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Author Topic: Diamond shimmer settings from a long winded tinkerer  (Read 1933 times)
ktulu1347
Knight Lieutenant
*

Force Alignment: 87
Posts: 201


Nerd for 3 decades plus and darn proud of it


« on: March 18, 2018, 03:47:40 AM »

Hello all!  Recently I became fixated on adding a movie style 'shimmer' effect to every font on my Diamond sabers, i.e. the default set as well as those I've assembled using various other soundfonts.  Because I'm a completist, I ended up creating shimmer settings for all the standard colors, all the forum colors, and a couple of others that are in the express launcher palette but don't have official names.  I leaned heavily on this thread: http://www.saberforum.com/index.php?topic=26443.0 for initial ideas and started tweaking from there.  First I came up with a set of massaged Emerald shimmer settings that I'm quite happy with on my lone Emerald saber, but unfortunately they won't simply port over to a Diamond saber due to the way the Diamond effects editor works.

I found while experimenting with my Emerald saber that I prefer a shimmer cycle totaling 0.08 seconds in length with 0.06s of 'resting' color and 0.02s of 'shimmer' color, but since you can't do instantaneous transitions in the Diamond effects editor it makes things a bit more challenging.  I ended up staying with a 0.08s total cycle, going from 0.00s to 0.06s at 'resting' color then moving to a modified 'shimmer' point at 0.07s before coming back to the 'resting' color at 0.08s and repeating as necessary.  Since 0.01s is the closest you can space the points in the editor at present this means that the shimmer perturbation is a triangular transient rather than the virtual square wave that is possible with the Emerald driver, so the differences between the 'resting' and 'shimmer' settings must be exaggerated to get the same perceived effect.  Here's an example screenshot of my Arctic Blue idle shimmer effect for the default Episode II font:



I know the foregoing explanation is probably confusing and unclear, so here's my attempt to boil it down.  To use the following suggested Shimmer settings, follow these steps:

1.) Go into the Effect Editor for the "Idle" effect of the font you're modifying.
2.) Add "Points with values" at 0.06s, 0.07s, and 0.08s.  This will be easier if you zoom in on the time scale.
3.) Set the RGB values at 0.00s and the created time points to the numbers below as specified.
4.) Scroll to the end of the idle sound on the timeline and note the ending time, preferably to at least the nearest hundredth of a second.
5.) Divide the ending time (total length) of the idle sound by 0.08s to determine the number of repetitions of the shimmer effect needed for the idle sound.
6.) Enter the number of repetitions in the "Play X time" field, rounding up to the nearest integer.
7.) With your saber connected, click "Test" to ensure light and sound are properly synchronized.
8.) Click "Apply to font."
9.) Done!

ktulu's Diamond Color Shimmer Settings, 0.08s total cycle time

Color Name                  'resting' color                  'shimmer' point
                                   [0.00s, 0.06s, 0.08s]       [0.07s]
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Guardian Blue               B255                              G12 B255
Consular Green             G255                              G255 B8
Blazing Red                   R255                             R255 B10
Arctic Blue                    G255 B255                     G215 B255
Sunrider's Destiny         G255 B20                       G255 B7
Violet Amethyst             R75 B255                       R59 B255
Fire Orange                  R255 G150                     R255 G127
Emerald Green              G255 B10                      G255
Dark Violet Amethyst     R40 B255                       R30 B255
Bane's Heart                 R255 B25                       R255 B13
Hot Pink                       R255 B75                       R255 B60
Sentinel Yellow             R175 G255                     R152 G255
Pyrestone Orange         R255 G30                       R255 G20
"Lime Green"                R50 G255                       R37 G255
"Sky Blue"                    G55 B255                       G39 B255

If the idle sound is longer than 8 seconds, add another cycle of points at 0.14s, 0.15s, and 0.16s and repeat the RGB settings then divide the idle sound length by 0.16 to get your number of repetitions.  This is necessary because 99 is the maximum setting for repetitions and is illustrated in the screenshot above.  If the sound is longer than 16 seconds, go to 0.22, 0.23, 0.24 and so on as needed.

If you'd like to know where I got the base color settings, please see my previous long winded post here: http://www.saberforum.com/index.php?topic=37764.0

Some of these shimmers ended up pretty subtle as I didn't want to lose the character of the base or 'resting' color.  Others ended up subtle because the base colors only take a touch of a second LED to create them (why hello SRD and EG!) so there's not much room to adjust it to create shimmer.  I'm pretty happy with all of them for now, but of course you should season to your own taste.  FYI, the blues and greens were optimized for an UltraEdge blade while the others were optimized for a standard clear blade reflecting my preferences regarding blade type and color.

Working up these settings was quite enjoyable and I wanted to share them as an example of what can be done even by a rank amateur such as myself.  I hope other folks are enjoying poking around in the editor as much as I am.  Thanks for reading and happy sabering!
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"The more they overthink the plumbing, the easier it is to stop up the drain."

BatMike90
Knight Commander
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Force Alignment: -793
Posts: 2736


Dark (Knight) Side Points.


« Reply #1 on: March 19, 2018, 11:46:31 PM »

This needs to be pinned for everyone who has had diffuculty with the Diamond board.
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Arsenel:
RGBW DIAMOND: Archon v3.1 / Dominicide / Graflex SE /  Guardian
V4 SOUND : Dark Prophecy v3 (x2) / Emperor's Hand
STUNT: Aeon v4 / Bellicose / Dark Apprentice v4 (x2) / Dark Prophecy v3 (x2) / Phantom Initiate V4 / Prophecy v3 / Renegade LE / Scorpion (x2)
Star Wars Cosplay Alias:
Merik Wolfe (Jedi Knight) / Darth Marcotus (Sith Warrior)
BatMike90's Soundfonts

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