Spyglass Overlay

[Springheel]

While working on the underwater overlay, I went ahead and created one for the spyglass. I think we'd like to have an animation of some kind that brings the spyglass up to the eye (though perhaps not?). But here's how it would look while you're looking through it.

 

[Ishtvan]

That looks nice. The dirtyness is cool but might be a bit overdone, do we need to press a "clean optics" button?

[New Horizon]

Wow, that's really neat.

[Darkness_Falls]

I like it considerably. Gives me flashbacks to the T2 scouting orb, with the imperfections (scratched/chipped glass) it had. I particularly like that it's dirty. Gives it a nice used & worn feel. Would need to use it in-game before I pass judgment on whether or not it's _too_ dirty.

 

Not sure if a real spyglass would be like this --> but I'd recommend blurring the very edges, if possible; so it's not too harsh of a transition from blackness. See below:

 

- Spyglass View 1

- Spyglass View 2

[Darkness_Falls]

As for an animation, I think one should, ideally, be made. Just something quick, where you see the spyglass being raised up by the hands (I think spyglasses look cool); and then once it reaches the eye, maybe a very fast blur-to-focus-(to-blur-to-focus?) effect? (as if the thief is adjusting the focus).

[Gildoran]

I just wanted to point out that using a heat-haze type effect, it may be possible to do what T2 did and have it be distorted as though you're looking through a lens, and even have the scratches and such "refract" light.

[Darkness_Falls]

Hook us up! --either with more info, or the final product -- unless Springheel already knows how to do this. I'd try, but I'm afraid my programming knowledge is the Sux0rZ.

 

PS: A very similar overlay could be used for telescopes found in-game. Awesome.

[Springheel]

The dirtyness is cool but might be a bit overdone, do we need to press a "clean optics" button?

 

I'll play with the transparency level a bit more.

 

I just wanted to point out that using a heat-haze type effect

 

I thought about doing that, but again, if this screws up other vertex shaders, then what happens when the thief uses the spyglass to look at places that have water, or transparent windows, etc?

 

I think in general we should be staying away from those effects unless they're absolutely necessary, and here they'd just be window dressing.

[sparhawk]

That looks nice. The dirtyness is cool but might be a bit overdone, do we need to press a "clean optics" button?

 

Sure look good. I like the dirtyness. Just enough to make it visible but not enough to distract.

 

A clean optics button would be nice. We could apply a steam effect for a few seconds that gradually dwindles ayway, and then the arm moving over it.

[Springheel]

So, what would it take to get this working? I guess it requires a working inventory first?

 

I can't find the design docs for the spyglass, but based on my recall of our discussions, we had decided that it would work like this.

 

Hitting 'use' when the spyglass is selected in inventory will:

 

1. Play animation of player raising spyglass to eye * (possibly, see below)

 

2. Applies overlay graphic and zooms in.

 

3. There would be three 'zoom levels' that could be scrolled through by hitting some key (don't think we decided which one). Moving to a new zoom level played a small animation of a new lense rotating into place. (I could do that easily with gui scripting).

 

 

* As we saw in the lantern animation discussion, having an animation for an inventory object raises issues that have to be considered. The difference here is that we don't need players to be able to use the spyglass in unusual situations, like while mantling or hanging from a rope. They also don't need to use weapons while using the spyglass. So I propose we do have a quick animation that goes like this:

 

after hitting 'use':

 

player's hands/weapons slide off screen like they do when mantling

 

player's right hand comes up with spyglass in it, raises it to face

 

transitions from that to overlay (that might be the tricky part)

 

We certainly could get it working without the animation, however, and add it later.

[sparhawk]

Actually I was joking with that animation bit, but it sure would be a nice touch. Actually I find the animation and the lantern really awesome, even though the arms look a bit stragen IMO. Also the light is not right, because from such a lanter, which glows yellowish, I would also epxect such a light, but currently it's just white.

