tr1/output: use item shade to light 3D pickups #2045
Conversation
This uses the shade value on items to light 3D pickup objects, so they appear similarly lit to the sprite equivalent. Part of LostArtefacts#2017.
lahm86
requested review from
rr-,
walkawayy and
aredfan
and removed request for
a team
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Download the built assets for this pull request: |
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Thank you for taking it on, but I'm afraid this approach is still prone to not addressing the underlying issue. There are still many cases where the pickups blend in with the environment too much:
Plus it makes most of the pickups appear very flat:
I tried using the average of the 3D lighting + flat sprite-based lighting, but it looked less than great and didn't help with the pickups that blended with the textures. I think a potential solution to this would be to keep the lighting, but add a small exclamation mark
then the problem can be reduced to finding an icon that feels compatible with the OG. |
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No problem, I agree it does make things quite flat but I suppose that's the nature of static lighting (which works fine for sprites really, but not so much 3D). |
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Fwiw I hate the ! because it's so TRR. Any other dynamic lighting solutions? |
I suppose we could go to the trouble of shading each item separately… but man, that's a lot of trouble. I'd keep this PR open until we have settled on an alternative as the way I see it we're still brainstorming the final solution. |
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@lahm86 sorry if I'm doing something wrong, but using the build from here #2045 (comment) I get the same outcome. |
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I've seen games do different things. RE4: Remake light beam:
Horizon Forbidden West is similar but with icons on top of the lightbeam:
I always liked Tomb Raider Legend's shimmer light effect that runs across the item every few seconds:
AOD does something similar with a small green light flash (and a small hand in the bottom right shows when near an interactable when close):
Tomb Raider Underworld hovers the interact button's icon over items when close:
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This is only relevant for TR1 currently, so that's to be expected. |
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I don't think we can improve on the "flat shade" by going through every item and tweaking the values. The data already has differing values that have been selected appropriately IMO for the sprites e.g. the medi below in Vilcabmamba retains a dark shade and the gold idol below is also lit appropriately.
I don't feel that tweaking these values would be of benefit: the lighting would still be flat on the 3D pickups. Unless there is a way perhaps to change the output logic e.g. item shade + room light. But then builders possibly have less control over it. |
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fwiw this problem is immediately evident the moment OG started using 3d pickups, so I'd say it's very okay to spend longer time on this. Imo nothing should be added, the rendering of the items in-game would ideally be the solution itself. OpenLara, albeit not a fair comparison, still already improves it thanks to better item lighting: |
The large medpack is barely visible, though. |
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Agreed, but there is an improvement imo, and I just wanted to share it as an example. EDIT: Maybe is this something that with an enabled #1646 can be remedied? |
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@Richard-L What do you think about the following approach? Keep an eye on the pickups as Lara gets close to them. |
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So kind of you to ask for my opinion and even make a quick clip ❤️ I think this is super clever. It uses the ricochet sprites, right? It's subtle and nice, and I think suitable for this case. Please forgive that I would probably still choose to deactivate it, just because I find TR more immersive without any hints that tell you "I'm a game you can pick this up", if that makes sense. Perhaps at some point in the later future, something with just mesh reflection and luminance might be done. |
It uses the twinkle effect from when Lara is turning to gold, or turning lead to gold. It's just slightly larger in size as the original wasn't very clear. We thought it was quite in-keeping overall with the game. Glad you think it's a suitable approach too. And it will be optional 😌 Thanks for taking a look, and the feedback 👍 |
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Closing this as #2077 has provided an alternative approach. The issue itself can remain open for any further investigation in terms of lighting. |
Part of #2017.
Checklist
Description
This uses the shade value on items to light 3D pickup objects, so they appear similarly lit to the sprite equivalent.
If this looks ok in TR1, we can apply similar to TR2 at a later date.