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Leadwerks 4.1 Beta


Josh

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Leadwerks Game Engine 4.1 beta is now available on the beta branch on Steam. This is the final version 4.1, barring any bug fixes that are made before the release later this month. I am going to focus on just resolving bug reports and adding new documentation for the next two weeks.

 

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4.1 adds environment probes, which have been covered previously, and volumetric lighting. Point and spot lights can display a volumetric effect by adjusting the "Volume strength" setting, found under Light properties in the editor. You can also use the new commands Light::SetVolumetricStrength() and Light::GetVolumetricStrength(). At this time, directional lights should use the godray shader instead, but I might try this effect on directional lights as well before the release.

 

Volumetric lighting is an expensive effect to render, but my Intel 5200 is running it at a fast speed, and high-end cards should have no problem with it. Lights with a large range are more expensive than lights with a small range. The performance will be exactly the same for any intensity level above zero (the default). The effect is disabled when the low-quality light setting is in use.

 

Volumetric lighting looks best in dark scenes with lots of contrast. Spotlights tend to look a little better, as point lights don't have the same well-defined shape. Use these sparingly for dramatic lighting effects in key positions. It looks especially nice when you have a fence or grate in front of the light to create lots of interesting light beams.

 

The bloom effect has also been improved, and SSAO, godrays, and iris adjustment post-processing effects have been added. The bloom effect is using the mixing equation from Leadwerks 2, along with an improved Gaussian blur function from the RasterGrid blog.

 

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New entity icons courtesy or reepblue have been created.

 

Have fun with the new features and let me know if you have any questions.

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Super Update excellent features

 

In the editor, I see under Tools Build Global Illumination , but I can not click . And under Create > Effects> Environment probes can not also click ?

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Okay, I did a quick patch for Windows that makes it so you no longer need the pro version or have to set the beta features setting. It should work now if you restart Steam.

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Cool, lot's to check out.

 

I'm trying the new ssao.lua on a new project start map and it creates a black edge along the top of the 3d viewport and in game. It's also very! subtle effect on objects, I get the feeling it's not how it's supposed to look.

 

Also directional light (but not other lights) is producing a noise effect without any shaders added.

 

Edit:

 

Here's a screenshot showing no ssao.lua and with ssao.lua

 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/6m8qx7ij28epfra/ssao.jpg?dl=0

 

The grain/noise effect from the directional light is visible against the sky.

 

Edit: the ssao effect shows up much better stronger with point/spot lights so I'm guessing maybe it is not intended for directional lights - ok it is showing with the directional it's just way more subtle. Sorry for this long post :)

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Commenting out the "Removes banding" part of the directional light shader got rid of the grainy effect for me. I guess this sacrifices the shadow banding improvement but for now I'd rather not have the grainy effect that it produces over everything.

 

Build global illumination is disabled so I can't check that out. Volumetric lights look awesome but I can see the performance hit on my low spec pc. Godrays look well awesome too.

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Seem to be having issues with the volume light and having water mode on. screen goes all bright and weird. Apart from that looks real nice!

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Finally got a chance to check it out, looks great. For some reason I get better performance on 4.1... even with volumetric lights and everything in a scene. I get steady 600 FPS in a pretty complex scene with volumetric lighting and everything.

 

New icons are nice.

 

Thanks for the tip xtom, I think it looks so much better with the "Remove banding" line commented out. I would take banding any day over that grainy effect. tongue.png

But overall great update, thanks Josh.

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I gotta agree with xtom and Crazycarpet. I was stoked to see the banding issue fixed, but I still see banding with the spotlights, just less of it. So I might just remove banding in the point light and the directional light if I get to a point where the grain is very visible.

 

But great update overall. Really happy we have reflections now. :)

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Yeah, banding is still very, very noticeable with spotlights especially (mostly just against light surfaces.), and the dithering looks rather ugly in the directional light.... but all in all this is an amazing update. Can't wait til I can try out Env Probes.

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