New Shaders (better bloom, blur anti-aliasing, color bloom)

[Cooltad]

I took the original 'bad_bloom' shader, and modified/split it into 4 different shaders.
Below are pictures of each and a zip file containing all 4.

Thoughts?

First picture is better_bloom, second is blur_aa x2, third is x4, and the last one is color_bloom.

[NaturalViolence]

The dynamic range created by color_bloom is ridiculous. I thought my eyes were going to start bleeding just from looking at the screenshot.

Also what efb scale/screen resolution was used for these screenshots? Was any MSAA or SSAA active? Which video backend was used?

[Duke Nukem]

It would have been nice if you had posted a picture of the original bad_bloom shader so my eyes have had something to compare with.
Anyway, I have to check this out when I get home to see it live.
Thanks though.

[abfab126]

Better_bloom is nice , thx !

To the elders : MORE MORE SHADERS !!!!! lol

[inteGReddy]

well... it def seems to look better the way it is, imo.

[Cooltad]

Yeah, sorry for the crappy screens. I'll take better comparisons soon.

Also, it's on opengl plugin, and without any AA.
As for the color_bloom, it looks interesting usually, it's just in that specific spot it looks bad.
You'd have to play it in game to notice why each has its advantage, though.
So if you wanna see how good they look, you'll have to try them for yourselves really. It really gives some more visual depth to some games, and I promise after a while, it'll be difficult for you to play any game without one of them.

As for color bloom, it's supposed to..well, bloom the color to be sorta more intense, I can make the effect lighter if need be though.

Also, the unmodified normal screenshot looks similar to the blur aa screens, so use that as comparison to the other 2.

The following is without and then with the better_bloom:
http://img600.imageshack.us/i/gc6p011.png/

http://img715.imageshack.us/i/gc6p013.png/

http://img821.imageshack.us/i/gmsp011.png/

http://img251.imageshack.us/i/gmsp013.png/

http://img218.imageshack.us/i/gpvp011.png/

http://img269.imageshack.us/i/gpvp013.png/

http://img694.imageshack.us/i/gzlp011.png/

http://img862.imageshack.us/i/gzlp013.png/

http://img43.imageshack.us/i/gzlp014.png/

http://img706.imageshack.us/i/gzlp016.png/

The true graphical improvements are really only able to be told in-game, so the shots don't do it justice.

[Baltzatu]

(04-20-2011, 05:54 AM)Cooltad Wrote: Yeah, sorry for the crappy screens. I'll take better comparisons soon.

Also, it's on opengl plugin, and without any AA.
As for the color_bloom, it looks interesting usually, it's just in that specific spot it looks bad.
You'd have to play it in game to notice why each has its advantage, though.
So if you wanna see how good they look, you'll have to try them for yourselves really. It really gives some more visual depth to some games, and I promise after a while, it'll be difficult for you to play any game without one of them.

As for color bloom, it's supposed to..well, bloom the color to be sorta more intense, I can make the effect lighter if need be though.

Also, the unmodified normal screenshot looks similar to the blur aa screens, so use that as comparison to the other 2.

The following is without and then with the better_bloom:
http://img600.imageshack.us/i/gc6p011.png/

http://img715.imageshack.us/i/gc6p013.png/

http://img821.imageshack.us/i/gmsp011.png/

http://img251.imageshack.us/i/gmsp013.png/

http://img218.imageshack.us/i/gpvp011.png/

http://img269.imageshack.us/i/gpvp013.png/

http://img694.imageshack.us/i/gzlp011.png/

http://img862.imageshack.us/i/gzlp013.png/

http://img43.imageshack.us/i/gzlp014.png/

http://img706.imageshack.us/i/gzlp016.png/

The true graphical improvements are really only able to be told in-game, so the shots don't do it justice.

It looks amazing, but why don't you make a comparison video? One half of the screen normal and the other with shaders to see the improvements?

[NaturalViolence]

Sorry but the "bad bloom" looks wwaayyy better, to me at least. Far more accurate. The dynamic range is too high with better bloom and color bloom (most of the environment is far too dark and the characters are far too bright).

[Cooltad]

(04-24-2011, 07:31 AM)NaturalViolence Wrote: Sorry but the "bad bloom" looks wwaayyy better, to me at least. Far more accurate. The dynamic range is too high with better bloom and color bloom (most of the environment is far too dark and the characters are far too bright).

..you do realize better_bloom literally -lowers- the light/dark levels from bad_bloom, and decreases the MASSIVE blur caused by it...right? right?
Maybe you got the two confused or something, better_bloom has much, much less dynamic range, and color bloom isn't made to make things look as good as better_bloom.
I'll make a video soon.
Honestly the easiest game to notice the difference between bad_bloom and better_bloom is pokemon colleseum, especially if you have efb scale turned to 1x or 2x only.
The differences in dynamic range are not that huge, a larger part is making the screen much less blurry, a majority is making text less blurry.

I'll admit in some cases the extreme bloom of bad_bloom looks neat, but perhaps it's simply preference that I don't want the center of the screen to look white.

So sorry if I came off acting like you were insane.

Also, better_bloom accidentally seems to give a fake depth of field affect in some games due to the slight blur, objects made of less pixels (ie distant objects) appear blurry compared to larger objects (ie close objects).

I could go back and improve it if you guys have suggestions though, or make different versions to suit everyone's preferences. However, I prefer not to change how the games themselves look, but to merely enhance them.

[disraelie]

normal - http://images.allprog.nl/img/3326_1303616698.jpg

bad bloom - http://images.allprog.nl/img/9588_1303616736.jpg

better bloom - http://images.allprog.nl/img/8228_1303616792.jpg

color bloom - http://images.allprog.nl/img/5247_1303616831.jpg

better bloom & color bloom really good !