[FF7PC-98] Project Blackfan (V0.35)

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Wow, those are great. They don't look painted anymore like they do with the regular clean up filters.
 
New Project Name: Project Blackfan!

and here is a full comparison of the new and old technique described above.
http://www.mediafire.com/?2kbecfc817f8bu4
this download includes the full png image for each method as well as the in game files for use in the mod path for both methods so that you can try the difference in game!

Tip: the best way to compare the images would be to open them up in an image editing program, such as Photoshop, and put them both in the same image in different layers. This way you can toggle the layers on and off and see the difference clearly.

also made some small edits to the main page to be more descriptive and less messy

enjoy!
 
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Judging by the size of your first post it looks like this will take a while, and judging by the magnitude of it, it seems more appropriate in Projects instead of Mods.

Are you planning to update all of the files using Perfectum, or just pick up where you left off with the old way?
 
I am updating everything using the new process, it doesn't take much time at all. If you notice in the progress portion on the main page, next to a few of the entries under finished, it shows a little side note that says [updated], these are the images that have already been updated with perfectum. Funny thing is I started this thread in projects and sl1982 moved it to mods. Hopefully it can find a stable home in one of the two  :-D
 
I am updating everything using the new process, it doesn't take much time at all. If you notice in the progress portion on the main page, next to a few of the entries under finished, it shows a little side note that says [updated], these are the images that have already been updated with perfectum. Funny thing is I started this thread in projects and sl1982 moved it to mods. Hopefully it can find a stable home in one of the two  :-D
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Well then, looks like we need to further discuss and define what goes in projects and what goes in mods.  Off to the drawing board...
 
Mods is for anything that has a release. Projects is for WIP's. At least that is how I see it.
 
Well then, looks like we need to further discuss and define what goes in projects and what goes in mods.  Off to the drawing board...
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Is it time for a new thread in "announcements and site development"?

Anyway your right about this being a long term project. At first I could have finished it in maybe 2 months but now with my new smoothing process each layer takes much longer to do. Could be a whole year before I finish depending on how much time I will have to work on this. Overall I feel, as an artist, that I have no choice but to continue on this way rather than the quick and easy route because so many of these scenes look hideous without smoothing and it kinda defeats the purpose of the entire project.
 
Is it time for a new thread in "announcements and site development"?

Anyway your right about this being a long term project. At first I could have finished it in maybe 2 months but now with my new smoothing process each layer takes much longer to do. Could be a whole year before I finish depending on how much time I will have to work on this. Overall I feel, as an artist, that I have no choice but to continue on this way rather than the quick and easy route because so many of these scenes look hideous without smoothing and it kinda defeats the purpose of the entire project.
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Nah, we'll just figure it out behind the scenes, descriptions just need some ironing out.
 
and here is a full comparison of the new and old technique described above.

Firstly you can check this image shack album to get a quick idea of the changes, it should say which is old and which is new in your address bar.
http://img855.imageshack.us/g/oldd.jpg/
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Hate to say it yarlson, but comparing the oldd.jpg and newsl.jpg, and I can say that oldd.jpg looks much better.

The new one looks less detailed, and has a yellow tinge.
What do other ppl think?
 
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like i said if you really want to see it correctly try downloading the file rather than just glancing at the imageshack album. I should actually probably take it down because its not an accurate depiction at all. I am noticing right now that there is a great range of discoloration in the jpeg version of the new image so I can understand your analysis. I am saying this because you quoted the image shack album, however if your going off of the original pngs and you still think it doesn't work well also try it in game. Honestly it looks a lot better, it adds detail, kills the blotch effect and makes lettering and numbers look much more crisp. It also works wonders on lighting and water layers making them look vivid and realistic. Also keep in mind the images show up differently in game then they do in a photo viewer so you really need to see it in game before you can conclusively decide which is better. If you still don't like it please give me a detailed description as to why and I'll see what I can do. IMO it makes a pretty drastic difference.

edit: I just removed the imageshack link and am proceeding to delete the album out of fear of this misconception spreading. Please Timber, take a look at the file and tell me what you think again.
http://www.mediafire.com/?2kbecfc817f8bu4
 
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edit: I just removed the imageshack link and am proceeding to delete the album out of fear of this misconception spreading. Please Timber, take a look at the file and tell me what you think again.
http://www.mediafire.com/?2kbecfc817f8bu4
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No probs, I had a look at the file, and the result is the same.

I think the only reason it looks less blotchy is because it is blurry.
And the colours look off, for example the wall beside cloud looks really yellow and unnatural, especially compared to original.

