VFX question (Color, Trans, Blend)

[ErikaFuzzbottom]

What's going on with the Color, Transparancy, and Blend options? Color and transparency don't seem to do anything outside of the effect piece's preview; and blend either makes it look like normal, makes it transparent and bright, or makes it transparent and reverses the color adjustments. And in the case of the 2D images, setting those to Add Blend make it impossible to see their textures.

Is there some glitch in the game that renders these options mostly useless?

[DYRE]

Re: VFX question (Color, Trans, Blend)

Weird, that doesn't happen with me. But the blend things are perfectly normal. Normal is the object's color, Add adds its color to whatever's behind it, and subtract simply subtracts the object's color from the background's color.

[Rodak]

Re: VFX question (Color, Trans, Blend)

There are two places to set these options.

One is in the editor where you create the element and the other is in the editor where you place and manipulate the element.

The second one overrides the first.

If you are using add (or subtract) blending, transparency is useless. Just make the color all black in add mode and it becomes transparent. I have been meaning to do more playing with subtract mode (and will for my upcoming VFX editor guide) to see if white does the same.

Press start for the help files over these controls in each location for more info.

If that is not the issue, please let me know exactly what you are doing and I'll see if I can help.That sounds like the problem though.

Good Luck with it.

Peace.

PS: VFX Editor screenshots Next Weekend! Do you still want to do descriptions of all the elements?

[ErikaFuzzbottom]

Re: VFX question (Color, Trans, Blend)

Where I was talking was the Elemental Setup menu (where you get options such as how fast it rises/spins/etc.). The only option of the three I listed that did anything was the blend option, while the color and transparency options did nothing in the actual effect.

Now I can better see what the options are doing, but I'm not getting any ideas of its uses. Though so far I'm only adjusting the smoke effect.

*tries hammer and 2D Yin Yang effects*

Nope, nothing's clicking. Not unless I wanted something that I wanted transparent and incredibly bright/reverse-colored dark. Although looking at the hammer in add mode, it kinda reminds me of one of those fancy Neo Tokyo lights.

[WilliamKirk]

Re: VFX question (Color, Trans, Blend)

I know what it is: the color and transparancy in where you were talking about (spinning rate, etc.) only takes effect when the element is first being created. If you create the element, then go back to where you said and change those, nothing happens. Basically, when you make a new element, the size, color, and transparency are set as the default size, color, and transparency for every marker. Then after that, you can go to each marker you make and change the size, color, and transparency however (the defaults will show what I'm trying to say). If that wasn't clear, feel free to ask and I'll try again.

[DYRE]

Re: VFX question (Color, Trans, Blend)

Will's right, that took me a while to figure out, and it's pretty annoying.

[Rodak]

Re: VFX question (Color, Trans, Blend)

Something must be wrong with my brain today (too many anchovies on that last pizza I think).

I do not understand what is being discussed!

The color and transparency all work exactly as they should for me.

Where is the confusion?

This sounds like a few paragraphs for The Guide if I can figure out the source of the confusion.

Please describe in full (or close to full) detail.

Peace.

[ErikaFuzzbottom]

Re: VFX question (Color, Trans, Blend)

I think I understood what Will meant.

In the menu where you set the stats such as blend, rotation, and such, whatever you decide for the color and transparancy the first time is set permanently even if you try to change them, unless you go into the VFX placement section with the grid field and monster dummies and change those options there. Is this right?

No, wait, I see what's going on. When you place the element into the VFX, then changing the color/transparancy doesn't do anything, until you remove all occasions where the element appears in the VFX.

[Rodak]

Re: VFX question (Color, Trans, Blend)

I think I understood what Will meant.

In the menu where you set the stats such as blend, rotation, and such, whatever you decide for the color and transparancy the first time is set permanently even if you try to change them, unless you go into the VFX placement section with the grid field and monster dummies and change those options there. Is this right?

In the menu where you set the stats such as blend, rotation, and such, ONLY the blend and rotation are fixed and unchangeable.

Yes, color and transparency changes are made while animating in the "grid" you mentioned.

When you place the element into the VFX, then changing the color/transparancy doesn't do anything, until you remove all occasions where the element appears in the VFX.

Absolutely untrue!!!! Each "little blue box" that you place has it's own unique color / transparency settings. They default to the setting before it. The first one defaults to the settings in the bit where you made the element.

I have no idea what you are doing wrong, but I constantly change color and transparency within an effect.

If you want a more detailed answer I need to know more details! What element in which blend mode is doing this? I really can't see how this most basic aspect is causing confusion.

I am certain I can explain once I know what's going on...

Peace.

[ErikaFuzzbottom]

Re: VFX question (Color, Trans, Blend)

In that screen where you set blend, rotation, color, transparancy, etc. After placing one of those blue dots, changing the color/transparancy in that screen doesn't do anything unless I get rid of the dots, or I'm forced to change the color/transparancy in the placement section (when I'm defining the blue dot).

