Language…
18 users online: AmazingChest,  AmperSam, anonimzwx,  Anorakun, Blizzard Buffalo, h.carrell, Hiro-sofT, Maw, Mr. MS, mtheordinarygamer, NewPointless, NTI Productions, playagmes169, Snowfool948,  Tahixham,  Thomas, Tulip Time Scholarship Games, underway - Guests: 298 - Bots: 407
Users: 64,795 (2,373 active)
Latest user: mathew

Effect Tool 2.0 [Yes it has parallax, stop asking]

  • Pages:
  • 1
  • 2
Yay, only took my a whole freaken year. :D
So here it is, and like nothing big changed at all.... I'm quite serious with that. I recoded more or less the whole thing from ground up again. Why? Because the original code was a mess. I never planned for this to become so big when I started it, so I didn't really care for a proper code organization... but as more and more was added, I had a bunch of different HDMA stuff that all where coded differently so yeah.
Anyway, to sum up this means that 90% (number made up) of the changes are behind the scenes, as for the other 10% (100% - the made up number) you actually DO get new stuff.

The biggest (most nerve wrecking) addition is Color Math. Each tab now properly displays the HDMA effect with full color math support, meaning there are multiple layers, sub and main screen and all that stuff. So yay for that. In the subfolder "Multilayer" are .ml files that contain the different layers. During the startup all *.ml files from that folder are loaded and you can freely switch between them on each tab.
The is also the a way to easily make them yourself with Tool -> Manage Multilayers. From there on it's pretty self explaining.

The big downside of this is that I didn't get to implement screenshot support yet. As you can probably guess, now that everything runs on multiple layers, finding a way to make it generally work for just one layer (image) is... meh.
The other downside is, that while you can make your own multilayers, you actually need a rendering program. Like Paint.NET, in which you can litterally do it with less than 10 clicks (open image, select wand, set to 0%, click on BG, delete, save as .png). Just make a rendered screenshot of every layer (layer 1, layer 2, layer 3, sprites) and you're good to go.

Another big change is the code display, as it now splits what is suppose to be INIT and MAIN code (seriously though, that has been the most common reason of people asking why stuff isn't working, for they threw it all into INIT ASM).

Also, please understand that I kinda rushed things to finish for C3, as such, some bugs may remain. Also I didn't get to write a new readme yet. (That's what I get for delaying the boring parts till the end). So if any questions arise, feel free to ask.

~Download~




















Where is the scrollable gradient, I don't see it D:


Good work, this tool will make happy a lot of people.
Wow, this is epic. I love the new additions. You did a great job, thank you for this.
OH MY GOD YES


You win C3, good sir.
Does this support scrollable gradients?

----------------

I'm working on a hack! Check it out here. Progress: 64/95 levels.
I was waiting too much for this.
Infinitely thank you for this. #fim{<3}
This is awesome! The only problem I have is that I don't know what most of the advanced stuff mean, so I probably won't be able to use the tool at its fullest... oh well, I guess I can do with normal gradients since it's the one I like the most :P
AT LONG LAST

IT FINALLY HAPPENED

FUCKIN SWEET
This is great! I never really had a chance to use the first iteration, so this is gonna be all new to me.
The screenshots alone are enough to make me swoon. (I think you've used more radio buttons on one screen than I will ever place in my life.)

Fantastic job - this is sure to make effect creating even less painful than before.

(edit: does the parallax feature only support auto-scrolling, or can you also set it to move relative to layer 1? I must have overlooked that option in the latter case.)


 
Does the windowing include code to animate the image (eg shrink or rotate it)?
Because that'd be pretty sweet for custom level load animations, but if not that's still good enough.

Good work though.
Your layout has been removed.
Originally posted by Black Koopa Bro
Also, please understand that I kinda rushed things to finish for C3, as such, some bugs may remain.



Those screenshots are sick, especially those rainbow gradients. I can't wait to see what the full version will be able to do.
Does this tool have the ability to have HDMA and/or parallax to vertically scroll?

Other than that, looks cool!
Just so you know, I'm very active on the site anymore like I was before; I'm mainly on Discord now.
I somehow forgot replying to this...
First off, thanks for all the positive feetback.

Originally posted by LX5
Where is the scrollable gradient, I don't see it D:

Originally posted by imamelia
Does this support scrollable gradients?

Originally posted by Falconpunch
Does this tool have the ability to have HDMA and/or parallax to vertically scroll?

You guys <.<
Come to think of it, having a scrolling support for other stuff than parallax might not be so bad in general. I guess I can work something out.

Originally posted by WhiteYoshiEgg
(edit: does the parallax feature only support auto-scrolling, or can you also set it to move relative to layer 1? I must have overlooked that option in the latter case.)

All it currently does it multiply/divide the scroll speed and you can add a fixed constant to be added. I did plan for an auto scroll option too but didn't finish in time. Frankly though, what do you mean with "in realation to layer 1"? Can't quite imagine it.

Originally posted by leod
Does the windowing include code to animate the image (eg shrink or rotate it)?
Because that'd be pretty sweet for custom level load animations, but if not that's still good enough.

Thought about it, but I can't really come up with any good generic-always-working-algorithm. So the only option I can think of (currently) is making a new table for every animatied frame, which would be serious overkill for the ROM.

