868 replies to this topic

[unclewilly]

Is backglass support anywhere in the future, maybe 10.2
It would be awesome to be able to do second screen backglass, or even one that sits behind the table in desktop view.
Or in a seperate window like pinmame in desktop view

[fuzzel]

I can't tell if that will be something for the next version. It mostly depends how much work this will be and how much spare time we will have

[hauntfreaks]

Is backglass support anywhere in the future, maybe 10.2
It would be awesome to be able to do second screen backglass, or even one that sits behind the table in desktop view.
Or in a seperate window like pinmame in desktop view

 

I know VPX cant do it... but hasn't this been available for a while with VP9?   by Rascal?

 

Edited by hauntfreaks, 31 March 2016 - 06:11 AM.

[Carny_Priest]

Well, that's a single screen not multi-screen support.

[hauntfreaks]

Well, that's a single screen not multi-screen support.

 

 

got ya... miss understood... my bad

[Shoopity]

Forgive me if this was covered already here (or maybe even in the VPX beta thread), but is there anyway to get animated gif support for walls and/or ramps?  I mean, we can hard code animations (which means saving a plethora of images and then coding them into arrays, or naming the images intelligently), we've got things like Text Boxes and now Flashers that can project animations coming from outside COM objects; is there any way to just assign an animated gif as the image to an object (maybe even a primitive)?

 

I know it wouldn't be as useful in a recreation, but for original tables it could open up some creativity.

[hauntfreaks]

i'm sure this is posted someone... i must be using the wrong search words.... is there a list of hotkeys, shortcuts key for VPX editor? 

[fuzzel]

Oh I don't think so, but I can make one when I find some more time...

[hauntfreaks]

cool thanks

 

is there one to select multiple nodes/points while editing a wall and light shape?

[gtxjoe]

select object.  select a point then hold shift and select additional points

 

To move object with arrow key, arrow key moves one unit.  holding shift and using arrow key moves 10 units

Edited by gtxjoe, 01 April 2016 - 06:56 PM.

[hauntfreaks]

LOL.... funny i was just in the shower, and it came to me that someone might think I meant hold shift to select....

the method I was hoping for is the be able to drag select multiple nodes like in conventional vector based programs....    sorry for the confusion 

[hauntfreaks]

I'll throw out a few others while I remember....

 

in the backdrop menu... it would be great if we could just grab the table and drag it to the X/Y offset (or at least arrow it)

 

to be able to select all the elements on the table and rescale them all at the same time (for getting tables to the right dimensions)

 

in the light menu have a bulb mesh brightness setting (not the light the bulb)

 

SVG/DWG import (for layout design outside of VPX)

 

i'm sure i have more but i never right it down when i need it..... 

[ScottyVH]

While I love the look of many of the night tables and just generally darker tables, I often struggle to see the ball well enough to play effectively.  It is just too dark for me to see.  I have tweaked settings such as the lighting for the table, the ball image, etc. but nothing ever seems to work well or look right.  

 

Has there been any discussion or consideration for a way to increase the ball brightness independent of the rest of the table?  I've seen this option in TPA (a switch for 'bright ball' or something like that) -- is this possible in VPX.x?  Or, is there a 'pro trick' that others are using to solve this that I don't know about?  Thanks!

[randr]

The way I understand it is ball is based off environment lighting? In combination with night day slider which can cause ball to be dark so environment needs less lighted image so table can have slider more in the middle? I may be totally wrong

[jimmyfingers]

Has there been any discussion or consideration for a way to increase the ball brightness independent of the rest of the table?  I've seen this option in TPA (a switch for 'bright ball' or something like that) -- is this possible in VPX.x?  Or, is there a 'pro trick' that others are using to solve this that I don't know about?  Thanks!

Yes there is a trick that can be used with a bit of work and it is what I have more recently started to do for tables when using .hdr Environment format images. However, it's not setting the ball brightness directly but making every other object / material setting darker.  What doing that allows is for the Environment Emission Scale and the Day / Night slider to remain at more "normal" levels vs. being forced down quite low to compensate for an overly bright table (especially when .hdr Environment images are used) but by having all other materials darkened, makes the table still look darker. 

