Here's an overhead view of what I've currently got:
It's loosely based around the R_LavaSplash (AKA "Chthon Rising") code, but tightens in the cloud a little, reduces the number of particles in it, doesn't raise it so much, and fades it out faster.
The idea is to have something that looks a little more like a solid explosion with volume, but also not obscure the view as much as you might see elsewhere, and at the same time not jar with Quake's original low-res low-bit graphics.
As with any effect like this there's a fillrate penalty if you actually walk into the cloud after an explosion goes off. This drops FPS a good deal (from 1200 or so to 500-ish on my machine) as multiple alpha-blended layers need to be drawn over the main view.
That's one reason to prefer something a little closer to the original effect - the drop is only something in the order of from 1200 to maybe 950. A difficulty with this however is in finding a suitable texture to use for the effect.
I'm also concerned that the smoke cloud effect might be a little OTT for something that happens quite regularly in gameplay. I can justify this for Chthon because it only happens in one map, and that's a set-piece boss map, but I'm having trouble justifying it here.
I'm interested in feedback on how people would like to see this one turn out.
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Explosions are Difficult
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8 comments:
Hmmm, just spitting out ideas here, might not be feasible, but since you're looking for feedback
Thinking about different ways explosions could be handled...
Drawing a sheet parallel to the surface it's hitting with a circular texture -- ring of fire. Expands in size over time, alpha decreases.
Another idea in a similar vain could be a cone, like in Quake3 when bullets hit the floor, you get a small cone with a little animated emmisive texture on it to visualize the bullet sparks, could work for explosions perhaps.
Using alpha tested smoke particles, with grayscale texture used as a base for dissolving... kind of like the demons in doom3 as they evaporate. I think if it's done subtle enough it could blend in.
About the alpha blending... perhaps substractive/additive blending is cheaper? But I don't know if that would look right.
Perhaps take a plane parallel to the floor with a smoke texture, and have another plane aligned to the camera -- so it's always facing you. So you would have an inverted L -- or T perhaps. The floorplane only rotating on one axis towards you and always staying parallel with the surface, the view alinged place would 'hinge' onto it. The plane would be parallel to the floor and the view aligned plane would not visibly intersect the geometry, avoiding the need for soft particles and keeping alpha overdraw minimal.
I'd thought about those for other effects in the past, but there are troubles involved. One is that the surface being hit isn't communicated to the client, so you'd need to do a lot of BSP tracing for it to work, it won't work on brush models, and - as explosions are an area effect - it may not even be hitting just a single surface (try firing a rocket into the corner of a room and see what I mean).
It may not even be hitting a surface at all in fact - the target might be a monster, or a mod might be using QC to spawn an explosion in mid-air.
Given the limitations of Quake formats and comms, this kind of info just isn't available on the client. All that the client sees is "an explosion happened at location X|Y|Z, go do your stuff".
Any solution used for explosions in Quake must take that into account and must be built on that fact if it's to work at all. I'd sooner junk the concept of a fancy explosion effect than go through the mess required to resolve that.
Any idea how the Intel x4500 handles DirectQ?
"Any idea how the Intel x4500 handles DirectQ?"
Quite well. I have occasional access to a machine with one, and I test it on and off (a few times per month). I'd say it's comparable to a recent Mobility Radeon, if not a little better.
Looking forward to these new enhancements MH.
My only request is that all these cool features be easily accessible through the GUI so they don't fall through the cracks.
Thanks again for everything man!
- Magnus
MH, this is starting to shape up really well in DirectQ. As always, I look forward to your next release. Here is a little constructive feedback,though. as you may, or may not recall, I stated that I was a professional photographer for 26+ years. I photography that star effect can be achieved in various ways, even without trying to get that effect with star filters, metal screen, etc.
That type of highlight is usually much more white and burned out than your screen shot. It is below white, or a very lite shade of grey. it should be pure white, fading into light gray at the edges. I realized that you are trying to be faithful to software Quake. What would be the best way to look at what it looked like in software Quake,for me? In DOSBOX or some other client?
Furthermore, this may be a pet peeve of mine or the difference in gamma on many machines that I have viewed you shots and Quakeone forum user screen shots, but most of the shot are to dark to see. I don't understand why if the forum user's bother to post screen shots, why they don't take the time to lighten the shots so that they can be seen. I was able to do that to each of your screen shot in about 30-45 seconds each by right clicking on them, choosing open with Faststone Image Viewer and use it't flyout menu to quickly edit each image without the standard apps launch time. http://dl.dropbox.com/u/41126067/DirectQ%20Screen%20shots/rocket.jpg http://dl.dropbox.com/u/41126067/DirectQ%20Screen%20shots/blood.jpg http://dl.dropbox.com/u/41126067/DirectQ%20Screen%20shots/chthon.jpg http://dl.dropbox.com/u/41126067/DirectQ%20Screen%20shots/Faststone%20Adjust%20Colors.jpg http://dl.dropbox.com/u/41126067/DirectQ%20Screen%20shots/Faststone%20Adjust%20lighting.jpg http://dl.dropbox.com/u/41126067/DirectQ%20Screen%20shots/Faststone%20fly-out%20menu%20panels.jpg http://dl.dropbox.com/u/41126067/DirectQ%20Screen%20shots/Faststone%20fly-out%20menu%20panels2.jpg http://dl.dropbox.com/u/41126067/DirectQ%20Screen%20shots/teleport1.jpg http://dl.dropbox.com/u/41126067/DirectQ%20Screen%20shots/knightfire1.jpg
Again, the screen shot example and program for fixing it, are meant to be of help for you, so I hope you will take this the right way.
Thanks for all of your great work!
MH, it looks like the dropbox screen shot links didn't translate in the blogging software so here are shortened URLs:
http://db.tt/P8zrQW6q
http://db.tt/OzGJj7re
http://db.tt/IWE4ZNse
http://db.tt/2pBp4Oru
http://db.tt/7upfZoAT
http://db.tt/toDeLmWu
http://db.tt/2f7GzztH
http://db.tt/Hf1kOin3
http://db.tt/dkzxfPVd
http://db.tt/hDmNRGcx
also a link for the free Fast
stone Image Viewer. One of it's many features I like is its familiar Explorer tree view which makes finding files much easier than Picasa, for example. And it is not as bloated as Picasa.
http://www.faststone.org/FSViewerDetail.htm
Marty
"the difference in gamma on many machines that I have viewed you shots and Quakeone forum user screen shots, but most of the shot are to dark to see"
Try the scr_screenshot_gammaboost cvar... ;)
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