Utsukushii Effects (ImageDissolve tutorial)

[monele]

Randomly throwing this here... How many of you have tried using ImageDissolve to make spiffy effects ? How many thought a few examples could be nice to at least give an idea of what the function can do ?

I've been spending the whole yesterday fiddling around with ideas for new transitions and special effects and found a few neat ones ^.^.

So, who is interested in this too ? And who thinks it's just not worth the effort?

- hide Monele with coolEffect -

[PyTom]

I think examples would be appreciated, and I'd like to thank you for volunteering to make some.

[monele]

Good thing that I was ! XD. The sad thing is that I'd like to keep the best ones for my project so people don't go "oh yea, right... that effect again e_e". I'll try to make a few simple ones and a few more complex ones for tonight (GMT+1).

[Ren]

Examples are always good!
^A^ I'd like to see that.

[absinthe]

The title of this thread actually gave me pause; I read it at first as meaning 'ImageDissolve wants to eat!' and then I thought, "Oh, no, ImageDissolve is a zombie!!!" or something.

Uh... yes... what was I saying? I've used ImageDissolve a little. I made this thing that sort of looks like eyes opening (I call it 'regaining consciousness'), but not much else.

These examples would be a neat thing to put on the Wiki, I think!

[Alessio]

I've been using it for GO! Magical Boy. The dissolving effect is based on the same picture that is displayed after the dissolve effect. Therefore it isn't a very obvious transition. You can see it in the Monday prologue of the VN, when the main character

moves from the park to the cloudscape (and back).

[monele]

>> Utsukushii Effects (~9mb) <<

http://lemmasoft.renai.us/forums/viewto ... 3942#13942 : Get it from these very forums ! (best link)

Get it from RapidShare.de
Get it from my website


Alright, I guess I went a bit crazy on this one XD. Moni doesn't know what "simple" means ~_~. Anyway... Meet Utsukushii Planet characters as they teach you about ImageDissolve.

You will find the scripts and transitions pictures in the game directory (though not the character sprites ). I thought I'd keep all these to myself for a time but eh... since I have to show them to explain how they work, might as well give them ^^;... Of course, making your own is fun

Sounds are from I-War and Garou: Mark of the Wolves. Jungle background is an edited photograph (http://www.sxc.hu/photo/70689)


Oh right, please let me know how the err... "dynamic" scene goes =^.^=. I want to know if it runs well on your computers-nya!

[mikey]

You mean the moving yellow stripe in the middle? That was the best! ^_^
Cool, really cool effects. And great inspiration!

[PyTom]

Could this be attached to a post on the board? There's two reasons for this:

1) This is a very important tutorial to have, and I don't want it on a place, like rapidshare, that will delete files after a while.

2) Rapidshare is perhaps one of the most annoying sites on the net. I don't even want to know what it would be like on a browser that allowed popups.

Size isn't really an issue around here, especially for limited-audience things like this.

Also, you should probably distribute the python files with your game. (The renpy/ directory and run_game.py.) This way, Linux and Mac users can also play your games.

[Ren]

XD You didn't get this illegal(l)ly !
Really cool drawings(yeah, i know it's about the effects but...i like 'em piccies>_<
And i agree with Mikey, though...that voice on the blood splatter effect sounded like Ken of Fist of the North star, lol!

[PyTom]

Okay, I actually got a chance to play this. Of course, the first thing I saw was the bug in Ren'Py revealed in the yellow speedbar scene... So that's now fixed in my current codebase.

My first time through, I actually started rolling back once I saw the "End Program" line... but the good part is actually after that.

Overall, well done. This really fits into a gap in the Ren'Py documentation, and I'm glad that ImageDissolve is helping to foster this level of creativity.

[monele]

Could this be attached to a post on the board?

Sure ^.^. I'll make the fixed version tonight (lil typo + linux/mac files) and post it here. Do you think RAR is okay or should I stick to ZIP for greater access?

Rapidshare is perhaps one of the most annoying sites on the net.

I guess ^^;... Using Firefox, it's not that bad and files *stay* for multiple people to get them. If it's really a pain to use, though, I'll try to host my future releases elsewhere.

You didn't get this illegal(l)ly !

So there was a typo, wasn't there?

Really cool drawings(yeah, i know it's about the effects but...i like 'em piccies>_<
And i agree with Mikey, though...that voice on the blood splatter effect sounded like Ken of Fist of the North star, lol!