Here are some in-game PNGs for people to compare:

Original: http://justincoutts.com/files/ss/Final_Fantasy_VII-2011-04-08_15.27.25.png
yarLson Method 1: http://justincoutts.com/files/ss/Final_Fantasy_VII-2011-04-08_15.17.24.png
yarLson Method 2: http://justincoutts.com/files/ss/Final_Fantasy_VII-2011-04-08_15.21.59.png
 
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Well for starters, your actually wrong about the blur because there is absolutely no blur effect used, on the contrary if you examine the png's closely you will see that the new method actually contains more detail. To test this easily you can zoom in on any given piece in both images and compare, the old one will start to pixelate sooner. Also as bloodshot said, it looks painted in the old method.

I can see what your saying about the color, if you have a huge problem with the color being too vibrant, its a very simple fix, can be fixed without even having to reconvert the files so that's no issue and it shouldn't be the basis for a decision. I am going to stick with my Perfectum unless there is a major consensus that I shouldn't. This is just one image, in places like inside the Shinra building the drastic difference is pretty straight forward. I plan on releasing more comparisons once I have a fair amount of them redone.

edit:just as an example of how quickly the color can be fixed. All I would have to do is run the same adjustments I made here as a batch on palmer's outputs and the extra color will be gone. This is the same image you posted up.
http://img822.imageshack.us/img822/8767/finalfantasyvii20110408.png

also I just finished correcting the color of all the images I have used perfectum on and I have taken the extra vibrance adjustment out of my action so there should be no more color problems.
 
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I am in no way an expert about this so I trust the author's judgement on which looks better in the end.

Personally, I don't see a very big difference although I think I like the new method image a little better.

Keep it up!  ;)
 
Just wait and see, it makes much more of a difference on certain areas, for example areas with a lot text and highly detailed environments. Sometimes after Perfect resize does its thing there are left some spots which are kinda hard to describe but they tend to appear at the edge of words and certain structures. You could almost call it a blurry or pixelated look but that doesn't describe it entirely accurately. In any case it isn't very pretty. Some images have more of these spots than others thus Perfectum has a much more profound and noticeable effect on some backgrounds than others, but overall it removes the blotched effect without blurring anything in ALL the images which is something I have been trying to figure out for a good while now. Also I am using a nice new trick with grain to actually add visible detail to the image, but I bet you can't tell that there is any grain added at all  :wink:

I can see what you mean when you say you don't notice much of a difference but I guess its a world of difference to me because I have been working with so many of these and to finally see these issues disappear is outstanding.
 
so I remember reading in the rules that it's okay to double post after 48 hours or something so I hope there is no problem. I have good news and bad news to report. Good news is I am almost completely finished with Gold Saucer and it will be finished very soon. However the bad news is somebody spilled beer all over my comp last night frying virtually everything while I was over at my girlfriends house. My roommate was having a party and some assholes went into my room (i don't have a lock but that will change now) This isn't completely terrible, for one, because I back up my work onto a portible harddrive after every work session and also because I backed up my OS and all my programs just a few days ago so nothing is lost. Also because that computer was really getting dated and I've been saving for a new build for a while. I need a little more money to build what I want to but until then I am going to see if I can borrow a comp from a friend. Once I finally the system I'm after it should help speed up the work flow. X6 core all the way  ;D

if your wondering how I am able to write this, I am writing from my palm pre.
 
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Double posting is allowed in a project thread if you are the author.
 
"This isn't completely terrible, for one, because I back up my work onto a portible harddrive after every work session and also because I backed up my OS and all my programs just a few days ago so nothing is lost."

Thank goodness. I can't begin to recount the number of projects I've seen get erased because the creator didn't back things up.
 
I've only been able to work on this a little bit in the past week or so. I still don't have a PC of my own anymore and I've been working at a friends house. I have got my hands on an old p4 machine for now and I will be upgrading it a bit with some spare parts, so it should be up and running any day now. My schedule is a little hectic as I have been trying to find another part time job, but things should settle down in a couple of weeks and I'll be able to make some decent progress again. Just wanna keep everyone posted.
 
okay so far its been a real pain trying to work on this since my PC got fried. The computer im working on is pretty crappy and I can barely even get photoshop to run. As soon as I have a fresh new PC I will continue working on this, until then I have to call temporary hiatus because this is killing me. I'll considered releasing what I have of gold saucer, its just about finished anyway. If I do it"ll be in the next couple days. For now I have to get going, sorry for the stream of consistently bad news. Hopefully I can change that very soon.

THIS PROJECT IS NOT DEAD, AND WILL NOT DIE  :mrgreen:
 
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