MZ - [MZ & MV v1.9.7] Shora Lighting & Shadow System

Shora · 2020-12-26T01:02:21+0900

Version: 1.9.7 Itch.io Page. Wiki Page. ―――――――――――――――――――――IntroductionA Lighting and Shadow plugin for RPG Maker MV/MZ, powered by pixi.js library. Features- Create different lighting types using custom light images, with different defaults parameters easily from Plugin Manager. - Deploy your lighting in events and items, automatically using comment/note, with the ability to override the default setting on demand. - Tons of plugin commands for both MV and MZ versions to change each light's parameters, in desired tick(s) and transition. - Light comes with real-time shadows (optionally). With 2.5D soft shadows casted, your game can be enhanced a lot nicer. Makes the shadow caster detection happen automatically using terrain tags, or using region IDs. - Light comes with animations (optionally). Including automatic pulse animation and flicker animation. Easily create your own light animation using plugin command and/or scripts. - Battle lighting is finally here! - Both lights and shadows are deeply optimized for RPG Maker MV/MZ, specifically the PIXI.JS library. Just integrate the plugin into your game without worrying about performance. - Always there to help you if you’ve encountered any problems, and open to any suggestions! . Tutorial Spoiler: Plugin Installation Grab the plugin js file from itch.io official page, and place it inside the js/plugins folder. Enable the plugin inside the Plugin Manager. I suggest placing it above every other plugin. Make a new folder named lights inside the img/ directory. This folder will store all your lighting images. If you don’t have any, a good way is just copy and paste from my demo project. It is done! Spoiler: Lights Simply add [light] comment to an event's page, and F5 to see if it worked correctly. If you use the lights image directory from my demo, you should see this: You could override the light default parameters by adding custom arguments after the name. Eg: [flashlight -r 120 -a 45] will give the event (‘s page)/ item’s note a light of name flashlight, with their radius set to 120% and angle to 45 degree. Almost every default parameter could be overridden like this. Current light parameters include: name, images, status, radius, angle, event’s direction, color tint, color filters, offset, shadow, and animations. Spoiler: Shadows There are currently 2 ways of creating shadow casters (objects that block lights): automatically using terrain tags or/and manually using region IDs. I suggest using terrain tags as you don’t need to draw regions again and again for every map, but region IDs can be useful in some cases if you want to draw it manually. Method 1: Terrain Tags Open Database -> Tilesets -> Terrain Tags, and set all the Wall Tile to 1, and Top Wall Tile to 2. You can change those default constant value inside the Plugin Setting -> [Game: Settings] You should have something like this: Now just draw your map normally, and the shadow caster will be automatically detected. This detection is prioritized over the region IDs, which we will talk below. Method 2: Region IDs If you used Khas Advanced Lighting before (which has been deprecated), you pretty well know how this works. Just place the region IDs on top of all the wall you drew as the height. You can change the region IDs range in the Plugin Settings as well. Spoiler: Custom Lights You can create various custom lightings for your project, with different image and default settings, using Plugin Settings -> [Lights: Custom]. A custom light template currently look like this: You also can just copy my custom lights to your project! Simply copy & paste it. Spoiler: MZ Plugin Commands MZ Plugin Command: Set Light Parameters: Blank settings will remain the same, transition type is optional. Leave the Light Id section blank to target the event that call this command. Set Map Ambient: Spoiler: MV Plugin Commands You can shorten the eventId for the current lighting (lighting of the event which call the commands) by using a simple "=" instead of typing it id. This is the same as "leave the id blank for this event" in MZ plugin command. ambient offset offsetx offsety radius angle tint status shadow Spoiler: Animations Spoiler: Automatic Animating Animation that consistently happens with lights throughout the scene. There are currently 2 implemented: Flicker and Pulse. Spoiler: Flicker Flicker animation makes the light randomly flick. Flicker Intensity, range from 1 to 10, determines the opacity that light achieves when flickering. At 1, it is ~90% opacity. Flicker Speed determines the frequency of light flickering. Spoiler: Pulse Pulse animation makes the light shrink constantly up and down. Pulse R…

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Started by Shora Dec 25, 2020, 04:02 PM 656 posts Page 2 of 33 View original ↗

Shora

#21 Jan 6, 2021, 01:57 PM Source

Underserial said:
is there a option that u do also shadows for the characters?
Like if i have a fireplace it throws a shadow for the char and events ?!

like:
View attachment 174359
Currently, the answer is no. Despite i can implement it, it could be hard to maintain a plugin with so many feature. Maybe in the future ;).
id0

#22 Feb 4, 2021, 01:34 AM Source

Shora said:
Currently, the answer is no. Despite i can implement it, it could be hard to maintain a plugin with so many feature. Maybe in the future ;).

