Post FX Studio v2.0 [ RELEASED ]

Just fixed a problem with the mobile bloom demo on 1st page.. it would randomly turn into squares thats glowed ( this was not the way it was suppose to look )

also fixed 3 bugs when using more than one rendergroup .. will be submitting 2.01 sunday night

 

How do you set up Mobile Bloom?

 

Hi there is a bloom project in the sample projects.

Here is a walk through for a simplest type of bloom.
If you want the fastest solution you use 2 rendergroups ( can add as many as you want to make it look better )

First RenderGroup
1) Add contrast in Copy Pass 1,
( This will copy the screen to the next RenderGroup )
2) Check the ON button on the default effect
3) Click on Effect tab and add the contrast option.
4) Set top contrast slider to 2.0 bottom to 1.75

Second RenderGroup ( click on its button )
1) On Group tab set Render Texture size to DIVIDE and use 8,8 values
2) On pass one under Shader tab .. set filter mode to bilinear,
3) Add Average Pixel option to this passes shader.
4) Now set blend mode to ADD or SCREEN
5) Click ON button on this RenderGroups default effect
6) Click on Effect Tab
7) Add the average pixel option to this effect

Press compile, then press RUN.

 

Thanks. I've got that set up, but I don't see a bloom....then I thought that must be because I hadn't added the camera to the second render group. But it won't let me do that -- says the camera is already in a render group. Any idea what I'm doing wrong?

 

you do not need a camera in 2nd rengroup, that group is just to have a smaller sized copy of the screen ..Then it blits it with avg pixel, bilinear filtering and ADD/SCREEN blend mode for a inexpensive bloom effect.

Another thing make sure the 2nd group is using the divide option for render texture size under group tab.

Also i fixed a rare bug that happens when using more then one render group. i will make a new build soon

 

Quick question, how difficult is it to write my own shader to plug in to this?

 

Not sure what your asking ? Do u mean the custom code option where you can enter your own shader code ?

 

Yes! That exactly! Is there some sort of documentation on what the custom code must look like, or can I paste anything in there?

 

There are a few variables you use like _Output.xyz = fixed3(1,1,1); or like _TC for te3xture coordinats
( these are all listed under the coding area )

A really cool thing is you dont have to worry about masks , fading or dissolve that it all automatically added to your custom code

 

Alright, sounds great. I bought PostFX at launch, though… ;D

 

Ohh cool thanks for the sale ! i will be submitting 2.01 soon fixed a few bugs when using multiple rendergroups

 

new low price !! ( not sure if it will be temporary, just trying new things )

Store Link

 

Hey echo

Seems like a really cool tool, I was just wondering if we wanted to create glitch and digital error effects would we be able to do so with Post Fx Studio. Stuff like this http://www.donrelyea.com/readymade_glitch.htm and http://nicgomez.com/image/35903327054

Cheers,

 

You could do something close to that using texture overlays and maybe a mask on distortion

( gimme a few hours ill try to make a web demo )

I do plan to add more features like cell animation for texture overlays and possibly animated masks. which could be used for digital glitch effects.

 

Here is something i whipped up ( im sure a real art guy can do better )

DigitalGlitch webplayer

( i made this a sample project now that will come with Post FX Studio, ill upload tonight to unity )

 

That's a nice effect! To be honest, I'm more inclined to use digital glitching than old analog glitching. Kids these days probably only know the digital stuff.

And film scratches ... they probably only know of it as a special effect that indicates something is old!

 

Yeah i hate in movies when they have LCD monitors have static == DRIVES ME NUTS

 

Looks pretty sweet — just wondering can I fade effects out by script? Can I have an effect dependent on a scripted value that lerps from 0 to 1?

