Lighting

[Carl Spiby]

How is progress on lighting? Will we ever have the tables lit by their own GI or will it always rely on pre-rendering?

Things like the ball casting a shadow in the outlanes etc would add to the immersion.

 

[Kevlar]

I hope to see better lighting one day too, especially on ipad which can look very clinical at times. Hopefully seeing what silverball studios is doing will spur FS into making improvements in this area.

Here's the link to the Silverball Studios ios lighting demo http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/pro-pinball-lighting-simulator/id560525468?mt=8

 

[superballs]

Things have to be done differently when you are dealing with full 3D polygonal tables as opposed to pre-rendered environments. Especially on limited hardware like the mobile devices. Though, I guess they aren't going to be struggling to keep up with almost 7 year old hardware for very long.

Edit:

I'm impressed with how the lighting works in the lighting sim, what I would like to be able to do is plunge a ball (non interactively but with bumpers and such active) and see it move down the table with random lights pulsing and the GI going from bright to dim.

 

[Mike Reitmeyer]

I've done some experiments with different lighting tech for GI, and have something that was working pretty well on Xbox 360. I'm hoping to implement it in the future.

 

[Carl Spiby]

Any chance of a sneaky peek to wet our appetite?

 

[Kevlar]

I've done some experiments with different lighting tech for GI, and have something that was working pretty well on Xbox 360. I'm hoping to implement it in the future.

Nice to hear Mike, is there any chance the ipad lighting could see some improvements? or maybe the next ipad? Early benchmark results from the iphone 5 are above the ipad 3 so I think the next ipad will be a big step up ( I think that was a pretty safe prediction anyway ).

 

[BonzoGonzo]

yeah, good news

light show really adds to the whole experience

 

[Mike Reitmeyer]

Nice to hear Mike, is there any chance the ipad lighting could see some improvements? or maybe the next ipad? Early benchmark results from the iphone 5 are above the ipad 3 so I think the next ipad will be a big step up ( I think that was a pretty safe prediction anyway ).

Possibly. Depends on performance.

 

[Fuseball]

That's great news. I love the GI effects used by some games. Of course, I would love it if it were in place by the time AFM gets made - Strobe multiball!!!

 

[Mark W**a]

Does anyone else much prefer the pre-patch lighting to the post - patch? Post patch is too dark, I much prefer the bright prepatch lighting. Arabian Nights and Theatre of Magic look breathtaking with the old lighting scheme.

I understand darker lighting is more realistic to pinball, considering we all played these in dimmly lit arcades, but you lose so much damn detail, color that you can't see. At least make it an OPTION to change the lighting scheme.

Wanted to mention the post-patch DMD's are a HUGE improvement though.

 

[Jeff Strong]

Pre-patch was way too over-saturated for me.

 

[Mark W**a]

Sure it's not your display?

I kept wondering why I prefered the look of the iOS version on my Iphone 4s, despite the clear downgrade in geometry. This is the reason. I can appreciate both "looks". To me, one is day, one is night, quite literally, as in pre-patch makes me feel like I'm in my brightly lit basement, and post patch is me turning the lights off. Both looks have their pros and cons, and I'm not saying do away with the darker lighting scheme, I'm saying let us "turn on the lights" as an option, so to speak.

 

[Jeff Strong]

Yep, it wasn't my display. I actually run my brightness a little dim too, so if it's too over-saturated on my display, then it's really over done. The general consensus when TPA first came out on 360 was that the stauration was too high and the lighting in general was too bright, so you're the first I've heard say you preferred it pre-patch.

 

[Mark W**a]

Looking at it now I see what you mean. However I strongly feel this game needs a daytime lighting option. The way it is now is fine for "night mode". How do you feel about that?

 

[Jeff Strong]

I'd be all for having both options. I know it's in their plans for sometime down the road.

 

[Daniel Osborne]

My plasma is isf calibrated, I think theatre and Ripley are too dull now. It needs a gamma and ambient light slider.

 

[Andassaran]

My Sharp Aquos LED is ISF calibrated as well and before the lighting patch everything was over blasted. I literally couldn't see crap if the table lights were on. On the flip side of the coin I almost preferred the way the DMD looked pre-patch though. But that was a minor change that doesn't really affect it too much. Before we worry about lighting though can we fix the display animations on Fun house and Bride? When there's a blinking bit of text it doesn't just blink... the digits actually have an animated blink that you can see when you're on the real table, and the bride can control brightness of each segment individually; all of those animations are missing.

 

[Carl Spiby]

How do you calibrate your TV?

 

[Krzysiek Grzelak]

U cant do it by yourself....
-U need a Pro, with spectrophotometer, laptop with special software and a skill

BTW. My KURO isnt calibrated, but im happy as it is

 

[Daniel Osborne]

The thoroughly knowledgeable and all round nice dude, Steve 'bumtious' kemp did my isf calibration. The settings he did blow all the factory presets out of the water!
Costs a couple of hundred quid though!