Beams and flashes

Blitz3D Forums/Blitz3D Programming/Beams and flashes

Neo Genesis10(Posted 2004) [#1]
Hi guys. Ive been puzzling over this one for a little while now. Does anyone have fast code for drawing glow effects. By glow I mean something which isnt obviously a sprite, can be blurred effectively and is intensely bright.

An example for FFX players would be the beams that the Magus Sisters fire during their overdrive or the core of the ultima spell before the explosion begins.

Sprites have always proven to be too translucent for the purpose and to create a beam, lots of them need to be created in close proximity. Worse still, how it looks would depend on the camera. I dont mind using some form of WritePixelFast routine, but I have my doubts as to how fast it would be.


Neo Genesis10(Posted 2004) [#2]
That tough eh? How do the pro's do it? There has to be a reproducable method for this somewhere.


Neochrome(Posted 2004) [#3]
Cones, in a cone... in a cone
use an alpha map PNG with say a flame and the blend them together... tho i still dont know how they do it fully


aCiD2(Posted 2004) [#4]
id make a cylidner for the beam, and then use my modified bloom fitler to glow it :)


Genexi2(Posted 2004) [#5]
lots of them need to be created in close proximity.


Well, thats how FFXI (a PC\PS2 MMORPG) does that, just a bunch of close alpha'd sprite's with a lil' multiply blending.....and it's real pretty too....


poopla(Posted 2004) [#6]
id make a cylidner for the beam, and then use my modified bloom fitler to glow it :)


So good and inneficient?

I would use a particle system, the one I'm working on now allows you to align particles to their motion vector.


aCiD2(Posted 2004) [#7]
shattered: huh?


Ross C(Posted 2004) [#8]
Yeah the bloom filter is kinda slow, compared to other methods you could use, like shattered's.


aCiD2(Posted 2004) [#9]
ah, i see, thats a good point, however glowing just one object with the bloom gives very nice results :P haven't tryed it with multiple though.


poopla(Posted 2004) [#10]
I won't knock bloom at all, we have a very nice set of post render filters working. But I don't think I would use it for beams of light. Sprites are the key!! ;)