33 replies to this topic

[Steve Paradis]

Here is an Addon I made especially for the VP community after reading a lot of your Post
Hope you find it usefull.

VPAINT. What it is.
Fine tune any table, any version, cabinet or angled!..with the only help of your favorite paint program.
the application take no RAM from your machine, Really!

3 layers of fun with Smooth Pixel Result ...unleash your Inner artist!

1. LightFX (Blending Mode : ADD) Enhance the playfield with some static light/color effects)
2. Solid (Blending : Mode Normal) Support full PNG transparency, make it solid where needed only. forget about those Decals...
3. Overlay (Blending Mode : ADD) Semi transparent, for Detail on Ramp Highlight on wires, glare on bolts....





you can find it here :
http://www.gopinball...test/vpaint.zip


1. Extract to table folder and modify any of the 3 PNGs in this folder to obtain the effect you need
2. the VPaint.exe will launch automatically after the table and Sit at all time Over the Table fullscreen at the exact size needed. Doing so, the VPTable lose the focus needed for the game to start. click inside the square in the left lower corner to give it back so you can start your game normally. simply press escape to close VPaint.

If you need to install it for another table, simply create another folder with the name of the table and cut/paste everything that was in the test folder into that new folder.

to auto launch it directly from VP Use :
-------------------------------------
VPaint_Init
Sub VPaint_Init
Dim WshShell
Set WshShell = CreateObject("wscript.shell")
WshShell.Run "[yourNewFoldeName]/Vpaint.exe"
Set WshShell = nothing
End Sub

-------------------------------------

Steve

[Mr. Pacman]

Thank you Steve! This tool might do miracles in the right hands!

[Lord Hiryu]

Thanks Steve.
I will check out right now....
Sounds really good indeed!!!

[Flying Dutchman]

Thanks Steve!

Cheers,
FD.

[TAB]

Many thanks Steve
Will check it out.

[Pinball Ken]

Neat! Steve

So VP gets to look like FP, but keeps the better physics.

PK

[Steve Paradis]

Neat! Steve

So VP gets to look like FP, but keeps the better physics.

PK

euhh...did I just do that now you are stuck with me guys

[pinball buzz]

Nice one Steve, you never fail to come up with the goods
Can`t wait to see what the artists do with this one.
Buzz

[rascal]

Don't let this guy go back to FP ever!!!
Nice stuff for sure. Keep it coming.

[Gravy]

Nice one Steve, similar to BBB's monopoly method but available for us all to test out now.

Theres some issues with loading the overlay on my PC (XP SP3). For some reason I can load the table but vpaint wont load UNTIL I flick back to my desktop (so I can see my taskbar) and then I can see the vpaint icon appear after a few moments in my taskbar and the overlay will then appear, then I have to flick back to VP to give it focus. Its as if the script is not loading vpaint until I do this.

Theres also the issue of the ball moving underneith the overlay textures so using it to add a nice transparent texture to ramps is not perfect but a very good start (perfect for Xenon tube though). The ball is usually moving quite rapidly on ramps though so probably not that noticable if it does move underneith the ramp texture.

I had a chat to BBB a few months ago about the possibility of tracking the ball position and direction and applying a flash overlay to the ball with a dirt texture that rolls in the same direction as the ball, I think he ran some tests and found that it was too resource hungry. However if this is possible in the future you could perhaps use the technique to somehow make the ball roll "inbetween" flash layers, so that it is obscured by a fully visible layer but perhaps roll over the top of a transparent layer on a ramp for instance.

A flash ball would need to take into account size scaling as the ball headed towards the rear of the playfield, unless you only intended to ever use it in arcade 16:9 mode in which case you wouldnt need to bother.

Keep up the great work Steve, nice to see your skills being put to good use over here and thankyou as always.


Edit: By the way, its opens up table modding to a new issue, it will now be possible to mod another person's table without having to actually change their work , you would just need to tell people to add the minor script change to the table themselves and then give them the overlays to use.

What are people's opinions on this with regards to seeking permission from the original table author.

Edited by Gravy, 09 November 2009 - 10:34 PM.

