Skitso Posted January 9, 2014 Share Posted January 9, 2014 (edited) I was watching Lord of the Rings extras a few days ago(yeah, still on my sick leave) and they told about this digital color grading they used in many scenes to create a specific mood. So I got this idea that the similar method could be used in Xenonauts to ephasise different moods in different tilesets and night time. I suppose the implementation should be really easy, just one alphatexture rendered behind the UI texture. Please add one, just for us modders atleast! Here's a visual concept what I was thinking... Middle east, a bit of sand in the air: Arctic, freezing blue mist: Night time, blue hue and dark corners: These are just really quick few minutes examples, and I overdid the effect on purose to make it stand out, but I think this could really add to the mood and graphical fidelity of the game and to further differentiate tilesets from each other. Edited January 9, 2014 by Skitso Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
janprusak Posted January 9, 2014 Share Posted January 9, 2014 I like this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smoitessier Posted January 9, 2014 Share Posted January 9, 2014 It's nice but you wouldn't see the haze effects indoors, or dust storms for that matter, if it's possible to block these effects indoors it would be great Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skitso Posted January 9, 2014 Author Share Posted January 9, 2014 It isn't there to actually represent dust storm or haze per se, but to create a subtle mood. As I mentioned in the OP, I overdid the effect to make my idea clear, but the effect needs to be toned suitably low to be almost subconscious. It's there, you feel it, but can't quite see it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Akrakorn Posted January 9, 2014 Share Posted January 9, 2014 Subtle, but works quite nicely. I hope this or a variation gets implemented. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smoitessier Posted January 9, 2014 Share Posted January 9, 2014 It is quite nice, hope it's mod-able, it's already possible to add a layer with transparency easily enough for the movement phase btw Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrashMan Posted January 9, 2014 Share Posted January 9, 2014 Ohhh..nice. I like this one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
a333 Posted January 9, 2014 Share Posted January 9, 2014 (edited) dem shaders! Skitso's right, if effects will be subtle enough, little tiny shades, they can work wonders. But i'm not sure if the engine really supports shaders, and doing this through surfaces can be.. suboptimal. Edited January 9, 2014 by a333 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skitso Posted January 9, 2014 Author Share Posted January 9, 2014 If somebody more knowledgeable can alter (know what I need to alter) ground combat script to draw one extra transparent texture below GUI, I can make the graphics for the mod. The problem is, the texture should just be different with different tile sets... which I think is not possible? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Belmakor Posted January 9, 2014 Share Posted January 9, 2014 +1 for effort and concept. Definitely would benefit sand and snow maps Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StellarRat Posted January 9, 2014 Share Posted January 9, 2014 I was watching Lord of the Rings extras a few days ago(yeah, still on my sick leave) and they told about this digital color grading they used in many scenes to create a specific mood.Man, you must have really hurt yourself. I hope you're back at 100% soon. Those Lord of the Rings extras are like going to intro to filmmaking. I loved them almost as much as the movies themselves. Obviously, you learned something too. Ain't modern media awesome? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skitso Posted January 9, 2014 Author Share Posted January 9, 2014 Hey, thanks StellarRat! Yeah, I slipped on our icy doorsteps few weeks before christmas and broke my little fingers metacarpal bone. It needed surgery so I'm out for 6-7 weeks.. I just got my plaster cast away, so I'm getting there... two weeks and 5 physioteraphy sessions left. Well, atleast I have time to play and mod xenonauts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StellarRat Posted January 9, 2014 Share Posted January 9, 2014 Hey, thanks StellarRat! Yeah, I slipped on our icy doorsteps few weeks before christmas and broke my little fingers metacarpal bone. It needed surgery so I'm out for 6-7 weeks.. I just got my plaster cast away, so I'm getting there... two weeks and 5 physioteraphy sessions left.Well, atleast I have time to play and mod xenonauts. Wow, all that for a little finger...amazing. I don't feel too bad for you if you're getting paid to stay and play Xenonauts though...LOL... In the USA we don't have nearly the health benefits you probably have over there. I'd have to work with my cast on and most people don't have enough paid time to take a month off under any circumstances. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skitso Posted January 9, 2014 Author Share Posted January 9, 2014 Yeah, it's okay I guess... 6-7 weeks of movies, games, beign with friends etc. with full salary. And of course my wife feels bad for me, which is always nice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StellarRat Posted January 9, 2014 Share Posted January 9, 2014 Yeah, it's okay I guess... 