Frob Highlighting

[Gildoran]

It just occured to me, that I think it would be possible to do multiplicative highlighting (so things are highlighted based on how well lit they are - this could also help prevent the text from appearing washed out when a readable is highlighted) without adding an extra lighting pass. We'd just need to change the current frob highlight stage to something like:

{
if parm11 >= 0.5
blend gl_dst_color, gl_one
map _white.tga
rgb 0.5
}

 

I've created a testmap to illustrate this, called frobhighlight_test.map. I features 3 desks with items on them, ranging from being in bright light to being in complete darkness. To set the frob highlight mode, step into one of the named alcoves.

Current: The method used currently; it just adds 50% of the diffusemap. Has the disadvantage that items appear fullbright in dark areas.

Multiplicative: The method described above. Scales the brightness up by 50%. Has the disadvantage that items might be too dark in dark areas.

Hybrid: My favorite method. Adds 15% of the diffusemap and scales it up by 45%. The brightness mostly scales based on the light hitting the object, but there's a small minimum brightness. Has the disadvantage that it uses two extra render passes instead of one. (however, since these aren't lighting passes, it may not be too bad for performance)

[Domarius]

I'm speculating that unless the performance drops drastically, the impact won't be noticed much because you're not often highlighting things, especially when you're running for your, which is when you need the framerate most anyway.

[Ishtvan]

So the two extra render passes are only done if parm11 >= 0.5, i.e., the thing is being frobhilighted currently?

[Gildoran]

As far as I understand, yes. According to the id SDK site, the if keyword "conditionally disables stages".

[sparhawk]

I think the performance impact would be neglible, because it would only mean ONE additional object at a given time.

[Springheel]

Hybrid looks good on the dark ones, but it actually makes the brighter objects brighter than the regular frob (at least that's how it appeared to me). Can the effect be capped?

[Gildoran]

Although I don't think it can be capped, I can try to play around with it to prevent it from making objects too bright.

[New Horizon]

Although I don't think it can be capped, I can try to play around with it to prevent it from making objects too bright.

 

Nothing should go any brighter than .50, brighter than .50 goes beyond fullbright and starts washing out. That's assuming it uses the same scale it has been using previously.

[Gildoran]

Ok, for the hybrid highlight, I've reversed the order of the two render passes (so that the multiplication is done before the addition), which should darken it a bit. Also, I've decreased the brightness of the multiplicative pass just slightly.

 

Does it look better now, or is it still a bit too bright? (admittedly the changes I made were fairly small)