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Dev blog: Solar Flares

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Jeremiah Saken
The Fall of Leviathan
#81 - 2014-05-29 06:09:35 UTC
This looks really good. Back in time when i was mining i used to focus my camera in star-ship line to admire the view.

James Amril-Kesh wrote:
The next step as others have said would be to implement a more realistic scaling of brightness and size with distance. The math is already there and it's really fairly simple.


So much this. Sun is a bright dot from Pluto perspective.

"I am tormented with an everlasting itch for things remote. I love to sail forbidden seas..." - Herman Melville
James Amril-Kesh
Viziam
Amarr Empire
#82 - 2014-05-29 06:22:29 UTC
Well... that in conjunction with surface textures and animations that look good instead of the vague monochromatic glowing spheres they are now.

Enjoying the rain today? ;)
Dun'Gal
Myriad Contractors Inc.
#83 - 2014-05-29 07:49:15 UTC
Petition to rename to "lens flares" as I was thinking of something altogether different and crazy. Pretty cool otherwise though.
War Kitten
Panda McLegion
#84 - 2014-05-29 11:19:53 UTC
Gabriel Dube wrote:
asteroidjas wrote:
hshshshshshshsh wrote:
Tuned in expecting awesome cool feature creeping SOLAR FLARES!

Left disappointed over just finding Lens Flares...


This.

Lens.
Flares.

Are much MUCH different than "solar flares".....not sure how someone associated with anything "spaceship" related could get the two confused.


It's the same people who design ships that don't have their thrust vectors in line with the center of mass. Cut them some slack, they never said they were going for scientifically accurate, did they? Blink


And you know where the center of mass is on ships because it is always at the center of volume, right?

I don't judge people by their race, religion, color, size, age, gender, or ethnicity. I judge them by their grammar, spelling, syntax, punctuation, clarity of expression, and logical consistency.
Droidyk
Maniacal Miners INC
The Legends In The Game
#85 - 2014-05-29 12:17:29 UTC  |  Edited by: Droidyk
I think they very well know that all these effects are caused by lens flares of the camera, many different cameras (camera drones) creates many different lens flares depending on how they' ve been manufactured and by what company.

I am pretty sure, they call them Solar Flares just because people can more easily relate to them. All the effects and elements that you see are caused by the camera lens, so the vertical effects are very possible, it creates kind of alien feel to it, and that is cool as there might be differently manufactured camera drones.
Also when you turn the camera along the star (lens flare) it adds more light because the light bounces from the glossy surface of the camera, and you can also see stuff or dust on the camera.
Try it yourself when you using your camera against a sun, you might see even weirder stuff.
I think they' ve done incredible job on these effects, and they look freaking awesome.
Zamyslinski
Beach Boys
The Minions.
#86 - 2014-05-29 12:50:25 UTC
three things than may need a bit of work,

Planets need a update especially the texture resolution,

Add sun rays into other systems not only incursions,

and fix cloud effects homeworld 2 has prettier clouds and dont couse GIGANTIC fps drops
Nolan Kotulan
Nova Tabula Rasa
#87 - 2014-05-29 13:42:09 UTC  |  Edited by: Nolan Kotulan
Droidyk wrote:
I think they very well know that all these effects are caused by lens flares of the camera, many different cameras (camera drones) creates many different lens flares depending on how they' ve been manufactured and by what company.

I am pretty sure, they call them Solar Flares just because people can more easily relate to them. All the effects and elements that you see are caused by the camera lens, so the vertical effects are very possible, it creates kind of alien feel to it, and that is cool as there might be differently manufactured camera drones.
Also when you turn the camera along the star (lens flare) it adds more light because the light bounces from the glossy surface of the camera, and you can also see stuff or dust on the camera.
Try it yourself when you using your camera against a sun, you might see even weirder stuff.
I think they' ve done incredible job on these effects, and they look freaking awesome.


The point is, I think, most of the players don't want their screen being like a real in-game camera, even if it's in the lore.

We want to forget the Fourth Wall, not to be remembered about it.

And anyway, the lens flare effect actually changes depending of the solar system you're in, and so not anything that is camera related...

...

But even more important than this, it doesn't make the "suns" look like "suns" anymore.

The game now looks like a Christmas tree...

Per aspera ad astra
Freelancer117
So you want to be a Hero
#88 - 2014-05-29 17:07:37 UTC
CCP Solaris = Reynir Harðarson ?

If so I will look forward to adding his corpse to my collection soon™ Cool

Eve online is :

A) mining simulator B) glorified chatroom C) spreadsheets online

D) CCP Games Pay to Win at skill leveling, with instant gratification

http://eve-radio.com//images/photos/3419/223/34afa0d7998f0a9a86f737d6.jpg

http://bit.ly/1egr4mF
Darkblad
Doomheim
#89 - 2014-05-29 17:32:05 UTC
Nolan Kotulan wrote:
Hi,

These new "stellar" flares are really very bad and out of place!
They look nice on pictures but, hell, in game this is a whole other thing!