I have to say that wall shadows are not very useful because a lot of people just use parallax, when there are no walls at all, because tilesets are not used. But character shadows make only one plugin: `` Exhydra Basic Shadows ''(something like this) and it works, but outdated and there are some conflicts. This situation makes me very sad.
Puffer

#23 Feb 4, 2021, 02:23 AM Source

id0 said:
I have to say that wall shadows are not very useful because a lot of people just use parallax, when there are no walls at all, because tilesets are not used. But character shadows make only one plugin: `` Exhydra Basic Shadows ''(something like this) and it works, but outdated and there are some conflicts. This situation makes me very sad.
I disagree heavily. I use mainly parallax for basically many years now but I still have to follow the rpg maker grid rule simply because RPG maker was designed with that thing in mind, use it differently and it breaks pretty much instantly. Not to mention how performance and file size heavy it is to use parallax on every map. Also the whole point of the plugin is to add dynamic lighting for basically the minimum amount of work. If you are going the parallax you might as well just draw the lighting by yourself lol.
If you want a character shadow plugin why don't you just hire someone to port the plugin or make it for you? It's really unfair how you call it not very useful just because "apple" isn't "orange".
id0

#24 Feb 4, 2021, 09:48 AM Source

Puffer said:
I disagree heavily. I use mainly parallax for basically many years now but I still have to follow the rpg maker grid rule simply because RPG maker was designed with that thing in mind, use it differently and it breaks pretty much instantly. Not to mention how performance and file size heavy it is to use parallax on every map. Also the whole point of the plugin is to add dynamic lighting for basically the minimum amount of work. If you are going the parallax you might as well just draw the lighting by yourself lol.
If you want a character shadow plugin why don't you just hire someone to port the plugin or make it for you? It's really unfair how you call it not very useful just because "apple" isn't "orange".
You don't undersnad what you taking about. This I made in MV with QMap and OCRam lighning. Performace is great, and all I need it's not gtitchy shadows.
Puffer

#25 Feb 4, 2021, 04:47 PM Source

id0 said:
You don't undersnad what you taking about. This I made in MV with QMap and OCRam lighning. Performace is great, and all I need it's not gtitchy shadows.
Well then why don't you just get someone to port those plugins for you lol? It's like you go to an orange shop and complain that they don't sell apple. Two things are designed to fit their own purpose and scenario so that they would get utilize the best. You are making yourself sound like such a choosing beggar. Just because it's not useful to you doesn't mean it's not useful to others.
id0

#26 Feb 4, 2021, 05:45 PM Source

Puffer said:
Well then why don't you just get someone to port those plugins for you lol? It's like you go to an orange shop and complain that they don't sell apple. Two things are designed to fit their own purpose and scenario so that they would get utilize the best. You are making yourself sound like such a choosing beggar. Just because it's not useful to you doesn't mean it's not useful to others.
You already have KHAS shadows for your tilesets, there's another one, but for events shadows are only one and old. What the god damn apples. Don't talk nonsense.
Sodium89

#27 Feb 4, 2021, 06:19 PM Source

I don't think there's any point in talking about this. Shora said they can't do character shadows at the moment. Why are you asking them to do it when they said they can't? Besides, there can be multiple plugins that do the same thing because there's always going to be people who will use either of the two. No plugin goes unused. This one is supposed to be faster and better than Khas lighting so I think it's justified that there's support for wall shadows. Not everyone uses parallax maps.
rafman2k

#28 Feb 5, 2021, 03:45 AM Source

This looks very promising . When it comes time for the GUI I recommend looking at what was done with the immersion project and LNM_LightingTool
Having different light types such as Ambient ,Torch ,Bonfire along with flickering and pulse options could work well.
ddblue

#29 Jun 22, 2021, 04:16 PM Source

This plugin would be a dream for many of us, and I'm sure we'd be happy to pay to support its development as well.

To put it simply, we just want a Khas Lighting Plugin that works without the jitter issues when combined with parallax. I know there's massive appetite for this, as it's been asked for for literally years now.
rafman2k

#30 Jun 22, 2021, 06:57 PM Source

Yes for sure shora should setup a Patreon to help fund the development . I’m currently part of some other patreons for plugin developers.
Shora

#31 Jun 28, 2021, 02:56 PM Source

Update 28/6/2021:

- As you may have known, I have been developing this plugin for a long time. 4 times of rewriting, thousand attempts of debugging in total. I’m very experienced in developing the main features of this plugin: lights and shadows, and I also have optimized them as much as possible (really is, more than you could imagine). However, at this time, I have both the desires: to release this plugin to the public, and to implement a new feature: Animation. Thus, I have been rushing the animation part, instead of slowly integrating this with the old features, I just did it like, “if it works, it works”, and focused more on the user interface part: automatic/routed/looped rotation etc. And the result, as you may have guessed, screwed up my previous optimizations. Though it is still usable, and the performance is not that bad (there were a few benchmarks of my friend in this version), but it INSULTS MY EFFORTS made my proudest optimization tricks go to waste under various circumstances (for example: if any of the pulse, animating or rotating angle value is different from zero and it would break). This problem causes me countless headaches, demotivation and thus makes me unable to put out any new work on the plugin for a few months (aside from the personal causes).

- But now, determined to face this challenge, I’m beginning to rewrite the animation feature ONCE AGAIN, now with performance in mind. You can freely contact me to try out the full-feature version, which is worse in performance but should still be working as intended (I hope).

