The blooming effect...

  • If you're asking a question make sure to set the thread type to be a question!

MoonQuake

L3: Member
Jul 18, 2009
111
21
[EDIT: this thread is about the bloom effect only, not HDR. Updated the images to better explain what I'm looking for.]

Sup everyone!

Anybody knows if it's possible to add bloom to a map without compiling HDR?

For those who don't know, I want to add this effect:
aerith_bloom.png


Full screen for all players.

I've tinkered with screenoverlays, but I can't seem to be able to add bloom using it.


Thanks,

MQ
 
Last edited:

MoonQuake

L3: Member
Jul 18, 2009
111
21
Well, it's going to double the size of my map, and I'm worried about the performance reduction.
 

MoonQuake

L3: Member
Jul 18, 2009
111
21
Can you add bloom using color correction? I doubt it.
It would be great if you could make some colors bleed, but I doubt it can do this.
 

Nineaxis

Quack Doctor
aa
May 19, 2008
1,767
2,820
The reason you compile with HDR is to get HDR. That's why it's there, and what comes with it comes with it. That's the engine. You're not going to get HDR without using HDR.
 

DJive

Cake or Death?
aa
Dec 20, 2007
1,465
741
The reason you compile with HDR is to get HDR. That's why it's there, and what comes with it comes with it. That's the engine. You're not going to get HDR without using HDR.

HDR HDR HDR...

thats all i heard =p
 

MoonQuake

L3: Member
Jul 18, 2009
111
21
Well, that's exactly the point. I don't want HDR. I want to try bloom without the use of HDR. (for the above mentioned reasons)

I'm asking in case someone knows how to enable bloom separately from HDR or use a shader or an entity to mimic the effect of bloom.

MQ
 
Jan 20, 2010
1,317
902
Well, that's exactly the point. I don't want HDR. I want to try bloom without the use of HDR. (for the above mentioned reasons)

I'm asking in case someone knows how to enable bloom separately from HDR or use a shader or an entity to mimic the effect of bloom.

MQ

Like the Twilight in Twilight Princess?
 

Icarus

aa
Sep 10, 2008
2,245
1,210
In source, HDR is supposed to emulate how our eyes adjusts to and how it is effected by light exposure.

In other words, HDR is bloom. What you are asking for is nonsense.
 
Last edited:

MoonQuake

L3: Member
Jul 18, 2009
111
21
Bloom was used in games since the PS2 which couldn't even produce HDR.
Brightness accentuation around bright objects. Like shown in the OP. THAT's bloom. :)

So, if anybody has a trick of their own, let me know. I'll check back during the evening.
I'm compiling HDR just to see if the performance impact is major... if it's not, HDR it will be.

Thanks for the replies and the Super positive support everybody.

EDIT: if this can help you guys actually understand the "nonsense" I'm trying to explain to you, check this link, it shows the difference (scroll down) between no effect, bloom only and HDR in the Source engine:
http://www.tweakguides.com/HL2_6.html

So, yeah, the source engine is capable of just applying the bloom effect.

On that, I wish you guys a wonderful evening...

MQ
 
Last edited:

Icarus

aa
Sep 10, 2008
2,245
1,210
I don't get why you're worried about performance, though. HDR is a client-side video setting, and can be toggled on/off
 

Drexer

L2: Junior Member
Jun 23, 2009
66
42
Bloom was used in games since the PS2 which couldn't even produce HDR.

Uh, no.

The biggest use of bloom in the PS2 was in Shadow of the Colossus and if you find and read the development write up for that game, you will notice that they mention the HL2:Lost Coast HDR as the example of technology that gave them the idea and that they based it on to integrate HDR into their game.

HDR stands for High Dynamic Range, meaning that the color spectrum is adapted depending on the light you're subjected to.
Bloom is the effect you have when there is far too much outside light compared to your current environment.

Do you see the parallels?
 

MoonQuake

L3: Member
Jul 18, 2009
111
21
ABS: If I could force it I would. It doesn't have to be "official" bloom, it could be faked using a shader effect or an overlay. I did try a few things, but since I know people here probably tried it before, it'll save me precious time to ask.

Drexer: no game on the PS2 has ever been released with HDR rendering. Shadow of the Colossus used FAKE HDR. It's all over the net man. You should verify your sources, because I had to do it for you, and I could've used that 1 min. for something else. :) Every game you saw showing an effect that looked like HDR, well, they were awesome enough into convincing you, Drexer, that it's HDR, but it's not.

The machine I had when valve released Lost Coast (featuring "real" HDR) could barely run the map with HDR enabled, so, imagine our poor little PS2 with its 300mhz, 150mhz graphics card applying that effect on a full scale game?

Nope.

If you guys just want to prove me wrong or defy me, fine by me, freedom of speech, but it's just not going to help my cause with bloom in TF2... and it's not fun.

I don't know why it always has to turn into a "what the hell are you talking about" "you're an idiot for wanting to do this" type of war. I guess it's in people's nature to do a little bit of flaming on a daily basis and think they're always smarter. The thing with me is that I just can't let people post false information and argue with me when they're wrong... it's in my nature. I'm sorry I had to say that, but I've had a few helpful posts at first (stickzero,capellan), then the war started based on false information. All I do is ask a question, then everyone always has to deconstruct the intention, analyse it, find the flaws and attack.
My arguing processor is now turned off for the rest of the session. :)


... back to topic.

BTW, I did compile HDR lighting on my map and it's awesome, but it's the blooming aspect of HDR that make it look nice, the eye adjusting feature is nice, but to a certain point, it's a bit distracting if the effect is too strong. I gotta tone it down, and keep the bloom mostly.
Performance impact doesn't seem to be that bad based on primarily testing.

MQ
 
Last edited:

A Boojum Snark

Toraipoddodezain Mazahabado
aa
Nov 2, 2007
4,775
7,669
Well if you're going to go with HDR but really don't want the actual HDR effect for whatever reason, I believe setting the exposure mix/max on the tonemap to the same thing (1 would be normal, I think) would effectively disable it, though it would still be compiled/processed. Also, HDR in TF2 is usually very subtle with closed bounds than in HL2. You should be fine just using it with some of the standard settings.