I guess it was *also* for the piccies , thanks .
Hm... where did Mikey talk about the voice ? ô_o. But you're right. It's also akin to the "Ora ora ora ora!" from Jojo's Bizzare Adventures ^^

the first thing I saw was the bug in Ren'Py revealed in the yellow speedbar scene

Yay, I wanted to ask about it ^^. It's the only reason I didn't release it with the last RenPy .

I actually started rolling back once I saw the "End Program" line... but the good part is actually after that.

Hmm, I tend to skip the last part myself XD *realizes he likes the story parts better... strangely...*

I'm glad that ImageDissolve is helping to foster this level of creativity.

It is a very powerful tool. I already have new ideas to use it (but I'll keep these for the game this time ^^).

Oh, right, I wanted to request something : could the Move function benefit from the cube/dcube/mcube system ? It would be nice if translations ended in a smoother way ^^. And in the same domain : any way we could either add parameters to these, or be able to put our own math functions? This way we could ask for *very* sharp/smooth beginnings/endings.

EDIT : Does Ren'Py have a logo ? I realize it'd look better than just "Powered by Ren'Py". And I could follow up with my own logo :3... professional ~^o^~

[PyTom]

Sure ^.^. I'll make the fixed version tonight (lil typo + linux/mac files) and post it here. Do you think RAR is okay or should I stick to ZIP for greater access?

Hm... I don't have a strong opinion about this. I use zip because it seems easy to decompress on all platforms, and ships standard with Windows XP. But rars are also fairly easy, especially rar-exes. So, whatever.

I guess ^^;... Using Firefox, it's not that bad and files *stay* for multiple people to get them. If it's really a pain to use, though, I'll try to host my future releases elsewhere.

What worries me is that files are deleted after a month of no downloads. That worries me, as it would seem to leave gaps in the historical record. And when historians come to sing our praises, I want them to have an easy of a time of it as possible.

Yay, I wanted to ask about it ^^. It's the only reason I didn't release it with the last RenPy .

Since I ran all of the demo on Linux, I actually didn't see which version you officially released with... I believe the bug should have been in much if 5.4 and 5.5, so what did you release with.

In general, if you experience a bug like this, please tell me about it, so it can get fixed. Ren'Py is getting to the point where it's so complex, I can't test it fully without making it a full-time job, which doesn't seem likely. So I rely on users to notice if things seem odd, and report them. I mean, I try to nail bugs myself... but inevitably, some slip through the net.

(Unfortunately, I can't think of a good way to auto-test Ren'Py.)

Oh, right, I wanted to request something : could the Move function benefit from the cube/dcube/mcube system ? It would be nice if translations ended in a smoother way ^^. And in the same domain : any way we could either add parameters to these, or be able to put our own math functions? This way we could ask for *very* sharp/smooth beginnings/endings.

I will consider your request. If I do with it, it will probably take the form of some sort of function or wrapper function, that can apply an arbitrary function to time, or to scaled time. This would then let you do whatever you want with that function.

I need to ponder what the right design for this is, however.

EDIT : Does Ren'Py have a logo ? I realize it'd look better than just "Powered by Ren'Py". And I could follow up with my own logo :3... professional ~^o^~

It doesn't have a logo. I actually had a nice submission a while back, but it was too Ren'Ai oriented, whereas I would like something that works just as well for arbitrary visual novels. An ideal logo would scale from full-screen to icon sizes, but that may be too much to ask. The default icon tries for this, but suffers from being very ugly. But I did try to represent VN-ness in it...

And then there's idea two, which is more of a mascot than a logo, which is a girl in, say, safari gear, with the pygame snake draped around her shoulders. But that wouldn't work for non-anime-styled games, serious games, nonfiction, bishonen games, etc.

[monele]

It was released under 5.3.3 according to the changelog.

I *did* plan to tell but yesterday I just wanted to post the tutorial (it was very late...). And uh... I guess I kinda forgot since then ^^;.
I'll add that with the last Ren'Py, the window isn't centered on the screen anymore. It either goes lower than expected (almost bottom-aligned with the screen) or in a kinda random position. It worked fine with 5.3.3.

Thanks for giving a thought to my request ^__^.

Hmmm... Well the logo doesn't *have* to be used. I just thought it'd look fun, at least for a game. You don't have to plaster it everywhere .

[Alessio]

Great effects demo, really good. I especially like them when they make sense from the point of view of the plot (the blood, the hologram etc.). For blending between scenes I'd probably stick to "less is more". Thanks a lot for this demo! How did you make the blend pictures - painting them yourself or...?