33 replies to this topic

[Gravy]

Ive just tested the 4:3 version with my MM overlay and there appears to be a problem with placement of the plastic layer. My plastic.png (a transparent reflection of the backglass) is 1600x1200 and Im attempting to load it on top of MM also running at 1600x1200 but its offsetting the plastic image much too low and also appears to be enlarging it as well. It is the correct way around now though so thats a start.

Im using a 4:3 aspect CRT monitor, not a widescreen. Max res for this monitor is 1600x1200

Are you by chance setting the vpaint application to run at 1920x1080 by default rather than stretching to fit any size screen?

Edited by Gravy, 17 November 2009 - 10:24 AM.

[Steve Paradis]

Ive just tested the 4:3 version with my MM overlay and there appears to be a problem with placement of the plastic layer. My plastic.png (a transparent reflection of the backglass) is 1600x1200 and Im attempting to load it on top of MM also running at 1600x1200 but its offsetting the plastic image much too low and also appears to be enlarging it as well. It is the correct way around now though so thats a start.

Im using a 4:3 aspect CRT monitor, not a widescreen. Max res for this monitor is 1600x1200

Are you by chance setting the vpaint application to run at 1920x1080 by default rather than stretching to fit any size screen?

Gravy, all image should be made at 1280x1024 natively like the example provided. they are automaticaly stretch and smooth to fit ANY resolution.

[marv75]

Looks like a great program that can help out many authors...nice work Steve!

[destruk]

ok, would it be possible then to allow the table designer/author, or vpaint user to supply different res source images so all can be displayed natively for increased resolution? ie include an image at 1024x768, 1280x1024, 1980x1020 and have the program check which res to load?

[Steve Paradis]

ok, would it be possible then to allow the table designer/author, or vpaint user to supply different res source images so all can be displayed natively for increased resolution? ie include an image at 1024x768, 1280x1024, 1980x1020 and have the program check which res to load?

Maybe we should get a consensus on the Highest pictures people want to use because only one size is possible
It will resize to the user screen anyway so maybe bigger is better since upscaling result in a loss of Quality

GRONI told me to do it this size, but if the general opinion is something else please just tell me


Steve

[Gravy]

ok, would it be possible then to allow the table designer/author, or vpaint user to supply different res source images so all can be displayed natively for increased resolution? ie include an image at 1024x768, 1280x1024, 1980x1020 and have the program check which res to load?

Destruk, I believe its 1920x1080 (not 1980x1020).

Steve, sorry, I should have checked the res of your example file first, it works fine when I resize the image to your suggested res. However my personal opinion would be to use a higher res image and downscale it rather than upscaling (due to quality loss as you say).

Im not 100% sure if there is going to be some issues with positional errors after the flash scales the image, for instance 1280x1024 is not the same pixel ratio as 1600x1200. Perhaps it will work out correctly though as the table will be being scaled at the same ratio as the flash.

Ideally there should probably be another version for widescreen monitors used in landscape view to prevent too much sideways upscaling of the image. I guess most widescreens are now moving towards 16:9 rather than 16:10 so perhaps 1920x1080 would be the appropriate res to use for a widescreen version and 1600x1200 for 4:3 monitor.

Quite a number of 4:3 CRT monitors of 19 inches and over will do 1600x1200 however I believe its much rarer to find a 4:3 LCD that will do this resolution, most max out at 1280x1024 unless they are quite large (over 20 inches).

The reflection texture I just made for MM works quite nicely in practice, the effect is quite subtle as Ive made it very transparent but it is certainly noticable, particulary around the flipper area as the ball and flipper movement show the reflection as being above them rather than embedded in the table itself.

The backglass reflection file is at http://www.pinballad...com/plastic.png if anyone would like to try it. Its designed for use with JPSalas' Medieval Madness VP9 2.01

Edited by Gravy, 17 November 2009 - 10:15 PM.

[Steve Paradis]

ok, would it be possible then to allow the table designer/author, or vpaint user to supply different res source images so all can be displayed natively for increased resolution? ie include an image at 1024x768, 1280x1024, 1980x1020 and have the program check which res to load?

Destruk, I believe its 1920x1080 (not 1980x1020).

