[Goober5000]

This is a bad post. Sorry. Because you do not like a visual element does not mean you should actively try to keep it from being available for other mods to use. If you don't like all the lens flares, then don't play Nighteyes' mod. The solution, however, is not to keep this feature from being added.

What I am against is every light source in the game -- including glowpoints, as mentioned in the original post -- automatically generating a lens flare.  FSO should not force such a fundamental and pervasive change upon its players.

As far as I'm concerned, Nighteyes can do whatever he wants with his mod.  And if lens flares can be selectively applied to light sources, that's fine.  But it should be optional.

[Nighteyes]

This is a bad post. Sorry. Because you do not like a visual element does not mean you should actively try to keep it from being available for other mods to use. If you don't like all the lens flares, then don't play Nighteyes' mod. The solution, however, is not to keep this feature from being added.

What I am against is every light source in the game -- including glowpoints, as mentioned in the original post -- automatically generating a lens flare.  FSO should not force such a fundamental and pervasive change upon its players.

As far as I'm concerned, Nighteyes can do whatever he wants with his mod.  And if lens flares can be selectively applied to light sources, that's fine.  But it should be optional.

what your not understanding is that saying "lens flares" is not necessarily means flashy flares everywhere, in fact it won't change a thing in how the game currently looks, blinking small glow points would stay as they are, thrusters would stay as they are, are glow points used for anything else I'm not away of?
the only thing it would change in the look is that when a ship is in front of a glow point(must be a pretty large one at that, like in my screenshot), and even then in most cases like tiny blinking lights it barely will be visible...

*also, nowhere in my post did I say FSO should automatically generate a lens flare for every light source, I'm just talking about they way FSO renders GLOW POINTS...

[shini028]

Any one else thinking about the JJ Abrams Star Trek movie?...  just please keep it below that level...

[Bobboau]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHqjmlM3kxs

[mjn.mixael]

I am going to absolutely lose my freaking mind if everytime someone asks for something lens flare related people scream that they don't want JJ Abrams or the new Star Trek.

That is NOT a reason to disallow the features. Good gravy people.

EDIT: FS is too much like this these days. Can we hard limit some of the explosions features please?

[sigtau]

Keep it adjustable to the player's preference, and keep it optional.

As long as the above two things are maintained, any complaints about the new feature looking like a J.J. Abrams movie will have no basis.

[mjn.mixael]

Keep it adjustable to the mod creator's preference, and keep it optional.

As long as the above two things are maintained, any complaints about the new feature looking like a J.J. Abrams movie will have no basis.

Fixed that for you. If you don't like JJ Abrams lens flares, then don't play mods with them. Plain and simple.

Not everything can be a commandline option...

[Sushi]

This is a bad idea.  I do not want FSO to turn into the latest Star Trek movie.

This is a bad post. Sorry. Because you do not like a visual element does not mean you should actively try to keep it from being available for other mods to use. If you don't like all the lens flares, then don't play Nighteyes' mod. The solution, however, is not to keep this feature from being added.

EDIT: Deja Vu Am I the only one that doesn't like seeing "I think that's ugly, don't add that feature" posts? (With the implication seeming to be that we must limit people to creating what is only generally acceptable.)

+1

[Dragon]

People above: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CompletelyMissingThePoint

what your not understanding is that saying "lens flares" is not necessarily means flashy flares everywhere, in fact it won't change a thing in how the game currently looks, blinking small glow points would stay as they are, thrusters would stay as they are, are glow points used for anything else I'm not away of?
the only thing it would change in the look is that when a ship is in front of a glow point(must be a pretty large one at that, like in my screenshot), and even then in most cases like tiny blinking lights it barely will be visible...

Read the thread:

nowhere in my post did I say FSO should automatically generate a lens flare for every light source, I'm just talking about they way FSO renders GLOW POINTS...

This is about how things like thrusters and glowpoints are rendered, as in, the points themselves.

[Aardwolf]

I thought of some possible ways this could be done (from a modder's perspective, more than a coder's):

• Add a Boolean value to glowpoints (in the pof format, so maybe not easily doable) to control whether they use the old z-ordering, or if they use the lens-flare system (render after everything, if a ray-check passes).
• Add a ships.tbl option to make all glow points of a particular ship class work using the lens-flare system.
• Add a ships.tbl option to make a specific glowpoint texture work using the lens-flare system, for one ship class. E.g. I could make all instances of "redglow" on a particular ship class use it.
• Add a weapons.tbl option to make the "glow" part display using this system.

[Dragon]

Actually, the current system seems to have no adventages over "lens-flare" method. I'd prefer it to be a default mode.

[DaBrain]

(render after everything, if a ray-check passes)

Still waiting for a coder to comment on how expensive this would be...
Maybe a view-angle dependend shader would be a cheaper soltion and put off some workload from the CPU.


And in all honesty, I wanted a lensflare system like this before, but this method seems outdated. Using the pixel bightness seems to be a way more accurate way.
I still think it makes sens for the sun, cause in terms of brightness, the sun is somewhat special. The flares on everything else should work and look the same.
I can wait for the HDR rendering.

If you're desparate, alter the current bloom effect. You can easily turn it into a flare-like streak effect by blurring it on one axis only.

[shini028]

I am going to absolutely lose my freaking mind if everytime someone asks for something lens flare related people scream that they don't want JJ Abrams or the new Star Trek.

I love the idea of the lens flares for engines and other light sources because it makes things look more realistic.  It just that a little lens flare goes a LOOOOOONG way.  If possible I think allowing the users to control how much of a lens flare they get would be great, though Im not a coder and I have no idea if thats possible.  The  amount of lens flare that looks good is a rather subjective thing...

[Nighteyes]

but this method seems outdated. Using the pixel bightness seems to be a way more accurate way.

I'm not looking for accurate, I'm looking for creative freedom, and what if I want only flares on the engines? the HDR option would put streaks/flares on EVERYTHING bright enough to trigger the effect, creating EXACTLY that star trek lens flares madness. (especially in very bright lit backgrounds)
I want the option to control how my flares look, color, brightness and where and when they show up, the HDR option doesn't give me this control, and the glow point flare type rendering would.

basically enhanced bloom with HDR would be nice, but it has nothing to do with glow points rendering as flares, if you think about it, you would see how limiting the method you propose is...

[DaBrain]

In the movie they used anamorphic lenses and added flares in post.

As soon as you add a lens flare to your game, you pretend the game is recorded by a camera with a lens.
Doing it closer to how it would work in real life, will create a more believable effect.
You would not use a fish-eye lens effect on a few objects only either.

By saying it will not work on bright backgrounds I assume you do not fully understand the concept of what I am suggesting.

Plus you can adjust the required brightness, so only very few will appear.
...and I want them for specular highlights.... because that simply looks amazing. :-)