Elasticity flicker colour comparison

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iNCEPTIONAL

Re: Elasticity flicker colour comparison

Post by iNCEPTIONAL »

rainwarrior wrote: Fri May 06, 2022 9:52 am
iNCEPTIONAL wrote: Fri May 06, 2022 7:52 amCould you actually create a version of the image and post it here, just so I can see how nice an image I could get if I wanted to use something like it in a future game?
Prerequisistes: Unzip cc65 to a folder named "cc65".

Then:
  • Replace elastiticty.png with another 176x176px high colour image.
  • Run gfx.py to regenerate the data.
  • Run build.bat to rebuild the ROM.
You can also replace elasticity_8.png (Y) or elasticity_fs.png (A) with 256 colour images if you want to change them.

If any of the .pal files turn out larger than 512 bytes, too many colours happened. I don't have anything in place to prevent it, because it seems unlikely to happen, but if the colours get corrupted you can check for that.

The generated residualX.png is a preview of the 4:4:4 result. The generated flickerX.png is a preview of the flicker blend as a static image. You can use those if you want an easy way to count the resulting colours.
My apologies because I can see you put in the effort, but I have no clue what any of that is or how to use it. I was honestly just hoping for you to upload a converted image and I could look at the original and SNES version side by side on my computer in Photoshop or whatever. :-o
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rainwarrior
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Re: Elasticity flicker colour comparison

Post by rainwarrior »

Well, I was honestly hoping you'd try it yourself.
iNCEPTIONAL

Re: Elasticity flicker colour comparison

Post by iNCEPTIONAL »

rainwarrior wrote: Fri May 06, 2022 10:29 am Well, I was honestly hoping you'd try it yourself.
I swear, if I even had a clue, I would.

But, literally, I clicked that Python link and I was like, "What am I suppose to do with this? Is it a program I download? Do I write some code in here?". And then I saw the thing you said to download and was like, "What's that for? Is it what I load images into? Is it a developer tool or something? Is is something specific to SNES or just some PC development environment?", and "Is this just so I can view an image, or does he expect me to learn some SNES coding in order to use this, or some other programming language", and so on.

It's just like when I considered learning to program for SNES myself, and I literally couldn't follow the first few pages of instructions of how to setup the whole development environment, never mind the actual SNES programming bit. It's all just too confusing for me to follow these things.

The only reason I even learned something like Game Maker is because it was so simple and linear, especially when I first started using it. I just downloaded it like a single self-contained .exe, opening it and started the tutorial that popped up on the first page showing you how to build the most basic game. And then it took me quite some time even start using the scripting language. And even like ten years later, I still can't program more than the most basic stuff in it. I've just not got a programming mind.

So I apologise that for that, because I can see you're trying to encourage me to give it a go. But, honestly, I know I'm terrible at this kind stuff, so I figure I should stick to what I know best, which is design and art, and see if I can find someone who has a programming mind and actually enjoys coding, and maybe then can work on a SNES game with me.

The reason I'm building the Mode 0 shmup is really just to show an idea for the game in form that other people can clearly see and understand, and then hopefully someone, a programmer, will be interested in to want to make it with me.
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rainwarrior
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Re: Elasticity flicker colour comparison

Post by rainwarrior »

Python is an application you can download an install. It allows you to run .py files.

The programming part I've already done. The .py file is the program I wrote to prepare the image.

So, you don't have to learn the programming language to use it, but you need Python to run the program I wrote. Once installed, you can double click the .py file.

I don't want to volunteer to process images for you. It would be much better if you could just run the program yourself, rather than trying to pass images back and forth across a message board. I wrote this program to satisfy my own curiosity, but I don't mind helping others understand how to use it for themselves.
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Nikku4211
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Re: Elasticity flicker colour comparison

Post by Nikku4211 »

I tried it on a real 3-chip US SNES with composite cables on a mid-90's 'Sharp' CRT.

I didn't like the flicker method as much, but on my TV I can barely visually tell the difference between the results of the other 3 methods. They all look pretty good, and I don't really have a preference for any particular one of those 3. All I can say for my preference so far is 'anything but the flicker one'.
I have an ASD, so empathy is not natural for me. If I hurt you, I apologise.
ehaliewicz
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Re: Elasticity flicker colour comparison

Post by ehaliewicz »

iNCEPTIONAL wrote: Fri May 06, 2022 1:13 pm
rainwarrior wrote: Fri May 06, 2022 10:29 am Well, I was honestly hoping you'd try it yourself.
I swear, if I even had a clue, I would.

But, literally, I clicked that Python link and I was like, "What am I suppose to do with this? Is it a program I download? Do I write some code in here?". And then I saw the thing you said to download and was like, "What's that for? Is it what I load images into? Is it a developer tool or something? Is is something specific to SNES or just some PC development environment?", and "Is this just so I can view an image, or does he expect me to learn some SNES coding in order to use this, or some other programming language", and so on.

It's just like when I considered learning to program for SNES myself, and I literally couldn't follow the first few pages of instructions of how to setup the whole development environment, never mind the actual SNES programming bit. It's all just too confusing for me to follow these things.

The only reason I even learned something like Game Maker is because it was so simple and linear, especially when I first started using it. I just downloaded it like a single self-contained .exe, opening it and started the tutorial that popped up on the first page showing you how to build the most basic game. And then it took me quite some time even start using the scripting language. And even like ten years later, I still can't program more than the most basic stuff in it. I've just not got a programming mind.

So I apologise that for that, because I can see you're trying to encourage me to give it a go. But, honestly, I know I'm terrible at this kind stuff, so I figure I should stick to what I know best, which is design and art, and see if I can find someone who has a programming mind and actually enjoys coding, and maybe then can work on a SNES game with me.

The reason I'm building the Mode 0 shmup is really just to show an idea for the game in form that other people can clearly see and understand, and then hopefully someone, a programmer, will be interested in to want to make it with me.
It's not too hard. On the python website download the installer and install it. On the cc65 website, it's not 100% obvious where to download it, but if you look down the page, you'll find a link that says "windows snapshot". Click on that and save it somewhere. Extract it to a folder called "cc65". Then convert your image to 176x176 pixels, and save as elasticity.png in the elasticity folder/directory. Then run gfx.py as instructed, it should run fine.

If you try to run build.bat as instructed, it will fail, with a "Build error" saying it "cannot find the path specified" with the cc65 path and binary listed above. If you read the error closely, you will see that it is expecting the cc65 directory to be in the elasticity directory. So, copy the cc65 directory you extracted earlier into elasticity, then run build.bat again. It should work fine and generate a .sfc file now.


It's not 100% obvious how to do all of the above, but it's probably not impossible for most people, it might just take a little time. However, with practice, this kind of thing becomes effortless. Sorta like programming, it might seem insurmountable at first, but it gets easier with time and effort.
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