 

You can pass a scale value to the Start effect to change the time ... which in essence accomplishes same thing
I did it this way because one effect can have many shader options all with different timings so this would keep
everything in sync


You can also check the "Hold on Sustain" option on any shader option ... and it will stay at that stage until you call Stop then it will go through the fade out stage if present

 

Just found a trick making my next asset that will speed up post fx studio a bit more ... will update it soon

 

Most all customers i talked to have Unity Pro ... would anyone care if i took out support for the Free Version of Unity ? its creating hassles and hindering development at this point.

 

I think it's a reasonable change, if it's preventing you from developing the product the way you want to.

 

And its so slow with free . i just made it work originally so i could develop on my macbook which does not have unity pro.

But i have this new way of doing things and if i made it pro only would be a bit faster. and less dev time because making it work with free is a MAJOR PAIN IN THE ASS.


BTW just submitted v2.1 ( still works with Unity Free )

About 10 bug fixes and few optimizations

 

Then it's probably even better to move to just supporting Unity Pro. Even if Free is technically supported, if performance is not good, you will have unhappy customers who thought they could use it with Free effectively.

I think what will be more important is that you will be able to support Unity 5 pretty quickly, once it finally arrives.

 

Ill try to have someone test it on u5 tonight ... im sure it will work if not it will be simple fix ... ill post results after test

 

I have pro but don't have it for all platforms so would probably use post fx studio to add glow in unity free if I needed to. Perhaps you should do what the fluid sim plugin does and have some features that only work with Unity Pro. Since you have already done the work I don't see the point in removing unity free support, If there are features that you want to add that would be too tricky to add to unity free or would compromise the performance more for unity pro then simply don't add them for free users or perhaps lock the unity free support to the features you currently support and make it an optional install so it is in effect a separate package from the newer version that requires pro.

What I think this tool really needs though is more built in image effects that virtually any scene would benefit from. The key benefit of this package is that it is more efficient that unity's built in image effects especially when multiple effects are on screen at the same time. If you added some form of ambient occlusion and screen space reflections to this package it would be useful to far more people as virtually any scene would benefit from them and they are effects that would always be active so the performance difference from unity's standard image effects would be most noticeable.

 

There are tons of things in the works .. next will be real time area effects where u can use any object or particles as a mask for distortion or whatnot .. ( think under water only wobble, or heat waves over campfire or gun shooting with heat waves like in mw3 )

The problem keeping it working with Unity Free are is it takes 4-5 times longer to make more advanced features. and all effects mainly use same pipeline not that easy to single out certain things and say this will be free only.

Like area effects i could do in 1-2 weeks for pro only ... making all that work with free might be 2-3 months. ( will be starting on area effects soon just have to get this small new asset out 1st )

Also keeping it working with unity free is keeping me from doing certain optimizations which could make this even faster.

Your projects will still work under free the effects just wont show up.

 

How about you split it into two, keep the current feature set for Free and package that up as a unitypackage in the download. Then further development is Pro only. Basically stop development of the Free version.

That way current customers can still use it. And take advantage of the Pro features when they upgrade at a later date?

I have no objections against focussing further development on Pro.

 

I'm on free, and I will be for a while yet. The fact this plugin worked on free was a main reason for getting it. Slowness of function doesn't bother me much since the purpose is to use PostFX for cutscenes.

If you can't somehow bottle off the free portion, can you give notification in ALL CAPS in advance of the changeover, so I can know to save off my copy of PostFX and stop downloading new ones?

 

If i did cut it off i would save that version/branch so i could still support it ( fix bugs and what not )

its not a for sure thing yet.

I just i worry about the time to bring new features vs what it makes in Asset Store which is not a lot

If it takes 4-5 times longer to keep it working with unity free that is time i need to be spending on things that do make money. ( expected this to sell a lot more than it does since there is really nothing like this )

 

Thats what im thinking ...

I do have idea that could be a totally different asset for unity free post type effects that would not suffer from readpixels slowdown and actually be usable. ( this might be better direction to go in )

 

Maybe Unity will make render textures free in 5.0 and it will no longer be a concern ...?