1st
Like others have already said, these are cinematic lens flares which don't look like anything "stellar" related.
Don't know about the lore, but I think we all want to forget the screen when we play and that being said, I personally don't want to see in-game content reflecting in it as if it was a real in-game camera.

[...]

P.S.: I was looking forward the god rays/casted shadows we saw on the Fanfest, where are them?
To these points:
We see our surroundings through camera drones, that may be the reasion for the lens flares.
The Rays/Cast shadows showed an early design draft (like the dominix redesign and "littered" scenery at stations/gates of busy systems) with no given release schedule.
And I really hope that the billboards in those shots are not to be used for McDonalds adverts (or Razer, that is)

NPE – ISD – RIP
elitatwo
Zansha Expansion
#90 - 2014-05-29 20:21:00 UTC
Happy Birthday and thank you very much!!

Eve Minions is recruiting.

This is the law of ship progression!

Aura sound-clips: Aura forever
Dibble Dabble
Spaghetti Cannon
Sentinels Amongst Warriors
#91 - 2014-05-29 21:39:14 UTC
Josef Djugashvilis wrote:
Dibble Dabble wrote:
Eye candy that's all. Waste of dev time and waste of a dev blog. Guess its a slow news day.

Move on, nothing to see here, its all rather dull.


Don't know about you, but I spend a surprising amount of time actually looking at the computer screen whilst playing the game.

Therefore, prettier is always better.


It pleases me that your eve life will be improved with the new eye candy.

Shame the same can not be said of the game which is going downhill fast a bit like my aging graphics card which is why I set the graphics to the lowest setting I can find.

I guess some will be impressed with the new graphics but when reading a book, I tend to focus on the contents rather than a nice bit of artwork on the front cover. CCP should do the same.

Udonor
Doomheim
#92 - 2014-05-29 22:53:24 UTC  |  Edited by: Udonor
Bah! Just tiny background detail that only 3 in 100 players ever notice on their own.

Here I thought EVE was getting something exciting like SOLAR FLARE = Damage + some temporary WH special system effect (e.g. pulsar-like : armor resists down. etc)

Or maybe local chat and CONCORD jammed by natural effects for a short unpredictable time.



Like the majority of EVE players I sort of expect most work on special graphics to be matched by practical game side effects.


Sure I want pretty. But outside a few general background objects the pretty picture should reflect a blending of graphic details -- each of which represents some practical impact on EVE play. Maybe some graphic effects do not signal an immediate impact on every player seeing it but signal effect once players engage in specific activities or at closer locations.
Darin Vanar
Federal Navy Academy
Gallente Federation
#93 - 2014-05-30 05:38:16 UTC
Allright! Solar Flares! Too bad they are going to be obscured by, giant black boxes in space, coming to an EvE build near you.

On a serious note, my eyes have trouble with some of the effects currently in game. Trying to tank Amarr lasers in belts, for example, makes my eyes hurt - they have a frequency and a brightness to their beams that is just hard to look at. Zooming out, you can't even see your ship anymore, but you'll still see small versions of those beams, hitting towards a random point in space - this is how you find your ship.

There is also a TIII mining mission, that sends you into a hideously glowing, giant nebula of pure WHITE - it's like mining in a light bulb with it on and you have to stare at it. Painful. Zoom out time.

I hope you have not similarly overdone these solar flares.
Gabriel Dube
Outer Planets Alliance
#94 - 2014-05-30 22:31:31 UTC
War Kitten wrote:
Gabriel Dube wrote:
asteroidjas wrote:
hshshshshshshsh wrote:
Tuned in expecting awesome cool feature creeping SOLAR FLARES!

Left disappointed over just finding Lens Flares...


This.

Lens.
Flares.

Are much MUCH different than "solar flares".....not sure how someone associated with anything "spaceship" related could get the two confused.


It's the same people who design ships that don't have their thrust vectors in line with the center of mass. Cut them some slack, they never said they were going for scientifically accurate, did they? Blink


And you know where the center of mass is on ships because it is always at the center of volume, right?


Things that take up volume generally also weight a lot. You won't keep large unpressurized gas tanks on a ship. It will be either solid or liquid. Even with a very heavy solid-core nuclear reactor, propellant tanks are suposed to make up a huge portion of the ship's volume and total mass. And the worst thing is that that their mass is reduced during travel, which would shift the center of mass around and cause your ship to change course on it's own if you don't continuously shift the thrust vector accordingly.

Spaceships are not boats. You can't just have the thrusters off-center and have it fly straight because your reactor has roughly the same mass as the rest of the hull minus the fuel and propellant. There shouldn't be much empty volume, except a negligible amount for crew space, if you do need a crew.

