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#1 113% of all game AI work falls into this category. Game AI doesn't have to be smart, it has to make the player think its smart.

So you have, like all of us at one time or another, rediscovered KISS.... Nice tip though, I like it!

#2 www.garagegames.com/community/forums/viewthread/135522
->
github.com/GarageGames/Torque3D/pull/538

'nough said?

Heck, for that matter:
github.com/GarageGames/Torque3D/pull/402
came about after taking a week and writing a full-bore aimanager with serialized scheduling.

At this point, it's happened often enough for long enough I've pretty much adopted the phrase "If the answer isn't obvious, I'm probably asking the wrong question."

#3 So I see KISS(Keep It Simple Stupid) is still alive and kicking :o)

I often use simple methods to obtain visual effects with the AFX or even when changing the look of the models.

Thanks for a nice reading :o)

#4 Heh am glad that at least someone is using the vignette postfx :)

Oooh boy, i was actually running at the same brickwall
like

-hey i so damn need that, it might just complete my visual scene
and started to throw my braincells at hlsl and tryin to get a dirty lens
done is - well Ron you know how it is.

I did thought about a gui effect but it seemed to be
not the right thing todo and am still a bit concerned about the gui approach as dirt lens should be only visible when you look at a light source (at least that is what the rest is doing).

sry for my overkill reply but its actually nice to read that there are others who are after the same - sad thing is that we seem to forget that 2+ brains might solve our issues.

@Ron if you care to try another shader approach i would love to join you in the endeavour.
Edit:
it might be possible to combine the gui approach with a simple shader call
- to trigger the dirty lens hud only if player looks at a light source
and ofc to combine this with fading out/in.

#5 Good research Sherlock... I mean Ron ;) I am using the SplashManager resource to simulate rain drops on the camera and a normal GuiBitmapCtrl to simulate limited visibility caused by a medieval helmet worn by the player.

Edit:
As for a dirty lens effect, maybe you should dive into the lens flare effects. I haven't expirimented with it much, but there might be some opportunities there if you want the effect only visible when looking at a light source.

#6 That is awesome! Another great resource. Thanks Ron this was something I was going to looking into in the future but now I don't have to :) I'll bookmark this. Also JOlinar approach seems like it would be interesting too!

#7 Gah ... my eyes!

Press 'Y' to squint

Quote:
... into a single entity that I called 'Micheal_Bay' series of chained PostFx ...

lol

I suppose the difference between a shader and a gui is that the shader's dirt specs could pick up light changes as the player moves around.

#8 Heh, remember when T3D made use of the Gideon player shape and he had the whole goggles thing going on? Back during one of the early pre-betas there was a GUI overlay that had a dirty and scratched lens effect -- don't think it was ever actually used though.

#9 This is great :) nice use of KISS
I did something similar a while ago where i needed a fade to white and couldn't get anything on the forums working so i used the gui fade and use triggers in the level to make it work when i needed it :)

Love a simple approach to a possible complicated issue

#10 Nice work Ron, yeah as I was reading it i was thinking to just use a GUI image :-P.

I am sure they properly do it also, or have specs of dirt which they can place anywhere on the screen to make it look dynamic instead of the same overlay each time.

I think games and especially the CoD types use a load of tricks and very little is done "properly"!

It made me think if you wanted as Steve suggested the light to move around etc, you could place a client side semi transparent model in front of the player so it receives light etc.

I think a lot of pre-shader techniques are a good start. :-)

#11 THIS BLOG IS REMOVED BY THE AUTHOR.

#12 Can't wait to see a video of the FPS Project :)

#13 Now take the next step and do a dynamic dirty lens by using a dynamic bitmap. Most of the work is already in place to do so.

#14 This is cool, but attaching a plane with additive blending produce very big fillrate. A smarter solution is to implement the dirt functionality within the flare quads (the particle shader). This way the dirt would work where the flare is rendered.

#15 Called "thinking out of the box"? If you want something; start from scratch, try using the tools you have and keep it simple. For a long time big parts of movies were made by simple handcraft. In a kind of way you can use the same approach in game dev as well if you believe it. In the end it's all about the effect, not the technology behind it!

In my example (Deadly Matter) the dirty lens would add some finishing to the lens flare and water spatters (GUI with SplashMgr to fade -> resource)...

[+]

But the dirty lens is most visible when pointing it in a specific angle to a bright light source like the sun. Lens flare would be great for this if you could define one bitmap that's full screen and doesn't move or scale with camera rotation but keeps the alpha that goes along with the lens flare effect.

#16 @Ivan Mandzhukov
would you care to elaborate further -
how could this be done? Resource^^ wink wink

Even if it sounds like a childish question but so far you are one of the guys that has some real knowledge about shaders.
And guys lets face it, the end user of the game should have the option to turn such stuff off/on as not all gamers are fans of special postFx and most important there are still plenty of gamers with older hardware.
That simply means a shader solution is really the only reasonable way to go here - as a shader can be turned simply on/off by the end user.

#17 Well now, I was not aware of that resource! Good lord I still have so much to learn yet :-) Hmmm, I am thinking this might work for a 'wet lens' effect as well. (say rising out of the water...) Well, after I figure out how to apply shaders to the gui elements. (good lord here I go again).

Thanks All

Ron

#18 This whole conversation sounds a bit shady to me...

#19 Well, with PS4 and Xbox One now out, I think we actually NEED to up the visual 'flair' a bit. (therefore the Micheal-Bay reference.... all flash, no substance :-)

Ron

#20 so true and besides only because we are indie doesnt mean that we cant level up or that we have to make our game lowpoyl and focused on gameplay only.

If some of us in the community would throw their cards at the deck it would make stuff easier aswell but i do get why we are not always in sharing and helping mood. However as we already inspire each other todo bettter, i believe we can actually do better for teh benefit of all by helping each other aswell - This Blog for example is already a help and inspiration for others!