[Springheel]

Well, we can't keep the lantern animation because of all the conflict problems. But something like that for the spyglass might be nice. We'd just have to find a way to transition between raising the model to your eye and the 2d overlay.

[sparhawk]

I continue this in another thread.

[Domarius]

I think the mockup looks perfect, I wouldn't change a thing. I like the amount of dirt there.

 

Of course the "clean optics" feature is a joke...

 

@DF - what the hell is he spying on? The butchers? I can't make it out.

Also, the 2nd link is broken.

[Darkness_Falls]

The 2nd link is weird. If you click it, it'll go to an error page. But refreshing that browser should show the image. It should work okay.

 

I also like the dirty lense. I also love the lantern animation and hope it can be fixed some day. It's a great touch to see that animation. Spar's right, the color given off by the lantern is off; needs to be warmer color.

[Crispy]

The 2nd link is weird. If you click it, it'll go to an error page. But refreshing that browser should show the image. It should work okay.

It's protected against hotlinking; if the HTTP referrer is not that site (in our case it would be modetwo.net/darkmod/index.php?blahblah), it refuses to show the image. Copying and pasting the URL, or clicking on the image and then selecting the location bar and pressing enter, will remove the HTTP referrer information and thus bypass the hotlinking protection.

 

You evil evil hotlinker!

[Darkness_Falls]

In case we want to go the route of a slight "fisheye" effect, here are a couple mockups. One just minor; the other more extreme for comparison. I think some fisheye would add a little character to the spyglass...

 

 

[greebo]

Isn't a fish-eye effect totally unrealistic for a spy-glass? You get these on wide-angle camera lenses and door-spies, but not for a telescope.

 

This looks like you're hiding behind your flat's door looking who's standing outside before letting them in. I'd agree that a small amount of abberation is ok and adds character, but that is a little too much I think.

[Ishtvan]

Of course the "clean optics" feature is a joke...

No joke, but you'd have to wash your hands before attempting it if you just used the "urinate" feature.

[sparhawk]

The fish eye is quite extreme of course, but a small effect would be nice. I thought that this was missing in the original shot.

[OrbWeaver]

Isn't a fish-eye effect totally unrealistic for a spy-glass? You get these on wide-angle camera lenses and door-spies, but not for a telescope.

 

That's what I would have thought -- fish-eye is the very opposite of a telescope (wide-angle rather than telephoto).

[Schatten]

The fish-eye effect has been over used by movies and games, I'm a bit sick of it by now. That said, I wouldn't mind a small distortion effect, especially at the borders.

[Domarius]

I reckon it should be a magnifying glass effect, the inverse of a fish eye. That has the distortion at the edges mostly but not in the middle.

 

Like this;

http://www.gskinner.com/blog/archives/2005..._8_bluepri.html

[Springheel]

You might be able to simulate that by changing the FOV of the zoom, I don't know. I don't personally like the effects above at all, and telescopes I've used certainly don't create a fisheye effect, so I'm not sure it's worth it.

 

Maybe it's because I just finished looking at our "To Do" list, and then reading how we don't have enough textures and many of the ones we do have are low quality, but I find it interesting how much nit-picking there is about these latest art assets. People seem to want invest time making the most minor touch-ups, like adding fish-eye effects or making light hit the scratches of the lense realistically or modifying the precise level of transparency of the display bars. If the art department worked that way, we'd still be tweaking our second animation and arguing over which sketch should be on the first menu page.

 

It's important right now to get things into a workable--and decent-looking--state. It is NOT important right now to get everything tweaked to the exact level of blur, transparency, colour, etc, that people might want in their perfect version of the game.

 

Unless there are clear problems or significant numbers of people who dislike the concept, I suggest we move on to our long list of other things that need to be done.

[Domarius]

I think the mockup looks perfect, I wouldn't change a thing. I like the amount of dirt there.

That's why I've been making posts like this