6-7 weeks of movies, games, beign with friends etc. with full salary. And of course my wife feels bad for me, which is always nice. LOL Good thing you didn't hurt both hands or you'd be bitching the whole time instead of having fun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giovanni Posted January 9, 2014 Share Posted January 9, 2014 +1 for the idea! Can we see a picture half with and half w/o the extra layer you added to do your concept? just to see how much it changes the visual feel. If somebody more knowledgeable can alter (know what I need to alter) ground combat script to draw one extra transparent texture below GUI, I can make the graphics for the mod. The problem is, the texture should just be different with different tile sets... which I think is not possible? Right now there is no code to link the ground combat UI to the tileset being used in the GC, so that wouldn't be feasible. maybe if Chris approves that.. (we'd need to pass an extra parameter to the script telling the tileset name. Then is modder's turn, you'd just add a series of IFs to choose the colour to display.. ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jsleezy Posted January 9, 2014 Share Posted January 9, 2014 I like this idea! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skitso Posted January 9, 2014 Author Share Posted January 9, 2014 (edited) Yeah, I'll make a comparison picture tomorrow morning. Meanwhile, hopefully Chris stumbles in this thread and falls in love with the idea so we'll get these beautiful color graded GC levels! Btw everyone, it warms my heart to see so many like my idea. Thanks for the support! Edited January 9, 2014 by Skitso Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skitso Posted January 10, 2014 Author Share Posted January 10, 2014 +1 for the idea! Can we see a picture half with and half w/o the extra layer you added to do your concept? just to see how much it changes the visual feel. Okay, here are the new pictures with comparison to vanilla version: I also experimented how farm tileset would look if I added a bit of "sunshine" on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
llunak Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 I like the differences, except for the night one. Xenonauts is sometimes quite dark for me already unless I brighten my monitor up enough to start straining my eyes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giovanni Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 If somebody more knowledgeable can alter (know what I need to alter) ground combat script to draw one extra transparent texture below GUI, I can make the graphics for the mod. The problem is, the texture should just be different with different tile sets... which I think is not possible? So, you want to try in in-game? just open up scripts/combatguiexport.lua (scripts/combatguiexport_large.lua if you're using a resolution with width>1680px) with a text editor (Notepad++ highly reccomended) and add the following text right after name="combatguiexport", NonUniformScaledImage { x = 0, y = 0, w = kMax, h = kMax, image = "uitextures/white", tint = Color(255,0,0,25), }, where of course you can customize the tint given to the overlay (the format is rgba, i find that alpha=25 (=10%) is enough). Tip: you can set x to be half of your screen width to see the effect just on half of the screen. Meanwhile I'll write a note to Chris to aks him to take a look at this thread, it would be matter of minutes to me to add the currently used tileset to the script. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skitso Posted January 10, 2014 Author Share Posted January 10, 2014 (edited) Wow, thanks Gio! I'll try it later when I get back to my computer. (Typing from my phone atm.) What changes I need to do to that script if I want to load a specific alpha channel bitmap instead of a flat color? (i'd prefer the colorgrading to intensify a little towards the edges of the screen.) Edited January 10, 2014 by Skitso Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giovanni Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 What changes I need to do to that script if I want to load a specific alpha channel bitmap instead of a flat color? (i'd prefer the colorgrading to intensify a little towards the edges of the screen.) Just change uitextures/white to the path of another png you'll create yourself, which will have a less transparent white on the edges and still white but with an higher transparency on the center. That won't need to be big as the screen resolution, but keep in mind it will get scaled so maybe using a medium-size texture would be better (so you won't see the transparency change areas too much). Rushed example: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/54854483/alphatexture.png Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skitso Posted January 10, 2014 Author Share Posted January 10, 2014 Ah, of course! I made a png with a different alpha channel. That didn't work at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 Giovanni just helpfully committed the overlay code to the SVN, giving me and Aaron a good twenty minutes of bemusement before we worked out what was happening. I have at least seen this thread now though. I'm not really sure I like the effect too much though, to me it just makes everything look less sharp and less colourful. I don't really have a problem the tileset script being added at some point in the future, but right now Giovanni's got quite a lot else to be doing at the moment (if he thinks otherwise, it's just because I've not finished writing my emails yet! ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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