[Steve Paradis]

Theres some issues with loading the overlay on my PC (XP SP3). For some reason I can load the table but vpaint wont load UNTIL I flick back to my desktop (so I can see my taskbar) and then I can see the vpaint icon appear after a few moments in my taskbar and the overlay will then appear, then I have to flick back to VP to give it focus. Its as if the script is not loading vpaint until I do this.

Maybe I should just have this the other way around...have vpaint load the table??? I really can do it only on feedback. so the more comment on this the more I will narrow the problems or limitation. But I definitly we have something good here.

Theres also the issue of the ball moving underneith the overlay textures so using it to add a nice transparent texture to ramps is not perfect but a very good start (perfect for Xenon tube though). The ball is usually moving quite rapidly on ramps though so probably not that noticable if it does move underneith the ramp texture.

Not that bad IMHO.. I didnt mean to create that anyway quite frankly bnut the "ADD" layer being there why not put it at use.

I had a chat to BBB a few months ago about the possibility of tracking the ball position and direction and applying a flash overlay to the ball with a dirt texture that rolls in the same direction as the ball, I think he ran some tests and found that it was too resource hungry. However if this is possible in the future you could perhaps use the technique to somehow make the ball roll "inbetween" flash layers, so that it is obscured by a fully visible layer but perhaps roll over the top of a transparent layer on a ramp for instance.

Same here, too resource hungry. sending 30 call per second would be a killer.

A flash ball would need to take into account size scaling as the ball headed towards the rear of the playfield, unless you only intended to ever use it in arcade 16:9 mode in which case you wouldnt need to bother.

Unless...the Ramp animation is part of the FLASH itself...!

1.you hit toward a ramp. Remove the ball on the Playfield.send ONE call to the Flash APP.
2. start ball animation embeded in the Flash apps
3. when the ball reach the end of the ramp, animation in Flash stop then you regenerate the ball on the Playfield

THis is how I did the FerrisWheel Animation of the Ball in FPCyclone
Any type of animation is possible..

Keep up the great work Steve, nice to see your skills being put to good use over here and thankyou as always.

You know me Buddy, Always the first in line for a good Fight.

Edit: By the way, its opens up table modding to a new issue, it will now be possible to mod another person's table without having to actually change their work , you would just need to tell people to add the minor script change to the table themselves and then give them the overlays to use.
What are people's opinions on this with regards to seeking permission from the original table author.

Do you really Mod a Table doing so? what pisses me off personnally is If someone (hypothetically speaking )just swapped my graphics or audio, plug his logo and considered the table his to redistribute as a whole package. But distributing the same GFX and audio into a external zip and just claiming :"...hey here are what I did to enhance the table...hope someone like it this is my vision...YadiYadiYadaa..", and I would give my approb to anyone.

But Gravy...don't speak bad words..you know these situation doesn't happen in our world.

Steve

[Gravy]

Lets see how many others have the same issue before you start changing things just on one bug report from me.

Regarding the ball animation on a ramp its a nice idea and I also had similar thoughts but it might be much more difficult to get it to look correct compared to the cyclone effect.

You would need to be able to detect the exact point at which the ball hits the ramp and start the animation from there, otherwise it would appear to suddenly jump left or right since a ramp can be wider than the ball thus allowing the ball to follow slightly different paths each time. Then you have to contend with varying ball speeds so that the ball doesnt appear to slow down or speed up on hitting the ramp.... and lastly.... if the ball is not going quite fast enough to mount the ramp fully its going to be tricky to get it to roll up and then back down the ramp again.

The only way I could really see that working is if you actually tracked the ball and replaced the ball image with a flash version but only for those times when it is on a ramp rather than for the whole table, then it would be tracking the ball correctly in terms of position and speed. Im guessing you would still notice a slight glitch as it changed to a flash ball though.

My personal feeling regarding the "modding" of other tables using this method is that this is a separate addon, like adding a red leather case to an iphone... it doesnt actually mod the phone but might enhance the image of the phone itself (depending on what you are into). As such, I would feel comfortable in people releasing overlays without asking permission (although Im not a table designer so what would I know). Not sure how others feel.

Somewhat off topic... this kind of reminds me of a very old handheld electronic game a friend of mine had back in the early 80's, it had several removable plastic overlays (partly printed and partly transparent) that you put in front of the screen to change the game, so visually it looked different but I think the gameplay was the same each time. Anyone remember something like that? Im not even 100% sure that it was electronic actually.

