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MOD WIP Bright Muzzle Flash/Explosions


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Well, this is my first mod, and frankly I can't believe I spent a whole afternoon working on this thing and figuring out how to get rid of the damn pink spots, but I really liked the idea of brighter muzzle flashes which Undaunted posted here.

As was correctly pointed out, this is also the first frame of the explosion animation, so not only are the muzzle flashes brighter, more visible, and more realistic, but all explosions start out with a more "sudden," bright flash, also highly visible even from high zoom levels, and IMHO look much more like real explosions.

I started with a photo of a real tank firing:

realflash.jpg

...fiddled with it until it was the fight size and shape...

1720.bmp

...and tested...

flash.jpg

I like it, but I'm looking to improve it before posting it anywhere. I think the explosions look great, and the muzzle flashes are good from a distance, but IMO not so hot up close.

It has to be viewed in motion to really see the effect, and I'd appreciate any feedback or suggestions on improving this. Just right click the BMP above and save it as "1720.bmp".

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I like the explosive impact on the target tank , where it has taken a catastrophic hit! But I must say in honest critique (no offense) I dislike the ballooning muzzle flash of the firing tank. For my money a muzzle flash has a more conical shape?

Either way good job I couldn't do what you have done to save my life! smile.gif

Oh wait, you didn't do the target explosion? I'm confused , I need a powder. :confused:

[ May 20, 2003, 01:25 AM: Message edited by: Brigadier ]

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Originally posted by Brigadier:

I like the explosive impact on the target tank , where it has taken a catastrophic hit! But I must say in honest critique (no offense) I dislike the ballooning muzzle flash of the firing tank. For my money a muzzle flash has a more conical shape?

Either way good job I couldn't do what you have done to save my life! smile.gif

Oh wait, you didn't do the target explosion? I'm confused , I need a powder. :confused:

The bright bit at the center of the target explosion is the same frame as the muzzle flash, and since it is so much brighter than the later frames of the explo animation, it gives the effect of a bright flash at the beginning.

I agree about the "balooning" but that's hardcoded. Real flashes seem to vary in shape, but to be whatever shape they are for just an instant and then disappear/turn to smoke, and certainly do not roll out of the barrel like they do in BB.

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Awhile ago I had brightened the initial couple couple sequences of the game's explosion for my machine because I was having problems spotting where the artillery was falling, and accidentally brightened the muzzle flash in the process.

You mod looks great. I bet it's a LOT easier to spot where your artillery falls now! That alone should recommend it for downloading!

[ May 20, 2003, 09:27 AM: Message edited by: MikeyD ]

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Originally posted by MikeyD:

Awhile ago I had brightened the initial couple couple sequences of the game's explosion for my machine because I was having problems spotting where the artillery was falling, and accidentally brightened the muzzle flash in the process.

You mod looks great. I bet it's a LOT easier to spot where your artillery falls now! That alone should recommend it for downloading!

Yep. I could never spot small caliber artillery from the zoom I usually use (4 or 5 depending on map size), now it looks like little strobes going off.

Ironic, since it was the muzzle flash I was trying to improve and make more realistic.

I will probably go ahead and post this one, though if anyone has any suggesting for improvement, lay it on me...

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Originally posted by SFJaykey:

I like it, but since you still want feedback I think it's a little too big....half that diameter would work for me. Thanks for taking this one on!

Wow...another afternoon down the toilet...what fool invented this "modding" thing anyway?

Yes...I think I will do 75% and 50% sizes and see how those look...hopefully they will still give a nice flash to the explosions withouy the HUGE flash for the guns.

This would be greatly helped if some Photoshop guru would tell me how to resize without getting a whole new set of pink spots to pencil out. Stupid Photoshop. I'm not working on a photo, dammit, stop blending everything!

Anyway, I also played around with brightening up the original frame.

Original:

1720orig.BMP

Tweaked:

Original_brightened.bmp

New:

high_visibility_100percent.bmp

Also, anyone know if the color of the actual shells in flight is hardcoded or a texture? I'd kind of like to see those better, too...

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Want a quick and dirty way to resize in photoshop including the pink?

First, sample the pink color so you can reapply the color later.

Second, select all the pink with the magic wand tooi.

Third, change all the pink to an inoffensive color (like medium grey).

Fourth, resize the art. let it scale, don't worry about the formerly-pink bits blending.

Fifth, reselect the formerly pink blocks with the magic wand tool and recolor them pink again.

With this technique, any bleeding along the edge of the art will be bleeding to grey (the 'formerly pink' color) and not to that hideous majenta. A few edges may need a bit of extra work, but it should be useable.

[ May 20, 2003, 05:19 PM: Message edited by: MikeyD ]

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