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Zaekyr's Real World palette

Posted: Wed Jul 06, 2011 8:20 pm
by Zaekyr
Zaekyr's Real World Palette (though it could be called.....?nonflorescent?)

I created this palette because Generally's default palette was rather hard on the eyes

for me(i.e. too bright).Everything except road,snow,ice colors,and some "utility" colors

(fuel/damage/ect) have been changed.The colors have been slightly changed in hue in many cases

and "cooled" by reducing saturation/luminosity.I also didn't like the monotone quality of

grass,mud,and sand so I made mine color by color,changing the HSL numbers to get correct

progressive shading and yet make each color different enough to create a mottled pattern which

looks far more realistic,there are no "batch changes".Another rather noticible difference is the

sky,my palette has softer changes in the blue ranges with far less banding.The clouds are bright

on the edges instead of the middle which is shaded(darker) by the cloud itself,something I have

seen no one else do.The overall shadow effect of the palette is consistant helping sell the

realistic appearance.Which.I also made sure things like walls/buildings,boats/gate,windows/soft

wall/hay bale/roof tops,ect,were better defined helping them to stand out from other track

colors/objects.

One thing that might be a little disconcerting is the color of the walls and buildings.I

gave them some color to help differentiate them from tarmac.I know in different areas of my

country(U.S.A.) structural concrete and road surface concrete tend to differ in other

ways.Locally for me the streets are more grey and walls/buildings tend to have the color I have

used.I have thought about making another version inverting that difference making tarmac with

some color(similar to my current walls/buildings) and making buildings with no color.This idea

would be more work and depends entirely on whether anyone is interested.

Also I have not made a "safe pit" version at all.I kinda figure those that want them that

way will modify that themselves(small mod after all).Plus,from my understanding of Generally car

physics they would rev/screech alot on the required high grip high slowdown surface.I have

considered my own version of "safe pit" by using snow/ice color ranges instead(obviously a

problem with "road kick" debris potentially).I have thought a version like that would work well

for most racing categories except maybe some rally.In that way it could be a circuit/road

course/oval palette.Along with a possible modification of oil to more of a kerb grip/slowdown in

some cars since some people use the oil color for them.

The screenshot below isn't the most accurate but can give you an idea of the differences.
Please let me know what you think of my palette.

Hope you enjoy!
Zaekyr

Re: Zaekyr's Real World palette

Posted: Wed Jul 06, 2011 8:22 pm
by Alex
A bit of a problem: there is no screenshot. But it looks promising so I'll test it now.

Re: Zaekyr's Real World palette

Posted: Wed Jul 06, 2011 8:24 pm
by Zaekyr
sorry bout that knew of the file size limit but didn't think of the pixel limit.I had to resize the screenshot.

Re: Zaekyr's Real World palette

Posted: Wed Jul 06, 2011 8:36 pm
by Alex
Ok, I have now tested it and found quite a big flaw: It is too depressing. I mean, there's quite a big border between realism and morbidness, and I think you have struck the latter. Pre-painted cars are way too dark so the red looks more like burgundy and the yellow looks more like a polluted river. I also think the track is too dark in proportion to the sky, so I think you need to make it brighter and experiment with reflections and such. I mean, It's a good try but it makes :gr: feel like Chernobyl if you know what I mean.

Re: Zaekyr's Real World palette

Posted: Wed Jul 06, 2011 8:44 pm
by XYY
Well, I tested it quickly (so don't expect a huge comment), and I can say following things.
I tested the Palette with three tracktypes (city track, normal raceway, road raceway/forest raceway), and I must say that it looked really nice with the forest raceway :yummy:
But for the others, I didn't have such a great feeling. The map is too dark compared to the sky (or was it just because I'm tired? :D ) so that I had a kind of night feeling, which didn't fit to the sky. Also the armco barriers are way too bright, and I'd prefer the sparks when crashing and the pits to be more yellow instead of orange.
But anyway a decent work, :star: :star: :star: :star: :exstar:

Re: Zaekyr's Real World palette

Posted: Wed Jul 06, 2011 8:45 pm
by Zaekyr
I totally understand you and kinda figured some might find it too dark.My eyes are quite light sensitive and I rarely go out without some "shades" on.I know the real world is a bit brighter than this palette but also less flourescent then GR's default palette.It's that brightness that can give me a headache after awhile.So maybe consider this Generally on "shades" :).

Re: Zaekyr's Real World palette

Posted: Mon Jul 11, 2011 1:53 am
by Zaekyr
sorry bout the double post.I went back to look at the armco barriers and yeah they were too bright.Went back to adjust them and the "glass" color changed so I readjusted building colors.Of course since other stuff didnt look right with the new building colors...............................well anyone who works with palettes knows what I'm talking about.I have been reworking my palette because I am a perfectionist(not for everyone else but for my own sake:) ).eventually when I am done I will release version 2 of my real world palette.

