[Mars]

Just in case it was unclear I am definitely in favor of space distortion effects.

[Snail]

Just in case it was unclear I am definitely in favor of space distortion effects.

[bfobar]

space shock waves occur when a whole lot of gas moving en masse faster than the individual particle speeds crashes into a whole lot of gas that is moving slower than the individual particle speeds. Then you get supernova rings etc. A ship blowing up, or a nuke going off would look like a lot of little hot pieces of varying sizes traveling away from eachother at very high speeds since it does not impact any fluidized medium to slow it down. (it will eventually but space shock waves are usually measured in light years, meaning you have to wait at least a few years for the thing to form anyway.)

A quick 2d simulation of this is to look at water coming out of a faucet and striking the bottom of a sink. There will be a disk of high speed water that forms a shock front where it transitions to low speed water. The blast would look like the center bit without the shock front.

[S-99]

A quick 2d simulation of this is to look at water coming out of a faucet and striking the bottom of a sink. There will be a disk of high speed water that forms a shock front where it transitions to low speed water. The blast would look like the center bit without the shock front.

Nice description.

Reminds me of the classic fs1 shockwaves. This shockwave would be totally cooler if it were a lot higher quality, had a flare up, and were 3d.

BTW I don't know if this thread has something crappy in it. There was no screenshots, but pertains to the 2d shockwave desire.

Anyway, my screenshots to the rescue again.
Dab's 3d shockwaves are great as shown here.


Dab's 3d shockwaves lose appeal when they do the random direction thing as shown here.


A 100% spherical shockwave would get rid of this and look cooler...preferably. A 2d one could take it's place too.

[Snail]

Reminds me of the classic fs1 shockwaves. This shockwave would be totally cooler if it were a lot higher quality, had a flare up, and were 3d.

You might want to take a look at one of the Inferno shockwaves, that one has a flare up.

[S-99]

Can someone pop up a screenshot of an inferno shockwave? I just visited the inferno forums and don't want to sift through tons of threads and hundreds of screenshots for one thing. So far all of the inferno screenshots are of ships that are doing everything but exploding.

[Gregster2k]

In my experience, 3D shockwaves have been a very controversial thing.  Some like them, but many believe that they are unrealistic and do not.  That is why I suggest putting 3D shockwaves in their own VP, so that they can be turned off and on easily, based on a user's preference

I would like this as well, because 3D shockwaves are always active as long as the pof file exists in any Media VP. I prefer seeing all shockwaves facing the camera (original [V] method).

[Lukeskywalkie]

My problem with Space Distortion Effects is that, if intended as a replacement for the big blue ring, it would be a change in style/art direction, which is not really the purpose of the FSUP.  as an addition it may warrant some experimenting.
As far as 2d rings go, I see what S-99  is saying - but I'm unsure how to solve it.  the reason 2d rings always looked right, and functioned as a simulation of seeing a spherical shock wave (in a general sense) is because they were 2d and were always perpendicular to the camera.
As I understand it, the 3d waves are objects, and have no orientation in particular, which means that sometimes they look great and/or reminiscent of V's, and sometimes they look like star trek 6-style praxis waves.  Not a bad look, mind you, but not perfectly achieved, either, and a little jarring, particularly when the detonation happens at an angle where you can see the 'cross section' in it's entirety.
But I'm at a loss as to what to do about it? is there a middle ground? would "always perpendicular" shockwaves look better if rendered in 3d? I don't know if it's possible in the technical sense, I just wonder if that's the sort of compromise people would like to see tested.

[blowfish]

3D shockwaves really only look bad when viewed from a low angle...

[S-99]

What'd be really cool is if there was an fs1 style shockwave, but in 3d. It'd just be that semitransparent blue shockwave as a huge sphere. That'd solve the problem of shockwaves only looking good at a certain angle. Plus is it just me or does a capship in fs1 retail look a lot cooler than a capship in fs2 retail blowing up?

The other thing is i know spherical shockwaves are hard to make as i have read many times on the hlpbb. How do i put this? I'm not making a request, it's just a cool what if scenario.

[Bobboau]

that is what my original test POF was.

[Kaine]

A spherical shockwave model with a shader that decreases the alpha as each face's normal approaches parallel to the players view would be awesome. would mean you can only see the color of the shockwave at the edges so it would have that "expanding ring" effect from all angles... that or just use the current one but script it to always be aligned at a right angle to the players viewport.

[Retsof]

I'd say just use a "shell" of blue that gets more transparent as it expands.
EDIT:  Hm... I think I'll try making this.  The shockwave already fades out at the end.  I'll just whip a sphere and make a blue texture with a bit of an alpha channel.  Then I just have to find the right place to put it.

[Lukeskywalkie]

A spherical shockwave model with a shader that decreases the alpha as each face's normal approaches parallel to the players view would be awesome. would mean you can only see the color of the shockwave at the edges so it would have that "expanding ring" effect from all angles... that or just use the current one but script it to always be aligned at a right angle to the players viewport.

Never thought of it that way...although I suppose that would be how it's 'supposed' to work.  I've never seen a shader behave that way before.  Would definitely fit the criterion though.

Any takers?

[Droid803]

I've never been bothered by the shockwaves in 3.6.10 they look great...regardless of the angle.

[Retsof]

Well, I can't get it to work.  I't won't take the texture.

[S-99]

I'd say just use a "shell" of blue that gets more transparent as it expands.
EDIT:  Hm... I think I'll try making this.  The shockwave already fades out at the end.  I'll just whip a sphere and make a blue texture with a bit of an alpha channel.  Then I just have to find the right place to put it.

That sounds really cool

[Retsof]

I'd say just use a "shell" of blue that gets more transparent as it expands.
EDIT:  Hm... I think I'll try making this.  The shockwave already fades out at the end.  I'll just whip a sphere and make a blue texture with a bit of an alpha channel.  Then I just have to find the right place to put it.

That sounds really cool

Well someone else will have to do it because:

Well, I can't get it to work.  I't won't take the texture.

[Gregster2k]

My problem with Space Distortion Effects is that, if intended as a replacement for the big blue ring, it would be a change in style/art direction, which is not really the purpose of the FSUP

I believe this is the overall issue that we are all touching on.

The FSUP is for adding more definition to Volition's original assets, not making them look, feel, or behave different. The preservation of the original look-and-feel is paramount to keeping the Upgrade Project true to its namesake -- an "upgrade."

When I see a shockwave appear at an angle "Praxis Style" for no explicable reason other than "the game engine randomly oriented it that way," it is too different from the original game. Thus, it is more modification than upgrade.

The idea is to resemble the original game, right?

[S-99]

They got included because dab made some 3d shockwaves that were so radically cool everyone desired them. So while they were radically different, no one realized this at the time and blindly put them in the mvp's. Even i was caught up with the cool factor, still sort of am except for that random angle stuff.