the Spark Engine can now render reflections (Facebook update)

PaajtorPaajtor Join Date: 2012-11-09 Member: 168634Members
edited February 2013 in NS2 General Discussion
This was posted on Facebook 15hrs ago....I didn't see it being posted here, so here it goes:

"As part of the upcoming Gorgeous Update, the Spark Engine can now render reflections. Here they are on the golden pipes near Warehouse, on Veil:"

856988_10151312687618105_387280034_o.jpg

https://www.facebook.com/NaturalSelection2



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Comments

  • TobbelTobbel Join Date: 2013-02-12 Member: 183021Members
    Looks nice, bet most will disable it anyway, because of fps issues.
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  • ma$$a$$terma$$a$$ter Join Date: 2012-11-01 Member: 165651Members
    for those of you narcissistic types out there, you can now stare at yourself in shiny objects!
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  • PaajtorPaajtor Join Date: 2012-11-09 Member: 168634Members
    mwah I have fps to spare, allthough I doubt it will have a high impact.
    Looks sweet, maybe a little to clean imo.
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  • VolcanoVolcano Join Date: 2011-07-27 Member: 112496Members, Constellation
    I'll be sure to disable this right off the bat
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  • NeokenNeoken Bruges, Belgium Join Date: 2004-03-20 Member: 27447Members, NS2 Playtester, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Silver, Subnautica Playtester
    Must... have... shiny things.
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  • matsomatso Master of Patches Join Date: 2002-11-05 Member: 7000Members, Forum Moderators, NS2 Developer, Constellation, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, Squad Five Silver, Squad Five Gold, Reinforced - Shadow, NS2 Community Developer
    ma$$a$$ter wrote: »
    for those of you narcissistic types out there, you can now stare at yourself in shiny objects!

    Sorry, the current reflections are static - they only reflex (approximately) the static geometry. So you can't see yourself or approaching enemies in the reflections ...

    OTOH, they don't make much of a difference FPS wise in-game (because the renderer thread is not usually the bottleneck for fps once you start playing anyhow).
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  • TobbelTobbel Join Date: 2013-02-12 Member: 183021Members
    That fork lifter looks kind of odd, because it is too clean without dirt and damage.
    I hope it looks better on aliens, don't like shiny plastic skulks ;)
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  • GenericOverusedNameGenericOverusedName Join Date: 2013-02-12 Member: 183022Members, Reinforced - Shadow
    Looks awesome, though it's a bit like everything just got chromed up to the max. Why would somebody bother to polish some random pipes to a mirror finish?
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  • bERt0rbERt0r Join Date: 2005-03-23 Member: 46181Members
    edited February 2013
    In the future, the pipes are made of gold :P Shiny things look great but i agree with these surfaces looking too clean.
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  • MMZ_TorakMMZ_Torak Join Date: 2002-11-02 Member: 3770Members
    GenericOverusedName wrote: »
    Looks awesome, though it's a bit like everything just got chromed up to the max. Why would somebody bother to polish some random pipes to a mirror finish?

    Nanites did it...
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  • ma$$a$$terma$$a$$ter Join Date: 2012-11-01 Member: 165651Members
    matso wrote: »
    ma$$a$$ter wrote: »
    for those of you narcissistic types out there, you can now stare at yourself in shiny objects!

    Sorry, the current reflections are static - they only reflex (approximately) the static geometry. So you can't see yourself or approaching enemies in the reflections ...

    OTOH, they don't make much of a difference FPS wise in-game (because the renderer thread is not usually the bottleneck for fps once you start playing anyhow).

    Damn, I was going to put on my best armor and make a day of it too....

    Oh well, maybe in the future...
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  • matsomatso Master of Patches Join Date: 2002-11-05 Member: 7000Members, Forum Moderators, NS2 Developer, Constellation, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, Squad Five Silver, Squad Five Gold, Reinforced - Shadow, NS2 Community Developer
    GenericOverusedName wrote: »
    Looks awesome, though it's a bit like everything just got chromed up to the max. Why would somebody bother to polish some random pipes to a mirror finish?

    Well, it's a work in progress - for ease of development, all metal surfaces got a very high reflex constant. You should see the marine start on mineshaft ... it looks like the marines had been there for a LONG time, scrubbing _every_ inch to make it really shiny. Probably because the marine commander had said "I want to be able to see my own reflection in that floor!"... too bad about the engine not supporting that :-)
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  • -WildCat--WildCat- Cape Town, South Africa Join Date: 2008-07-19 Member: 64664Members, Reinforced - Shadow
    matso wrote: »
    Sorry, the current reflections are static - they only reflex (approximately) the static geometry. So you can't see yourself or approaching enemies in the reflections ...

    Are these reflections pre-computed cube environment maps like in the Source Engine? Do map authors place entities around the map to define points from which reflections are rendered? If the reflections are pre-rendered textures, are they stored in HDR format? I wanna know all the nitty-gritty. :D
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  • HowserHowser UK Join Date: 2010-02-08 Member: 70488Members, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Shadow, Subnautica Playtester, Retired Community Developer
    They are certainly pre-baked cube/sphere maps, real time reflections are far to expensive and probably quite hard to do in a non direct x based engine. Its a nice addition to the shader list. That said phong technique that has been with spark from the early days is very nice and gives normal maps a lovely sense of depth, and I very much doubt this will replace that as the default shiny shiny shader. Is it possible to use both together? moreover, how's transparency coming along?
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  • NammNamm Join Date: 2011-12-08 Member: 137116Members
    Tobbel wrote: »
    That fork lifter looks kind of odd, because it is too clean without dirt and damage.
    The forklift always looked out of place. They should remove it altogether.