Edited by Gravy, 10 November 2009 - 02:47 AM.

[Steve Paradis]

Ok Gravy no prob.

Those interested I will have a 4:3 Version by tomorrow with a nice suggestion from GRONI,
Flyer and RuleSheet support.

Steve

[destruk]

That's cool, but you know that HyperPin and VPMan both have flyer and rulesheet support for their frontends? It just seems to me like having a flyer in the table file, as well as your frontend is redundant.

[GRONI]

That's cool, but you know that HyperPin and VPMan both have flyer and rulesheet support for their frontends? It just seems to me like having a flyer in the table file, as well as your frontend is redundant.

yes, but not everybody use Hyper Pin or VPMan.... For me I prefer Maximus Arcade as frontend. And the Rulesheet and the Flyers are implemented in the Table. So Medieval Madness will be the first Table with the new Feature.

[Steve Paradis]

That's cool, but you know that HyperPin and VPMan both have flyer and rulesheet support for their frontends? It just seems to me like having a flyer in the table file, as well as your frontend is redundant.

yes, but not everybody use Hyper Pin or VPMan.... For me I prefer Maximus Arcade as frontend. And the Rulesheet and the Flyers are implemented in the Table. So Medieval Madness will be the first Table with the new Feature.

I don't use HyperPin myself Destruk and this is 4:3...intended for PC, not cabinet

Steve

[destruk]

Hyperpin and VPMan are both generic frontends that can run on either a desktop PC, or a cabinet system, anyway, I sent you feedback via email. I think it'd be better/more useful to allow it to use keycode support instead of the mouse, and to allow graphics to be flashed up from the script instead of having to click buttons.

[Gravy]

I just created a nice little backglass reflection on the playfield glass using this app... unfortunately I cant get it to sit in the right position until you bring out the 4:3 version, I tried pre-rotating the image but its still not in the right position and I think its stretching it outside my screen area. Currently testing it with JPSalas' Medieval Madness table 4:3 at 1600x1200

Backglass reflection isnt really needed on 16:9 tables (cab) as the physical glass of the screen will do the job in the realworld, however on 4:3 aspect tables it might be an interesting effect. Some tables might start to look a little murky though. I have the transparency set to about 15% visible on the test table, wouldnt want to go much higher, at least not for MM.

Didnt your earlier version of the app have a rotate button/key??

Interestingly, it doesnt break if the other 2 images are missing from the folder which is good.

Really need to be able to control the focus from the application itself, is it possible for flash to control this? Or maybe something can be scripted in VP to return focus to VP after XX seconds?

Also, vpaint loads fine in MM without me having to swap back to desktop first if I place it in the following area of the script:

CODE

' Medieval Madness - Williams 1997
' VP9 v2.01 by JPSalas, 2009
' Thanks to Randy for the VP program
' and thanks to all the authors who made this table before:
' Pinball Ken, Jamin, Macho, Joker, PacDude

Option Explicit
Randomize

LoadVPM "01550000", "wpc.vbs", 3.26

Sub VPaint_Init
      Dim WshShell
    Set WshShell = CreateObject("wscript.shell")
    WshShell.Run "mm/Vpaint.exe"
    Set WshShell = nothing
  End Sub
VPaint_Init

Edited by Gravy, 12 November 2009 - 11:25 PM.

[Steve Paradis]

God Call Mate..backglass reflection and fake environment I would have never thought about it.
Here is the 4:3 version for everyone to enjoy, with 2 layer though 1 plastic, 1 overlay.

1. http://www.gopinball...int4_3ratio.zip

just a prototype I did with potential flyer and rulesheet..
but I doubt it will be a hit considering the comments I had regarding the button at the top
2. http://www.gopinball...o_withflyer.zip

I did take your reflection Idea Gravy in this release so ..Kudos to you.

For the focus there is really nothing I can Do. the options that I know in Flash are limited.

Steve

EDIT*** SInce it is flash based, It could support any interactive(scriptable via VP) animated creature/toys you could have in mind. If you can render it, I can Fit it in. With a lot more fluidity than Decal or EMREEL (24 fps give or take, which is enough for video)

Ask a representant near you

[The Loafer]

This addon might really bring a nice fresh take on VP. We're all pretty thankful for your work on this mon ami!