Rendering Improvements: Examples!
I've taken the proof of concept workflow I talked about last night and integrated it with both my rendering automation and the outfit display code in Lab Rats 2. I was able to generate a pattern for the normal tshirt, in this case to show off how it can be used to create text/graphics on an item. I also had the epiphany that as long as two pieces of clothing share the same topology, like shirts that all hug close to the skin, then patterns can be shared between them. I'll have to do a little more work to get that set up, but it should mean I can implement universal patterns like stripes or text and they ill only have to be rendered out once.
Internally the new pattern system is based on image masks. An image mask is used to transform another image by hiding, or "masking" part of the child image based on data in the mask image. For LR2 the alpha value (how transparent a pixel is) of the mask is used. In Daz Studio patterns are rendered in a similar way as full pieces of clothing, but the actual texture is masked so that only a section of it appears. In the examples above the text is the part of the mask that is left behind. This can be rendered at a much lower quality than the base image because all that is need is where it is opaque vs. transparent.
Inside of Ren'py there is some more interesting work done to take the mask and convert that into a piece of clothing with two different colour regions. First the base, greyscale clothing item is taken, then the mask is applied so that there is a cutout where the text would be. An inverse of the mask (opaque where the original is transparent, transparent where it is opaque) is then used and a copy of the item is added. When added together these two items are complements of each other and recreate the item, but can be coloured separately. The two items are composited together then handed to the rest of the outfit displaying code which handles it all as normal. Clothing can now have a pattern assigned to it along with a secondary colour that is used for the patterned area. A pattern can also be used to describe sections of different opacity, either higher or lower than the base clothing item.
Next I need to create a number of patterns and update the outfit design UI to allow the user to change them as they wish. This has also opened up a couple of other interesting possibilities, like using patterns to describe skirts of differing lengths, that I want to follow up with.
Comments (14)
I prefer the new look. It's realism that's lacking in a lot of adult games.
My god why would you ever go from honey select to this? It literally went from beautiful to fugly
All you have to do is look at the history of support amount and number of supporters. It's all downhill. I left months ago, but keep hoping Vren brings it back to "look" and gets satisfied with "How". Vren, if game mechanics are so critical at this point, I suggest you change your patreon page banner to a set of girls from LR2!
I actually just cancelled my support for reason of graphical assets, AND the lack of narrative interest. I'm assuming you don't know any better, but the fundamental look of a game is part of the ground level, as is story. The visual style of the game doesn't look like it's going to change, and Vren is far more interested in procedural systems development than creating an interesting experience. Triple AAA games have moved away from procedural content as centerpiece in the last several years too. It provides infinite variations that aren't meaningfully different. I've only supported at the minimum level for that last 6 months anyway, I'm sure Vren won't miss my dollar- peace.
wait, that's Lily... the little sister from LR 1? dear god man, go soak your head, take three weeks off and then come back and redo ALL the girls. Lily, Stephanie, Nora, Alexia and Mom were BEAUTIFUL in LR 1. These new images are FUGLY and are one of the main reasons I haven't continued to support this game. Please remake all the girls to make them pretty and I'll support you again and I'm sure many others will as well. Remember, YOU like to keep it free and if WE ENJOY IT then we should support you, and we will. We did in the past and will again, but not until we enjoy it once again.
Right now all the girls use the same face. I'm 90% certain the plan is to give the main characters a more unique appearance once the game is fully fleshed out. But it's really not important at the current stage of the game.
One wonders where exactly MC (or Lily) was able to find that shirt in order to purchase it...
Roll Tide
Honestly, the first priority with rendering should be to get rid of that neck seam that's on every single person now. It's also a large gap in kneeling poses.
Could you at one point include the option to import outfits into mc.designed_wardrobes, the_person.wardrobe and mc.business.uniforms from the XML files in /game/wardrobes? I made a mod for it using slight changes from your wardrobes_from_xml function that works just fine, but would like to see native support for this. Here is the altered function as a suggestion, after that it is just to add an action that supports the use. def import_wardrobe(wardrobe, xml_filename): # This is a rewrite of the wardrobe_from_xml function written by Vren. wardrobe = wardrobe file_path = os.path.abspath(os.path.join(config.basedir, "game")) file_path = os.path.join(file_path,"wardrobes") file_name = os.path.join(file_path, xml_filename + ".xml") if not os.path.isfile(file_name): return Wardrobe("xml_filename") #If there is no wardrobe present we return an empty wardrobe with the name of our file. wardrobe_tree = ET.parse(file_name) tree_root = wardrobe_tree.getroot() return_wardrobe = Wardrobe(tree_root.attrib["name"]) for outfit_element in tree_root.find("FullSets"): wardrobe.add_outfit(outfit_from_xml(outfit_element)) for outfit_element in tree_root.find("UnderwearSets"): wardrobe.add_underwear_set(outfit_from_xml(outfit_element)) for outfit_element in tree_root.find("OverwearSets"): wardrobe.add_overwear_set(outfit_from_xml(outfit_element)) return return_wardrobe e.g I added an action to the player's bedroom to import into mc.designed_wardrobes, an action in the Clothing Store for the_person.wardrobe and to the Office for e.g mc.business.m_uniform. Instead of having it in an action I'd rather see it be something done from the Outfit manager itself. Player's input would be along the lines of: $ xml_filename = str(renpy.input("Wardrobe to import:")) $ import_wardrobe(mc.designed_wardrobe, xml_filename) return
I second that, bring back the lr1 char looks!!
*Shakes Head* That's not it chief, I want a cuter Lily. How bout making them look as they did in Lab Rats?
but... but... she's totally cute in a slav kind of way! :D And I love the added custom-ability compared to LR1, of course the models were cuter, but they were Honey Select, that means custom-ability down the drain for a bit of extra cuteness, is that really wurf? To clarify I would love if some of the models were way cuter, good-looking or awesome than the current ones, but I weight the freedom the current tech gives us higher than a bit of extra good looks or cuteness :)
Nice! Would it make sense to use the same system on unpatterned clothes to distinguish between light and dark regions? With the current approach to tinting, turning clothes black wipes out a lot of depth and detail on the garment.