I've tinkered with the idea countless times in my head, a few times in MMF2 Dev, but I can't seem to get a perfect dynamic lighting effect without having to use HWA. I've tried using a single alpha-channel 'light source', but then I can't have pitch black objects when they are not illuminated. (Everything is black unless within the light source area) I've also tried having a huge negative lightsource, but that stresses the computer to no end unless I add HWA.
So my question is, how do I make a dynamic light effect of everything pitch black except the areas within the flash lights or lamps, but without using HWA.
I'm not entirely sure what the problem is with using HWA though. I've used it with nothing but positive results. This past build that was released with all sorts of complaints, has been pretty much fixed of all it's major issues. In fact, I have yet to actually run into any issues much less any that are crippling to a project.
I'm not fully familiar with the word dynamic lighting, concerning I just say LIGHTING (Mashed Potatoes and gravy )
But here's one idea. If you get or have Paint shop pro it has a tool called 'Retouch' (Looks like a pointing hand). In it there's an effect called 'Lighten RBG'. Starting with a black area just lighten a spot on it until you feel the lighting is good enough. Use the select tool (looks like a magic wand) and select the area. Copy that and paste it into an active object's frame (Make sure the background is black though). Then select the object's ink effect to add.
Well, I hope this helped- I'm probably on the way wrong topic.
i think youre thinking about static lighting werewolf. dynamic lghting is when you actually have lightsources at runtime in the game that effect shadows and lighting while you play the game.
There was an open source dynamic light engine a while ago, but shadows were like Doom 3's (either on or off) and weren't smooth, also ran dog slow. But it looked superb. Sure its around here somewhere.
How about you just like... use the HWA build? It's pretty stable. I already brought it up earlier, asking why you weren't interested in it. You never answered me.
Well, even if I put on the HWA, it would be too hazardous (in my opinion) to cover the screen with 1x1 actives (even a 320x240 would be overkill) with different transparencies based on values from nearby "light sources".
If there was an object that could make a giant sheet of pixels with variable transparency (based on distance from light source), then that would be really effective and cool, but so far I haven't found gold with my search for a perfect light engine.
Blob shaped "light sources" with the ADD effect don't cut it either, it just looks like a jet engine and eats away at the objects visually, though it would be perfect for a misty evening.
With HWA, you can have a big active over the screen with a Negative pixelshader and then use addition pixelshaders to cancel out.
At the risk of being accused of showing off, this is an example of this exact effect being used in a game I'm making.
However if you can't install the latest version of MMF2 or HWA builds for legitimacy reasons, then I can see much luck is going to come your direction anyway. MMF2 has gone through a wealth of very nice updates that are pretty hard to get around without.
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