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  • MaximumSquidMaximumSquid Join Date: 2010-07-20 Member: 72593Members
    Still waiting for water effects. . .

    I wanna see if the Onos Floats!
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  • SixtyWattManSixtyWattMan Join Date: 2004-09-05 Member: 31404Members
    Rad.
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  • MendaspMendasp I touch maps in inappropriate places Valencia, Spain Join Date: 2002-07-05 Member: 884Members, NS1 Playtester, Contributor, Constellation, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Gold, NS2 Map Tester, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Shadow, Retired Community Developer
    As part of the upcoming Gorgeous Update, the Spark Engine can now render reflections. Here they are on the golden pipes near Warehouse, on Veil:

    Here they are on the golden pipes near Warehouse, on Veil

    golden pipes near Warehouse, on Veil

    near Warehouse, on Veil

    Warehouse, Veil
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  • -WildCat--WildCat- Cape Town, South Africa Join Date: 2008-07-19 Member: 64664Members, Reinforced - Shadow
    Howser wrote: »
    They are certainly pre-baked cube/sphere maps, real time reflections are far to expensive and probably quite hard to do in a non direct x based engine.

    Are you suggesting that Spark is not a DirectX-based engine? Because I'm quite certain that it is. DirectX 9 feature-set, I believe.
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  • remiremi remedy [blu.knight] Join Date: 2003-11-18 Member: 23112Members, Super Administrators, Forum Admins, NS2 Developer, NS2 Playtester
    Mendasp wrote: »
    Warehouse, Veil

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  • GorgenapperGorgenapper Join Date: 2012-09-05 Member: 157916Members, Reinforced - Shadow
    edited February 2013
    Paajtor wrote: »
    This was posted on Facebook 15hrs ago....I didn't see it being posted here, so here it goes:

    "As part of the upcoming Gorgeous Update, the Spark Engine can now render reflections. Here they are on the golden pipes near Warehouse, on Veil:"

    856988_10151312687618105_387280034_o.jpg

    https://www.facebook.com/NaturalSelection2




    Warehouse? You mean West Junction...no wait... Cargo.
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  • joshhhjoshhh Milwaukee, WI Join Date: 2011-06-21 Member: 105717Members, NS2 Playtester, NS2 Map Tester, Reinforced - Supporter, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Shadow, Subnautica Playtester
    Mendasp wrote: »
    Warehouse, Veil

    ^ LOL

    Anyway, I am curious to see what this looks like. A skulk might stand out more among an array of golden shiny pipes.
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  • CrazyEddieCrazyEddie Join Date: 2013-01-08 Member: 178196Members
    MaximumSquid wrote: »
    I wanna see if the Onos Floats!

    One glass of root beer, one scoop of ice cream, one Onos.
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  • CrushaKCrushaK Join Date: 2012-11-05 Member: 167195Members, NS2 Playtester
    edited February 2013
    -WildCat- wrote: »
    Are these reflections pre-computed cube environment maps like in the Source Engine? Do map authors place entities around the map to define points from which reflections are rendered? If the reflections are pre-rendered textures, are they stored in HDR format? I wanna know all the nitty-gritty. :D

    Placing entities? Sheesh, back in my days we had to go into the editor ourselves, align the camera once in every direction, make 6 snapshots and rotate them in Photoshop if we wanted fancy reflections! It actually felt like an accomplishment to add effects to maps! :p
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  • bp2008bp2008 Join Date: 2012-11-28 Member: 173581Members, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Gold
    edited February 2013
    Ooh, I like it! But this raises a lot of questions for mappers :D

    Do the reflections appear in the map editor or do we have to enter the game to see how they look?

    What happens to existing custom maps?

    And are the reflections in fact pre-computed? This could raise more questions about cache management and whether we mappers need to worry about it or not.
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  • HowserHowser UK Join Date: 2010-02-08 Member: 70488Members, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Shadow, Subnautica Playtester, Retired Community Developer
    edited February 2013
    I believe its open gl, or a custom renderer. spark seems uses a few features from dx (?) but given its inherent problems with transparency and complex surface shaders, I'd say its not a large portion of the engine. its what I've heard and I don't really understand it all myself, so you could be right. again any news on when decent transparency shader will be added to the engine?
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  • ZekZek Join Date: 2002-11-10 Member: 7962Members, NS1 Playtester, Constellation, Reinforced - Shadow
    The reflection looks great, but yeah, way too clean for a place that's supposed to be all scuffed up from an alien infestation. Reminds me a little of all those ray traced images from the 90s. I assume it'll be toned down in practice.
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  • LofungLofung Join Date: 2004-08-21 Member: 30757Members
    reflections ON/OFF button working in progress. inc patch 399.
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  • derWalterderWalter Join Date: 2008-10-29 Member: 65323Members
    ma$$a$$ter wrote: »
    for those of you narcissistic types out there, you can now stare at yourself in shiny objects!

    the spark engine wont eben render your own shadow, so NO! you cant...

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