Originally posted by Masterlink
This is awesome! The only problem I have is that I don't know what most of the advanced stuff mean, so I probably won't be able to use the tool at its fullest... oh well, I guess I can do with normal gradients since it's the one I like the most :P

The new readme I'll make should hopefully give a generic explanation as to how stuff works and what other stuff means. The general idea is to just try stuff and have a visual confirmation anyway, so you can just click random boxes until it looks decent :D

Also, I've heard people having problems launching it. Make sure that the .dlls and the multilayer folder are present when executing.

The current plans for this are:
-adding tool tips (forgot about those)
-an option to take screenshots from the created effects.
-parallax stuff (as soon as someone explains what they exactly want)
-Supporting Screenshots (loading from games I mean)
-saving/loading effect (anybody needing this? I could do it but don't want to if nobody needs it)
-Tables for waves (to on/off them on any part of the screen)
-windowing table-tab
-gradient with vertical scroll support.
-palette HDMA
-maybe some DMA?
-windowing with animation (no promisses, I'll see what I can do)

So, any other suggestions?
Anime statistic on MyAnimeList:
400 animes completed ✓
6000 episodes completed ✓
100 Days completed ✓
... what even am I doing with my life?
Originally posted by Black Koopa Bro
I did plan for an auto scroll option too but didn't finish in time. Frankly though, what do you mean with "in realation to layer 1"? Can't quite imagine it.

Look at the background in this level for example - the clouds scroll on their own, while the plains and the river scroll only when the player moves. The latter is what I meant by "relative to layer 1".

Then again, I never looked at the output, so I don't actually know which one of those your tool implements. #ab{^^;;;}


 
Couldn't auto-scrolling be done with LevelASM, though? I mean, I would assume the parallax code uses free RAM to set the position of each section (I know mine does, and I'm not sure how you'd do it without), and you could just add a value to it every frame instead of storing a multiple of the layer position to it.

Also, if you want my code for scrollable HDMA or anything like that (right now, all I have is background color and parallax, but either shouldn't be too hard to adapt for other registers), I'd be glad to provide it. I'm guessing you already implemented such a thing, though, if you have something like that for parallax.

----------------

I'm working on a hack! Check it out here. Progress: 64/95 levels.
Originally posted by WhiteYoshiEgg
Look at the background in this level for example - the clouds scroll on their own, while the plains and the river scroll only when the player moves. The latter is what I meant by "relative to layer 1".

The clouds are the, as mentioned unfinished, autoscrolling part. As for the rest, it seems to be normal parallax scrolling.

Originally posted by imamelia
Couldn't auto-scrolling be done with LevelASM, though? I mean, I would assume the parallax code uses free RAM to set the position of each section (I know mine does, and I'm not sure how you'd do it without), and you could just add a value to it every frame instead of storing a multiple of the layer position to it.

I have a good guess on how I'll do the auto scrolling, which is pretty much exactly what you just said, it's just that I couldn't finish in time.

Originally posted by imamelia
Also, if you want my code for scrollable HDMA or anything like that (right now, all I have is background color and parallax, but either shouldn't be too hard to adapt for other registers), I'd be glad to provide it. I'm guessing you already implemented such a thing, though, if you have something like that for parallax.

If you can comment your code so that I don't need hours to work through it, sure. I'm always glad not having to work things out myself :>.
Anime statistic on MyAnimeList:
400 animes completed ✓
6000 episodes completed ✓
100 Days completed ✓
... what even am I doing with my life?
This looks amazing!
This guy

This guy right here

Just... This guy
Hacks:
Originally posted by Jack
-saving/loading effect (anybody needing this? I could do it but don't want to if nobody needs it)

It'd be a really nice feature, scrollbars has it (it saves the effects as .hdma files), and it's useful in case you're making an effect for an unfinished BG just to see what it looks like or if you want to make further adjustments, etc.
Originally posted by Jack
-parallax stuff (as soon as someone explains what they exactly want)

Really just autoscrolling scanlines (called "wind" in scrollbars), please it's so useful when you want to make a convincing-looking sky (clouds don't stand still irl). It'd also be nice to see what I assume scrollbars' "vertical wrap" effect is (notice the way the scanlines in the BG in Lockjaw's Locker overlap each other and such).
Oh yeah, also generating code for multiple layers at once, that is, instead of only letting you make a parallax effect for only one layer and generating code for that single specific layer, it could let you make effects for various layers in a single run and generating code for the mix of effects (like scrollbars lets you do). It's really bothersome to have to copy+paste code for an effect meant for a single layer and stitching it to code meant for another, especially when you don't know a single thing about ASM and have to rely on guesswork (hint: I did that and my BG got fucked up).


But really, the latter suggestion and auto-scrolling parallax are the most needed right now, and it'd be nice if you implemented them ASAP (read: not next C3 or near it).

Honestly, I'd be using scrollbars right now but it's goddamn old ass LevelASM/LevelASM Tool shit and considering UberASM is the new standar, it basically renders scrollbars unusable.

Pls make effecttool replace scrollbars completely. Be our hero, Jack.

  • Pages:
  • 1
  • 2