[Rodak]

Re: VFX question (Color, Trans, Blend)

In that screen where you set blend, rotation, color, transparancy, etc. After placing one of those blue dots, changing the color/transparancy in that screen doesn't do anything unless I get rid of the dots, or I'm forced to change the color/transparancy in the placement section (when I'm defining the blue dot).

I bolded the ambiguous bit of your statement.

In which screen?

Remember the sequence I said a post or two ago?

Each "little blue box" that you place has it's own unique color / transparency settings. They default to the setting before it. The first one defaults to the settings in the bit where you made the element.

When you place your first "Blue Dot" it is now physically to the right of the "Creation Bit" when you look at it on screen.

It reads left to right.

If you create it one color then place a "Blue Thingy" the placed thingy is now the default. Going back to the "Creation" section will be "Going in the wrong direction" as the placed "frames" are already set. You are aware of the two places to change color / transparency, right?

Try this: Create an "Orb" using Normal Blend and Default Coloring.

Place it at "The Origin" in Frame 1.

Go to frame 60, create a "new" placement and change the color to black in the grid where you place it, not in the bit where you create it!

It should turn black in two seconds.

Now go to frame 20 and make it red in a third placement.

Then go to frame 40 and make it blue in a fourth placement.

Now watch.

Is this what was causing confusion?

For fun and learning go to frame 30 and set transparency at 90% (or whatever you like).

Set the effect to run for 60 frames and watch it play.

Notice that since the last frame was created at 0% transparency it fades in and out now.

To see what you can do in the bit where you created the element go in and start it rotating.

This will affect the entire effect. But if you try to reset the color here nothing happens because the individual franes are already set for colors. You do not have to delete these frames, just recolor them.

Notice that it loops awkwardly.

If you wanted to fix that you would simply have to make sure that the last frame is identical to the first. Go into the bar with all the pretty blue dots and highlight the first one. Copy it (just the first dot, not the entire bar) and paste it over the last dot.

Now watch again. Because it ends in an identical setting to that which it began with, it loops seamlessly.

I hope it helps clarify a little.

Peace.

[ErikaFuzzbottom]

Re: VFX question (Color, Trans, Blend)

Well yeah, but say I had an element do a lot of stuff in one VFX, except I didn't tell it to change color or transparancy. But, I wanted to change the color after placing all those blue dots. Without deleting the info, I'd have to change the color and transparancy in every single blue dot.

[thetruecoolness]

Re: VFX question (Color, Trans, Blend)

Yep I'm pretty sure that's how it works. Changing the original does not cascade through all of the entries in the timeline (aka the blue dots). So to change the color or trans for all of them you have to edit each one individually. As I'm sure Rodak has already pointed out, changing the color on the model only affects the first entry you put down (unless you change it that is, the entry not the model). Yeah it's a bit counter intuative, but thats how it works. Basically for each element, set the color and trans you think is going to be the most used in the effect, then place each entry for the element, and set up the position and orientation only, then go back through all of the entries (blue dots) and edit the color and trans for that blue dot. Also when you change the color on the last blue dot, each entry you place after that defaults to that color, and not the model color I believe. So changing the model color/trans, only affects the first entry you place, and only the first time you place it. After you place an entry, changing the color/trans on the model has no effect at all, you have to edit the individual entry.

It's been a bit since I've used the VFX editor, but I'm pretty sure that's how it goes. I'll try this out in a bit and edit anything I find to be incorrect.

[Rodak]

Re: VFX question (Color, Trans, Blend)

Well yeah, but say I had an element do a lot of stuff in one VFX, except I didn't tell it to change color or transparancy. But, I wanted to change the color after placing all those blue dots. Without deleting the info, I'd have to change the color and transparancy in every single blue dot.

Do you mean that you just changed your mind and wanted to change the color of things after you created them, or that you want the color to change after the bits you've placed?

Using the crazy psychedelic ball example; would your question be "No, I want it to go from green to purple, not blue to red" or "Once this effect is over I want to turn pruple and stay purple"

The distinction is an important one and I think the source of the confusion.

If you want to retroactively change each placement, then you must retroactively change each placement. If you want to have a new color at the end, I trust you know what's entailed. Just add another frame changing the color

I think you are used to using the object / character / enemy model editors where changing the model effects every use of that model in the game.

The VFX Editor is different. It does not recycle in quite the same way. Effects are pretty much set the way you make them. You can't even script for an effect to move unless it is attached to an event and the event is moving.

I think this is because you can create motion and color changes in the editor itself.

If there is still confusion, ask more... We'll figger dis owt!

Peace.

[ErikaFuzzbottom]

Re: VFX question (Color, Trans, Blend)

Do you mean that you just changed your mind and wanted to change the color of things after you created them

Well, that one is what I mean, yes. I haven't encountered a situation that I wanted to do that yet. Mostly I was testing out the pre-made smoke effect and found that color/transparancy weren't changing as I told them to. And lucky me, I tried other effects by placing them first and then trying to change them.

But now that I know how that works, I'm sure I'll be fine.