- TL;DR: Rushed animation features, screwed up old optimization. From now on I’m trying to rewrite that part, but you can still contact me to test the old version. Perhaps it's not that bad, my friend told me.
Puffer

#32 Jun 28, 2021, 03:04 PM Source

Shora said:
and the performance is not that bad (there were a few benchmarks of my friend in this version)
Hey everyone, I'm "that friend" here. FYI, here is the benchmark result from a March's build: Almost 600 lights, all with dynamic shadow, running in the same map/window(1920x1080). Around 4gb of ram usages, 30-40% CPU and GPU usages.(My spec is GTX 1060 6gb, i3 8100 and 8gb of ram single channel) I would say things are looking pretty good so far optimization wise. Just some bug fix and I'm sure the beta release will be fairly stable for everyone to check out. We just need to wait until Shora sorts out his personal matters first.
Anyone

#33 Jun 28, 2021, 05:52 PM Source

I've tested the last version before this one, and the plugin is looking very promising!

I'll definitely test this latest version and see what suggestions I can find. It's good to hear you're working on it again - this is the one lighting plugin MZ definitely needs.
rafman2k

#34 Jun 28, 2021, 08:08 PM Source

Sounds promising indeed can’t wait to see the first release . Any chance this will run on MV ?
Shora

#35 Jun 29, 2021, 02:39 AM Source

Anyone said:
I've tested the last version before this one, and the plugin is looking very promising!

I'll definitely test this latest version and see what suggestions I can find. It's good to hear you're working on it again - this is the one lighting plugin MZ definitely needs.
Thanks for your support :D. Your feedback and suggestion is very helpful to me :).

rafman2k said:
Sounds promising indeed can’t wait to see the first release . Any chance this will run on MV ?
Indeed, the older version of this plugin was developed for MV. But i have converted it to MZ and working in this new engine for quite a long time (about 10 months), and all the syntax i used is supported in ES6 only. But don't worry, it not impossible, just take some time to converting syntax back and support canvas fallback. I definitely working on MV version when release out MZ version. You still can contact me for trying MV version though :), old but still working as intended.
E_reward_X

#36 Jun 29, 2021, 04:26 PM Source

Shora said:
Update 28/6/2021:

- As you may have known, I have been developing this plugin for a long time. 4 times of rewriting, thousand attempts of debugging in total. I’m very experienced in developing the main features of this plugin: lights and shadows, and I also have optimized them as much as possible (really is, more than you could imagine). However, at this time, I have both the desires: to release this plugin to the public, and to implement a new feature: Animation. Thus, I have been rushing the animation part, instead of slowly integrating this with the old features, I just did it like, “if it works, it works”, and focused more on the user interface part: automatic/routed/looped rotation etc. And the result, as you may have guessed, screwed up my previous optimizations. Though it is still usable, and the performance is not that bad (there were a few benchmarks of my friend in this version), but it INSULTS MY EFFORTS made my proudest optimization tricks go to waste under various circumstances (for example: if any of the pulse, animating or rotating angle value is different from zero and it would break). This problem causes me countless headaches, demotivation and thus makes me unable to put out any new work on the plugin for a few months (aside from the personal causes).

- But now, determined to face this challenge, I’m beginning to rewrite the animation feature ONCE AGAIN, now with performance in mind. You can freely contact me to try out the full-feature version, which is worse in performance but should still be working as intended (I hope).

- TL;DR: Rushed animation features, screwed up old optimization. From now on I’m trying to rewrite that part, but you can still contact me to test the old version. Perhaps it's not that bad, my friend told me.
please do your best.......
Siul

#37 Jun 30, 2021, 10:54 AM Source

Your work is amazing, Shora

A noob question here, is it possible to implement something like tile lighting or similar (as Ocram's lighting ie)? If it's not, could it be compatible with his lighting plugins? I'd like to have your awesome light dinamics and his tile lightings ^^'

Anyway, good job :D
Shora

#38 Jul 9, 2021, 05:41 PM Source

Neptrone said:
please do your best.......
Thanks for your encouragement :D.

Siul said:
Your work is amazing, Shora

A noob question here, is it possible to implement something like tile lighting or similar (as Ocram's lighting ie)? If it's not, could it be compatible with his lighting plugins? I'd like to have your awesome light dinamics and his tile lightings ^^'

Anyway, good job :D
Thanks :).
As for your question, implementing a tile-lighting is actually easy to do (it just scan though region id and add light for those positions). But, i don't think i will implement this, since my lighting plugin were focused in quality and dynamical. So the lights is easy to control, while still automatic and at best quality as possible. Instead of tile-depended lighting, i would like to make an entire map light, drawn as a single png, and used it on the map (or split it out to small parts and use different parts to make an unique map's lighting. With this method, you will still can creatively manipulate your lighting shape, and the lights will still at it best quality with my plugin blending and animating, and if you wish, ambient shadowing without you to manually draw the shadow shapes :D.
That all my answers, thanks for your support! :D
fizzly

#39 Aug 4, 2021, 11:59 AM Source

Wow, I can't wair for this! Simply amazing job.
DrBuni

#40 Aug 7, 2021, 01:19 AM Source

This looks super cool. Shame the MV version isn't the focus, though.