Tilt-shift view

[muhtadi]

Probably useless gameplay-wise and practically impossible to implement in a game that mostly uses 8-bit sprites, but I still think it would be cool if someone implemented a tilt-shift view to simulate a sort of "miniature faking mode" in OpenTTD to make it feel like you're playing with toys/models. (Refer: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miniature_faking)

Probably too way (waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay) out there to consider but hey, it's just a silly suggestion I feel would be cool if possible. Otherwise, it's no biggie.

[Kogut]

Yes it is possible. You can code it

[muhtadi]

Is You a famous coder or something? I don't think coding a tiltshift view is something trivial.

[CommanderZ]

Of course it is possible, especially in 32bpp mode (which is part of OTTD for some time). Many games use various blur techniques (such as motion blur), so blurring a portion of the screen is surely possible.

Whether it is desirable is a different matter.

[Kogut]

It isn't trivial. It is possible.

[muhtadi]

Whether it is desirable is a different matter.

That's true. I'm wondering if it would be desirable or not. Probably not. But I am curious to see the effect in motion instead of just mocking something up in photoshop.

Like I said it's likely useless. Probably the most useless feature ever

It isn't trivial. It is possible.

Seeing as this is the suggestion board, then I suggest you do it.

[CommanderZ]

Seeing as this the suggestion board, then I suggest you do it.

And also OTTD is an open source game, so you should try it yourself (since you are the only person who is interested in this feature)

[muhtadi]

If I knew how to code I wouldn't be suggesting it now would I? I'd be doing it already. What's the point of a suggestion board if all I'm going to get is "do it yourself". I made this topic with the knowledge that there was a very, very very slim chance that somebody else with the coding knowhow would think it would be cool as well and implement it.

If nobody else agrees, that's okay, just let the topic die already, but assuming I should code it is slightly facetious. But whatever, I suppose I'm using this board in the wrong way, huh.

[Zephyris]

The tilt shift effect is very hard to fake accurately, but quite simple to fake badly... In essence all it is is a blur which increases in radius width distance from the focal plane.

A very cheap way to fake it is using 2 blurred versions of the image, one small radius (16px) one large radius (64px), and blending them together based on distance from the "focal plane". It works quite well (see attached) but to be honest I see very little chance of it being implemented. It would make it much harder to interact with the game viewport, would slow the display siginificantly and would generally be a pain to code (requiring the 32bpp blitter to support the 32bpp processing and some clever masking to cut out gui).

[Ben_Robbins_]

Won't vaseline on the screen get this effect?

[Sealbhach]

I ran a few screenshots of 32bpp sprites through TiltShift Maker just to see if it would make much of a difference but I don't think it makes any difference... it just blurs the screen and the buildings look the same...

http://imgur.com/Ynvyk.jpg

http://imgur.com/BnVuG.jpg

http://imgur.com/pPWr8.jpg

I had a similarly crazy idea today... how about if little crop circles randomly appeared in the wheat fields on the farmlands? Would be kinda funny!

.

[maquinista]

Tilt-shift photos are a bit difficult, because the blur is based on the depth of field, not in the vertical position. It's only the distance between the objects and the camera.

[Zephyris]

But vertical position is a good approximation, especially for a camera view like in OpenTTD...

[AlienKing]

Tilt-shift photos are a bit difficult, because the blur is based on the depth of field, not in the vertical position. It's only the distance between the objects and the camera.

Exactly. Since all the sprites on the screen are the same size, bluring the image only serves to make part of it blury. It will not create the optical illusion as desired.

To really get a feature like this to work, you would need to need to recode the game with a true 3d engine. You could then get actual depth of field with images in the foreground much larger than images in the background. Once you have that, you could apply blur to finally get your tilt-shift view.

[Uberubert]

Those mockup images : This effect would look so much better if the interface wasn't blurred along with the playfield. Text/buttons/notes should still look clear.