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[gaarzen]

Hey guys,
Ever since the new version of HE the visual output of our assets in game seem to be lacking and I'd really like to know how to make things look generally better.
HDR and Tone mapping doesn't seem to do much good either.

I've uploaded 2 images, the first one is an image of HJ from the forum, showing soft shadows after editing the shadows shader.
The second image is how HJ looks on my end:

The shadows do look a lot better in the first example but also the general colors while in the second example everything looks a bit washed out.
I tried playing with the time of day and with the lights, it just doesn't seem to look like the first example.

I'd really like to know how is the shadows shader called and where to find it because I could only find a shader called "shadowmappermutations.fx and it didn't have enough properties so I don't think it's the main one.

I'd also like to find out how to get the general color depth and tone of the first image and get rid of the current washed out effect as well.

And also, I've read a couple of times that it's possible to add screen space AO and I was wondering if it's implemented in the engine because I couldn't find it.

Any help on either of the subjects would be most appreciated !
Thanks

[HE-Cooper]

It looks to me like a simple difference in color of light. First image has pink in the main light source, second image is using white light.

[gaarzen]

It looks to me like a simple difference in color of light. First image has pink in the main light source, second image is using white light.

Hi Cooper, thanks for the reply !
The default light is pink in HJ sample and it doesn't really matter if I change the color, the general look is still pale in comparison.
When the new version came out we could see an instant difference in our own project too, without changing anything.

[HE-Cooper]

When we added HDR, I went into all of the exams worlds and updated environment schemes with warmer tones. The difference in that scene is pink lighting. I suspect you aren't editing the env scheme that's applied to the room. You can also play with light intensity, tone mapping, and the various HDR settings.

But why don't you just set all the settings in your scheme to be identical to the HJ scheme you're looking at?

[gaarzen]

When we added HDR, I went into all of the exams worlds and updated environment schemes with warmer tones. The difference in that scene is pink lighting. I suspect you aren't editing the env scheme that's applied to the room. You can also play with light intensity, tone mapping, and the various HDR settings.

But why don't you just set all the settings in your scheme to be identical to the HJ scheme you're looking at?

I would have changed all the settings in our scheme to be identical to the HJ scheme but I'm not able to make the HJ scheme look as nearly as good as the pic I found on the forum and attached at the top.
I tried changing the tones, colors, light intensity, tried playing with HDR and tone mapping and yes, everything I tinkered with did make a difference, however, the general look and colors seem washed out and pale in comparison

I don't know what the reason is and I know it wasn't like that in the previous version of HE as far as I could tell by the differences between the sample projects and our project in the previous HE version compared to the current.
That difference is actually visible in all the HE sample projects.
It's as if general specularity is sharper and more intense and the colors are slightly desaturated.

Regardless, how about that shadow shader name & location and AO? I just can't seem to find info about those.

Thanks so much !!

[HE-Cooper]

The top image has a custom shadow shader for "fuzzy" shadows, but the lighting is the same as in all worlds. If you find the spec and light intensity to be high, you can both bring down intensity or make the ambient/diffuse colors warmer and more middle toned.

We don't provide a specific AO or cel shader, etc, as they tend to be specific to a given project, but your team can write any shaders you'd like. We show an example of AO in the FPS ref, and I posted some pics of an example cel look you could do on a game like social ref. But don't try it with purchased or outsourced assets, poorly formed meshes and textures will stand out like a sore thumb.

[gaarzen]

The top image has a custom shadow shader for "fuzzy" shadows, but the lighting is the same as in all worlds. If you find the spec and light intensity to be high, you can both bring down intensity or make the ambient/diffuse colors warmer and more middle toned.

We don't provide a specific AO or cel shader, etc, as they tend to be specific to a given project, but your team can write any shaders you'd like. We show an example of AO in the FPS ref, and I posted some pics of an example cel look you could do on a game like social ref. But don't try it with purchased or outsourced assets, poorly formed meshes and textures will stand out like a sore thumb.

Thanks for the replies, Cooper
If I'd like to change to that fuzzy shadow look, which file should we be editing and where might it be?

[PN-Dwight]

Having the HJ shaders to play around with would be nice; considering now how IF wishes to show more of our games, the visual parts become more important. Having the HJ shaders as a starting point [as I like its style], would be beneficial to the teams