New Palette! ZRWv2

Posted: Mon Jul 11, 2011 9:53 pm
by Zaekyr
Hello all,

I think I fixed up my palette really well.I made adjustments to alot of things,most noticibly:clouds,yellow paint,"shadows","wood"(fence,pier,and tree trunk all lightened which looks better to me),and armco barrier/glass/pedestrian bridge(It was hard to get the balance right between them but the end effect uses a hue that appears to shift).I also made alot of small adjustments to improve the overall lighting impression yet kept the darker,easier on the eyes tone.

I decided to get creative with the screenshot of my palette and the default GR palette using a "triangle cut".I am quite sure you can see the differences and realize which is which.

Once again,please give me some feedback cause it definately helps. ;)

Re: Zaekyr's Real World palette

Posted: Tue Jul 12, 2011 7:36 pm
by Alex
This is better but the red and yellows are still lacking in hue if you ask me.

Re: Zaekyr's Real World palette

Posted: Fri Jul 15, 2011 7:30 pm
by Zaekyr
Yeah,the following couple a days I noticed that too Alex.I have been working on the paint,trying to get it closer to road paint.Finding the paint tricky yet.I want to make sure it fits.I also found I could and should greatly improve the mud,dirt, and water.Needless to say I will be posting a third version and it should be really good.

Re: Zaekyr's Real World palette

Posted: Sat Jul 16, 2011 12:15 pm
by Areen
For me it's a little bit too dark and there is too much black elements. Even white line is not already white. Previous version was better ;)

Re: Zaekyr's Real World palette

Posted: Sun Jul 17, 2011 4:47 pm
by Zaekyr
OK,I think I have it now.Made alot of small adjustments and a few big ones.I darkened and desaturated the mud and dirt.Made nice changes to the wood color.Adjusted the grass colors a little to brighten them abit (added color to the shadow).Changed all of the water colors to better hues and tweaked luminosity/saturation for them.I did some "Utube research" to help with paint colors and noticed something.I knew,of course that road paint isn't glossy,but I didn't realize how often red paints (mostly on kerb) tend to be very flat.So I mimicked their appearance and did my best to get a reflective look for the yellow paint.It is hard to simulate sunlight with a limited palette.This is lightened a little bit compared to v2 though it is still darker and much less flourescent than the default palette which was my primary goal.

Please give this one a try and let me know what you think.I probably won't work on palettes much for awhile because I have spent my spare time on it enough for awhile.But I really like feedback because it helps me get closer to perfection. :goodvibes:

Re: Zaekyr's Real World palette

Posted: Tue Jul 19, 2011 8:09 pm
by LongBow
My eyes like it :bg:
I think you quite achieve the effect you were looking for. The only "flaw" I have noticed that a specific white color (I haven't checked the index) which is used for the cars and the people is standing out. It was not desatureated like other colors.
Check the pic...

Re: Zaekyr's Real World palette

Posted: Tue Jul 19, 2011 9:37 pm
by Paw
Are you sure you didn't use custom colored car? Because people also use player's color.

Re: Zaekyr's Real World palette

Posted: Wed Jul 20, 2011 3:37 am
by Zaekyr
The crowd in the stands is pretty strange.I have never seen that.I cannot be sure of the car since that really has to do with which color number was used.I am guessing since colors used in the cars are also used in the crowd that the car is the main culprit.I try to keep all my color values on cars under 200.From the pic I would say that one of the user defined colors is at 255,255,255......Yep,just checked it by setting my test driver colors to max on one user defined color.And that will do it.It didn't look as bad on the jointeffort track.

That is actually a luminance issue.I rarely set any of the color values on cars higher than 200,and then usually it is only one of R,G.or B to acheive a specific color(like a bright yellow or flourescent green).I do not think it is a problem with the palette but a feature.I have never seen a paintjob on a car or any persons clothing that is brighter than the daylight sky.

Re: Zaekyr's Real World palette

Posted: Wed Jul 20, 2011 4:04 pm
by XYY
Crowd at the stands is also different for each race - if you use 6 black cars, the crowd will be mostly black ;)
So if that white was a custom color, that may be the solution ;)

Re: Zaekyr's Real World palette

Posted: Wed Jul 20, 2011 7:29 pm
by LongBow
I was using the original formula and the "second" color was indeed 255,255,255

Re: Zaekyr's Real World palette

Posted: Sun Aug 14, 2011 7:29 pm
by Zaekyr
Ok,I have been making a track and noticing some little things that weren't quite right.So I have made slight adjustments to armco barrier/windows ..... softwall......and yellow paint.This is as much a final version as can be.

Hope you enjoy it!
Zaekyr

Re: Zaekyr's Real World palette

Posted: Mon Aug 15, 2011 10:59 am
by MattyG
Looks really good, i think its the best version yet, keep up the good work my friend ;)

Re: Zaekyr's Real World palette

Posted: Mon Aug 15, 2011 3:37 pm
by Zaekyr
:) thank you MattyG.I'll be making more tracks and more cars pretty steady now that I have GR back :).