Experiment

[DRG]

This is the very early stage of an experiment in adding motion to the helo blades using the same cycling colours as the smoke uses in animation.....It may ultimately not work the way I hope it will and be scrapped but give me some feedback yeah or nay on this helicopter blade experiment

2x normal

[Dion]

That looks very good. A lot better than it is now. I even think it looks better than moving blades.

[FASTBOAT TOUGH]

Would've replied sooner but, you know where I was.

A resounding YES, anything you guys can do to within the limits of the software to "cosmetically" make the game look better, I for one would most certainly support!!

Does this maybe open the door to allow damaged helos to "attempt" an auto-rotation landing!?!

Well, you can't blame a guy for trying!?!

Definitely caught my eye when I saw it.

Regards,
Pat

[DRG]

I am not happy with the way the flashing greys are appearing so need to make adjustments but this is how they look now in the game at the brightest in the cycle. There are a number of experiments I need to try

[DRG]

One step further.. I am still not happy with the way the colour cycling is going but I have more things to try

The radius of the blades has been increased a bit

how they look in a game and the encyclopedia at the brightest point of the cycle



and the darkest point ( Cycling colours do not appear in the encyclopaedia )



Further experiments will focus on the order the flashing greys are applied . Right now that is one gray on one side of the "blade" and another on the other side but I suspect that WYSIWYG as the cycling *seem* to follow a set order no matter which colour is applied.

It's a six second cycle series of six flashing greys but also one non flashing black and one non flashing grey and what I want to get is them appearing in sequence but it doesn't seem to work that way.....tests still ongoing as time allows

I had been thinking that all but the twin blade 'copters that have the blades fixed on the Icon draw their blades from one SHP file and IF I can get this looking more the way I hoped I could set up the Graphics folder to hold the original fixed blades set that could be swapped if anyone finds the "spinner-flasher" blades annoying so we are interested in opinions pro and con to this idea

[DRG]

Getting closer

This shows part of the sequence but it's still not quite the way I want it

[DRG]

One more then I have to do other things

Progress

I can choose between clockwise and counter-clockwise ..... From the info I have found --Most American helicopter rotors turn counterclockwise when viewed from above, while French and Russian helicopters turn clockwise

Think it's going to be clockwise but I'm getting ahead of myself

I have got it so that the sequence does appear to go one way or the other but only two of the 6 stages and that may be enough but I have other things that need my attention today and will get back to this later but here are two most obvious parts of the sequence

A---> B

[DRG]

I made a 20 second animated screenshot with a program (ClipClip) I have never used before and the learning curve using it with the game was steep

Click on the link to play it.


https://i.imgur.com/IBqMFZ4.mp4


You will notice that depending on the way the icon is facing changes the perceived rotation of the blades due to the way the game flips Icons so I will not be creating clockwise and counterclockwise options

Its still not exactly how I want it to work but it's better than the first attempt and I will continue to tinker with it but this may be " as good as it gets" using the games colour cycling code and palette

I could use some feedback good or bad

[scorpio_rocks]

I Like it! Well done - always impressed with what you can manage with a few pixels and a limited palette!

[DRG]

A further experiment. This version has less streamers in the blades so it does not clutter up the icon as much and is a bit more subtle

https://i.imgur.com/9Zy5Hy1.mp4