.

...Or was he meaning that he wanted them automatically sized (That is a point, you'd be hard pressed to know exactly how to line up the planets, suns, etc as some would be closer and some farther away).  The only thing I can think of that would help that would be to have certain location templates that you could choose from to automatically load planet, etc positions... but that'd probably be hard to implement.

[karajorma]

Yeah but that would be up to the mission designer to balance. The basic template would have all the nebulae in place (as they wouldn't change from mission to mission) and would also have the stars set up by the correct type and size relative to each other.

It would be up to the mission designer to then add planets and resize them and the suns to ensure that they were all correct for the mission setting.

[m2258734a]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lens_flare

After reading through my posts, I realize that it is apparent that I was focused on lens flares for quite some time. While I do think that would be a nice addition to Freespace, I am more concerned about the possibility of adding the ray effects that jr2 was describing in the Freelancer pictures. I thought that those rays that are produced were also caused by looking at a bright source through a lens, so I forgot to mention them. So I am more concerned on making the stars look more radiant, just like how the stars in the Pleiades cluster appear in this picture...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Pleiades_large.jpg

As for lens flares, I had no idea they had been made available.  Thanks Flipside, I'll look for them as well.

[Flipside]

Just semi-bumping this, since Admins have access to the search facilities, could one of you guys see if you can find anything about the lens flares? I know there was a post on here describing how to use them, but it's buried back in threads of yore.

Thanks in advance

[CaptJosh]

Um, search isn't restricted, it's broken.

[Backslash]

While I do think that would be a nice addition to Freespace, I am more concerned about the possibility of adding the ray effects that jr2 was describing in the Freelancer pictures. I thought that those rays that are produced were also caused by looking at a bright source through a lens, so I forgot to mention them. So I am more concerned on making the stars look more radiant, just like how the stars in the Pleiades cluster appear

Ah!  That's easier.  ...I think.  One possible idea: all we need is a different SunGlow.  Here's a silly attempt at an example that didn't turn out half bad:



I took the S_BeamGlow.tga and renamed it SunGlowRed.tga 

So I guess we just need a creative new image for various colors of sunglow, sun, or a combination of the two.  Small issue:  if you roll the ship while looking at it, the glow rotates with you.  How did that work in Freelancer?

[Flipside]

Um, search isn't restricted, it's broken.

Search mucks up the database, yes, which slows down the sight, thus it has been restricted so that only Admins can use it.

[CaptJosh]

I thought it just didn't work. The one time I tried to use it, I didn't get any results newer than 2004.

[m2258734a]

How did that work in Freelancer?

Sorry, it's been a while since I have replied. Let's see, after doing some "research" I was able to provide the following:

Pretty much everything from stars, planets, nebulae, asteroid fields, etc. are 3D objects in Freelancer. After going through a few missions, allowing myself to explore several star systems, I noticed that almost all of the stars that I came across were visually unique and different from one another. In the game, you are allowed to use your nav map to gain information of your surroundings, including star information: the mass, the diameter, where it lies on the steller spectrum, its color, and its brightness. Here are some pictures of the stars that I have seen so far:



I am not certain of the code the stars use in either Freespace or Freelancer, but from what I have seen, the stars in Freelancer have glows which are interactive with the environment. By that, obstructing objects will not only diminish the brightness of the star, but it can produce visual effects, such as this fog effect that I get when traveling through a dense asteroid field:



From halo effects produced by fog, to rainbows due to crystals, the star will appear different due to environmental interference. Rotating my ship will cause the glow to follow me, just as you saw with the SRed glow. Other than the effects caused by the star being a 3D object like increased brightness due to distance, I do not have anything more to say about them. I hope this was helpful.

[Backslash]

Rotating my ship will cause the glow to follow me, just as you saw with the SRed glow.

Heh, this was really all I was wondering...  I've played Freelancer, I was just not remembering how the glow part (during rotation) worked.  But hey, nice to have a refresher, this gave me some ideas:

Fortunately (sort of ), the way Freespace missions work, we can simulate or ignore a lot of this.  We don't travel far enough in a single mission to notice a change due to distance, but we can change the background from mission to mission, for example, if we're in the same system but at a different planet.  But you already knew that

As for the glow, from those pictures I see maybe 4 main 'types' of glows.  Basically, 'four-pointed', 'two-pointed', 'eight-pointed' and 'six-pointed'. That makes it easier, all we really need is a similar looking glow image to apply.  The halo I'm guessing could be done in that glow image as well, or perhaps as a 'single lense' custom lense flare (if that ever gets figured out).  The foggy look, maybe a really big glow image with a gradient, or maybe just a specially placed "nebula"?  Problem is, this is all just ideas until someone with actual talent notices and tries this.