So yeah, when designing a spaceship, you try to at least have the center of mass be close to the center of volume and perfectly in line with the main thrust vector. Even if you're going for a "pull" type design (angled thrusters in front of the ship) instead of a "push" type one (engine-in-the-back), the same principles apply.

Good examples of this include, but are not limited to, the actual ship designs presented at Fanfest (the Orion and Daedalus): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFJ2p8yhxvU
Shamus en Divalone
The Clandestine Forge
#95 - 2014-05-31 19:26:34 UTC
Is there a chance we can have some of those gorgeous smaller images as wallpapers?

Pretty please Roll
Angel Lightbringer
Absolute Order
Absolute Honor
#96 - 2014-06-01 14:23:19 UTC
DetKhord Saisio wrote:
War Kitten wrote:
They do look nice, but 99% of the time I'm orienting my camera away from the sun so as not to be blinded.
^This. An option to filter out bright spots (i.e. solar system star/sun and clouds/nebula/whatever) is needed. Think of this as a pair of sunglasses, like polarized lenses or similar.

Now there's an idea for the AUR store P

Where's marketing when you need them?
Angel Lightbringer
Absolute Order
Absolute Honor
#97 - 2014-06-01 15:13:58 UTC  |  Edited by: Angel Lightbringer
Nolan Kotulan wrote:

I personally don't want to see in-game content reflecting in it as if it was a real in-game camera.

Sorry to disapoint, but as a matter of fact everything you see in space is by ways of cameras. [1]
Players, being refered to as "Pod pilots" or "Capsuleers" are, as you might know, within a Pod at all time while on their ships. [2]

Wether you "want" it or not is irrelevant, it is a matter acceptance of the universe you live in.

Gabriel Dube wrote:
There shouldn't be much empty volume, except a negligible amount for crew space, if you do need a crew.

Yet another fact, Capsuleers' ships do have a crew, varying depending on ship size. [3]
I by no mean wishes to be an a**hat, I only hope my answer will help you and a couple of other fellow pilots.

o7

Edit: Fixed the name of the second quote poster.
DeMichael Crimson
Republic University
Minmatar Republic
#98 - 2014-06-01 22:18:51 UTC
Sad

Came here expecting to see new content - Solar Flares with ranged system effects.

Actually saw remake of old graphic - Lens Flare now made more obtrusive and annoying.

Left here disappointed - just like the majority of those who posted in this thread.

Evil



DMC

'The Plan' | California Eve Players | Proposal - The Endless Battle
Nolan Kotulan
Nova Tabula Rasa
#99 - 2014-06-02 10:36:38 UTC  |  Edited by: Nolan Kotulan
Angel Lightbringer wrote:
Nolan Kotulan wrote:

I personally don't want to see in-game content reflecting in it as if it was a real in-game camera.

Sorry to disapoint, but as a matter of fact everything you see in space is by ways of cameras. [1]
Players, being refered to as "Pod pilots" or "Capsuleers" are, as you might know, within a Pod at all time while on their ships. [2]

Wether you "want" it or not is irrelevant, it is a matter acceptance of the universe you live in.


I didn't say anything opposite to these lore facts that I already knew.
You would know it if you had read all my messages correctly...

What I said is that having big, obtrusive and annoying lens flares on our screen is not a good thing for the gameplay readability and also not even a good thing for the graphics, whatever is in the lore, and so I don't want them, or at least more subtle ones like the older ones. And I think most of the other players will not be happy with them too when they are gonna be released on Tranquility tomorow.

And sorry to think that what we players think and want isn't irrelevant.
At least, it shouldn't be...

Per aspera ad astra
Josef Djugashvilis
#100 - 2014-06-02 11:13:45 UTC
Dibble Dabble wrote:
Josef Djugashvilis wrote:
Dibble Dabble wrote:
Eye candy that's all. Waste of dev time and waste of a dev blog. Guess its a slow news day.

Move on, nothing to see here, its all rather dull.


Don't know about you, but I spend a surprising amount of time actually looking at the computer screen whilst playing the game.

Therefore, prettier is always better.


It pleases me that your eve life will be improved with the new eye candy.

Shame the same can not be said of the game which is going downhill fast a bit like my aging graphics card which is why I set the graphics to the lowest setting I can find.

I guess some will be impressed with the new graphics but when reading a book, I tend to focus on the contents rather than a nice bit of artwork on the front cover. CCP should do the same.



A better comparison would be for you to say that you tend to focus on the clarity of the print on the page you are reading.

I agree that the game has not had much in the way of new shiny content for a while, but I for one am quite happy that CCP are fixing much of what we already have, ship balancing, the new industry expansion etc.

Fix what we have, then new content.

Prettier equals better Smile

This is not a signature.