 

Often you will get good / quick "bang for the buck" results with only having to adjust about a half dozen of the key materials including the ones for the playfield and plastics and in those materials crank down the "Base Color" color editor Lum. value considerably and more than than you would think from how it ends up looking in the Materials manager (It will be brighter in the table - I cut it down generally to about 1/3rd of the original Lum value).  So if the playfield material "Base Color" was previously at 240 I make it around 60 or so (that's with .hdr environment images though and their brightening aspect).  This can vary though depending on the amount of pre-darkening / brightness of the actual playfield texture being used.  In general though with an .hdr environment image and moving the Night / Day slide back to the middle and keeping Environment Emission Scale at around 5 or 6, I find that all materials generally need their Lum value cut considerably and the 1/3rd rule of thumb is a good starting point.

 

Also, people should note that unlike VP in the past, the raw images for the playfield are much better to not be pre-darkened (even for night mod / darkened looking tables) and instead utilize the "Base Color" options in the material manager for the PF material as that gives much more room for control plus improves the ball reflection of the PF (i.e. if you wonder why some tables barely show a PF reflection in the ball, you'll find a correlation with using. hdr images and having initial dark textures in the image manager / imported for the PF image).  This is also true for any other image as well, using instead the materials management to get a broader range of control for the brightness / not having the actual underlying textures too dark (don't be afraid to have some materials with a 30 or 40 Lum value) but again this is more the case with .hdr environment images being used on the table as it changes the rendering of everything considerably to the bright end.

 

So the summary of this is, darken everything else via materials manager, then move the slider back up and also potentially some of the Environment Emission Scale (depending on what it was set at originally for the table), then the overall darkness of the table can still look the same but the ball will be brighter and also potentially have a better reflection from the PF, which varies greatly though on the raw PF texture / image being used.

Edited by jimmyfingers, 01 April 2016 - 08:49 PM.

[gtxjoe]

LOL.... funny i was just in the shower, and it came to me that someone might think I meant hold shift to select....

the method I was hoping for is the be able to drag select multiple nodes like in conventional vector based programs....    sorry for the confusion 

 

If you select an object, you can hold shift and then drag select/draw a box around multiple nodes of that object to select them.  You do have to deselect the object itself (again holding shift key) and now you can drag those nodes around

[hauntfreaks]

SUMBITCH!!..... thank you Joe!!.... I swear i've tried this before....  guess not... I'm a dumbass...lol.... thanks again!!

While I love the look of many of the night tables and just generally darker tables, I often struggle to see the ball well enough to play effectively.  It is just too dark for me to see.  I have tweaked settings such as the lighting for the table, the ball image, etc. but nothing ever seems to work well or look right.  

 

Has there been any discussion or consideration for a way to increase the ball brightness independent of the rest of the table?  I've seen this option in TPA (a switch for 'bright ball' or something like that) -- is this possible in VPX.x?  Or, is there a 'pro trick' that others are using to solve this that I don't know about?  Thanks!

 

maybe i'm delusional.... but in most cases, well often... I change the environment to my Overhead_ VPX HDR image and it seems to give much brighter chrome and ball.... again I maybe nuts...

[hauntfreaks]

option request... when someone has the time can they add the octagon target added to the hit target drop down..... thanks in advance

 

[sliderpoint]

Just something of note is that the anti-friction on spinners do not have the same effect between 10 and 10.1.  With 10.1 you get "plenty" of spin; fun for scoring!

 

-Mike

[freneticamnesic]

Interesting thing here...

I'm messing with materials, and they look good on rubbers (the green circle in the middle of the table) and primitive cylindrical extrusions (green looping around the shape of a phantom ramp), but 1 wire ramps look like junk (surrounding the ramp on the right). All have the same exact material. Any thoughts? Trying not to make another primitive!