Steve, sorry, I should have checked the res of your example file first, it works fine when I resize the image to your suggested res. However my personal opinion would be to use a higher res image and downscale it rather than upscaling (due to quality loss as you say).

Im not 100% sure if there is going to be some issues with positional errors after the flash scales the image, for instance 1280x1024 is not the same pixel ratio as 1600x1200. Perhaps it will work out correctly though as the table will be being scaled at the same ratio as the flash.

Ideally there should probably be another version for widescreen monitors used in landscape view to prevent too much sideways upscaling of the image. I guess most widescreens are now moving towards 16:9 rather than 16:10 so perhaps 1920x1080 would be the appropriate res to use for a widescreen version and 1600x1200 for 4:3 monitor.

Quite a number of 4:3 CRT monitors of 19 inches and over will do 1600x1200 however I believe its much rarer to find a 4:3 LCD that will do this resolution, most max out at 1280x1024 I believe unless they are quite large (over 20 inches).

The reflection texture I just made for MM works quite nicely in practice, the effect is quite subtle as Ive made it very transparent but it is certainly noticable, particulary around the flipper area as the ball and flipper movement show the reflection as being above them rather than embedded in the table itself.

The backglass reflection file is at http://www.pinballad...com/plastic.png if anyone would like to try it. Its designed for use with JPSalas' Medieval Madness VP9 2.01

I have some email of people interested by it but they don't quite understand with it does in practice.
If anybody had started to work with it, Picture of before and after maybe would spruce the hype up a bit..

this being said, I will do the next build using 1600x1200 picture support.
Thx for all the comment

Steve

[Gravy]

Hmmm... not sure what is hard to understand about it especially if the people are table designers and have knowledge of the current limitations of VP.

Basically the advantage is that it allows for true transparent overlays and antialiasing of some table components. Not really suitable for true transparent ramps at present though due to the fact that the ball is under the transparency rather than above it.

I encourage people to download the reflection file I created for MM as a start and use it with JP's 4:3 MM as a test, just one example of a possible use. Naturally you need to also download the vpaint program and add the necessary code into MM script to get it running but Ive shown how to do this on the first page of this thread. To give VP focus after the vpaint loads, simply click mouse towards top corners of the screen as those areas are fully transparent. This test is probably not the best example of its use but might give people some ideas.

Edit: Heres a sample gif showing with and without the reflection. Give the animation a few moments to load as my server seems very slow at the moment.

Edited by Gravy, 17 November 2009 - 11:53 PM.

[Gravy]

Steve, I guess that in theory a user could distribute a self contained folder that contains the images , the vpaint.exe and also a bat file that loads first the vpaint.exe THEN loads the related table and autostarts it.

Done in this order it should mean that VP has focus once it starts??

Users would be directed to add the entire folder into their tables folder. Naturally this would be assuming that they had the table already installed and hadnt renamed it to something different.

This would mean that you would not have to modify any script code and it would not constitute a mod at all.

[Steve Paradis]

Steve, I guess that in theory a user could distribute a self contained folder that contains the images , the vpaint.exe and also a bat file that loads first the vpaint.exe THEN loads the related table and autostarts it.

Done in this order it should mean that VP has focus once it starts??

Users would be directed to add the entire folder into their tables folder. Naturally this would be assuming that they had the table already installed and hadnt renamed it to something different.

This would mean that you would not have to modify any script code and it would not constitute a mod at all.

Thx for the sample Gravy. and yes a simple bat file could start everything smoothly and in the right order. but For that I prefer doing a little AutoIt file, that's how I did my FP frontEnd, and it work great.


Steve

[el_timbo]

I'm really impressed with the translite reflection on the PF glass Gravy, very very cool idea.

I think ill be using VPaint for my upcoming tables, i can see this addon being quite useful for adding minor details such as switches, nuts and wires etc to the table...

[Gravy]

Thanks El_timbo. Its not a very accurate reflection really but thats not really obvious when playing the table.

Edited by Gravy, 18 November 2009 - 08:27 AM.

[Noah Fentz]

Hey, Steve, whatever happened with this?

The link in the initial post is dead, and I'd like to consider using this for T2.

Thanks.

[Steve Paradis]

Here it is in attachment
if it is still of interest, move this the the proper section.

Maybe now the VP is open source it coud be added into it


 Vpaint.zip   11.25MB   17 downloads



Steve