 

That would be a dream come true for me

 

Purchased this based on reviews and features. This is definitely an excellent approach to solving your post effects.

Most people are using this for mobile devices, but to be completely honest, it's more flexible and powerful than anything unity has for PC and consoles too. Definitely became a core asset for my future projects.

 

HI Scott, any ETA on SSAO for mobile?

 

Hard to say sales kinda dropped this month so I will have to do some side work ..
So if anyone wants to help by putting a link in their Sig or tweeting about Post FX Studio it will help development of this asset.

Real Time Area effects will be next with some things I found to speed this up even more.
then possibly the SSAO type effect.

ALSO 2.1 is now on asset store as of today !!

 

Just picked this up for use on a future game though might even find a place for it in my current project. Been using CORE-Framework and love it.

 

Cool thanks !! as always any questions just ask or add me to skype "echoLogin"

 

Here is code for SATURATION effect .. can just paste this in text area of a Custom Code shader option

Code (csharp):

1.  
2.     ECHOVAR1 inum       = dot ( _ioRGB, float3 ( 0.2125, 0.7154, 0.0721 ) );
3.     _Output = lerp ( ECHOVAR3 ( inum, inum, inum  ), _ioRGB, _Params1.x );
4.  

Then use the Params1 in effect tap, use the X value for saturation amount.

This will be a normal option in next update.

 

Hey there, hope your sales will become stable again, as postfx is surely a piece of amazing work.

Would it be possible to tinker with depth in postfx? For example have a effect fading in at a certain depth ?

Best Regards!

 

You mean like the z depth of the pixels ? that would be possible I need to add a depth buffer option for a few other effects as well

u could do a similar effect using the dissolve, just wont be based on depth

 

That would be exactly it ! Id be great to clamp and animate the depth buffer values (Hope I am describing this rigth). For example have something like a pulsewave or forcefield expand based on the depth. If this is not a too specialized thing i'd love to see it : ) .

 

I added it to my todo list ...ive seen something like this b4 like a shockwave going thru depth of screen is that the kinda effect your after ?

 

Cool to have some post effects that can work in free!

 

It does work in free version of unity but it is very slow due to readpixels being used.
( im debating taking out free support .. and making a separate asset that does some postfx like things in free but is fast. )

 

Would it be possible to say to a depth based blend with a gradient with this?

 

not yet depth buffer effects will be coming in a future update

 

I'm trying to set up PostFX in a new scene. I tried prefabbing it and bringing it in, but I get errors. So then I read the docs (!) which say to create a new PFX GO, so I did that. Same errors. Then I exported my settings from PFX in my original scene, and imported them into the new scene. Same errors. I am (of course) clicking Compile Post FX Shaders like a crazy man, to no avail. Any suggestions?

The errors are:

*** Compilation of Post FX Shaders are Required! ***
UnityEngine.Debug:LogError(Object)
EchoPFXRenderGrouprepareForRuntime(Single, EchoPFXRenderGroup, Camera[]) (at Assets/echoLogin/PFX/Plugins/Scripts/EchoPFXRenderGroup.cs:624)
EchoPFXManager:Awake() (at Assets/echoLogin/PFX/Plugins/Scripts/EchoPFXManager.cs:173)

NullReferenceException
UnityEngine.Material..ctor (UnityEngine.Shader shader)
EchoPFXRenderGroup.PrepareForRuntime (Single ifps, .EchoPFXRenderGroup inext, UnityEngine.Camera[] iallCams) (at Assets/echoLogin/PFX/Plugins/Scripts/EchoPFXRenderGroup.cs:626)
EchoPFXManager.Awake () (at Assets/echoLogin/PFX/Plugins/Scripts/EchoPFXManager.cs:173)

 

Where you the same person that we just figured out the problem in skype ?

if not do not use "." periods in scene names

-Scott

 

yup, that was me. Thanks for the fast and personal support!