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avatar_alex76gr

Everything looks better in scanlines!

Started by alex76gr, 12:48, 31 May 14

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alex76gr

Hi guys!

I created a collection of CPC game loading screens which i have enhanced by applying a scanlines effect.
The technique belongs to Daniel who owns a site for Amiga graphics and who yesterday uploaded the instructions of how to replicate the effect in Photoshop.
Here you can see his instructions
Amiga Graphics Archive – Amiga Graphics Archive

I really loved the way the old CRT monitors were displaying graphics and i always thought that scanlines were a beautiful side-effect of them.
Here you can see some samples of what you will find in the collection


There is a total of 75 pictures in 1536x1080 resolution and you can download them all as a zip file from here
Download CPC_scanlines.zip from Sendspace.com - send big files the easy way

In order to see clearly the scanlines effect you must zoom at 100%.
You can use these pictures as you want and i hope you like them.
Cheers!
I still believe that i got my myopia from the green GT-65 monitor, but i can't prove it! :)

SyX

They look very similar a how my CPC looks in my old PAL CRT (i miss you xDDD)... i would love having this filter in a CPC emulator :)

PD: I can not prove too, but i'm sure i got my myopia from that damn green monitor xDDD

alex76gr

#2
Yes, that would be bliss!
Quotei would love having this filter in a CPC emulator
I still believe that i got my myopia from the green GT-65 monitor, but i can't prove it! :)

Phi2x

#3
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Phi2x

#4
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twox

Quote from: SyX on 14:40, 31 May 14
They look very similar a how my CPC looks in my old PAL CRT (i miss you xDDD)... i would love having this filter in a CPC emulator :)

PD: I can not prove too, but i'm sure i got my myopia from that damn green monitor xDDD
You can have a scanlines effect in caprice32 emulator.

tastefulmrship

Dragonninja in WinAPE2A18 with PAL Emulation enabled...


arnoldemu

Quote from: Jonah (Tasteful Mr) Ship on 16:53, 31 May 14
Dragonninja in WinAPE2A18 with PAL Emulation enabled...
This got me thinking. I would expect to see pal effects with a modulator because the r g b from the CPC would be turned into a pal signal and the pal television would decode it. So you would potentially get scanlines and colour blending from pal. But the amstrad monitor takes r g b directly so we should not see colour artifacts or bleeding. We do see patterns in mode 2 because the horizontal resolution of the monitor is not quite high enough. So these filters are only accurate if used with a modulator and rf signal.
My games. My Games
My website with coding examples: Unofficial Amstrad WWW Resource

Gryzor

Great samples, and a great tutorial. I think the end results on his tutorial are a bit exaggerated (less blur needed, probably), but lovely.

WinAPE's PAL emulation is really good, too!

Devilmarkus

That's why I implemented CRT emulation long time ago in JavaCPC ;)

RGB-Split + Pal emulation + Bilinear filter:


When you put your ear on a hot stove, you can smell how stupid you are ...

Amstrad CPC games in your webbrowser

JavaCPC Desktop Full Release

Devilmarkus

Another example without PAL emulation:


When you put your ear on a hot stove, you can smell how stupid you are ...

Amstrad CPC games in your webbrowser

JavaCPC Desktop Full Release

Phi2x

#11
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Phi2x

#12
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Token

Nice.  :)
I also like that framemeister rendering. Lovely scanlines colors.



SyX

Quote from: twox on 15:52, 31 May 14
You can have a scanlines effect in caprice32 emulator.
As phi2x said scanlines is only a part of the equation for perfect CRT emulation... and not the most important.

For example, in the Pac-Man loading screen the red and yellow pattern in the gloves gives a solid orange in the CRT and the same happen with the ghosts; because mode 1 (or 2) dithering with colours with similar luminance get mixed perfectly in a PAL CRT.

ralferoo

Quote from: SyX on 18:41, 31 May 14
For example, in the Pac-Man loading screen the red and yellow pattern in the gloves gives a solid orange in the CRT and the same happen with the ghosts; because mode 1 (or 2) dithering with colours with similar luminance get mixed perfectly in a PAL CRT.
This is because the dot pitch is 16MHz or 8MHz for mode 2 and mode 1 respectively and the PAL colour clock is 4.43MHz, so the colour can only change every 1.8 pixels in mode 1.

HOWEVER. As arnorldemu said, I'll repeat because it got overlooked:
Quote from: arnoldemu on 17:19, 31 May 14
This got me thinking. I would expect to see pal effects with a modulator because the r g b from the CPC would be turned into a pal signal and the pal television would decode it. So you would potentially get scanlines and colour blending from pal. But the amstrad monitor takes r g b directly so we should not see colour artifacts or bleeding. We do see patterns in mode 2 because the horizontal resolution of the monitor is not quite high enough. So these filters are only accurate if used with a modulator and rf signal.

There's not much to add to that. The monitor sees the RGB signal changing at 8MHz or 16MHz exactly at the rate the signal is changing - the analogue electron gun reacts instantly to the change in RGB signal, the only slight blurring in mode 2 is because the grille isn't fine enough.

For the real CPC effect, you'd be using the Amstrad monitor and so not see the horizonal blurring effect in mode 1 or 0. :)

Phi2x

#16
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alex76gr

Yes, i use a bit different way to recreate the effect but it's all based on Amiga Graphics Archive.
Here is what i am doing using Photoshop.

1] First create a 1x2 pixels pattern to emulate the scanlines.
Make sure the background color is transparent and the value of the black is 255.

Once you have made the pattern go to "Edit" menu, select "Define Pattern" and give it a name like "scanline".

2] Create a 6x4 pixels pattern to emulate the shadow mask.

Based on the RGB model the color values for the first line are: 125,0,0 - 0,125,0 - 0,0,125 - 255,0,0 - 0,255,0 - 0,0,255
The second line values are: 255,0,0 - 0,255,0 - 0,0,255 - 125,0,0 - 0,125,0 - 0,0,125
The third line is the same with second and the fourth line is the same with the first.
When it is ready go to "Edit" menu and select "Define pattern". Give it a name you like.

3] Open Winape and grab a screenshot of some graphics.
Make sure that you have unchecked the "Half Size Display" option in the Display settings.
Also make sure you have checked the "Render both pixel lines" option.
This should produce a 768x540 PNG image.

4] Open the image in Photoshop.
Go to "Image -> Mode" menu and select "RGB Color".

5] Go to "Layer -> New" menu and select "Layer from background".
Go to "Layer -> Layer Style" and select "Blending options".
Click on "Pattern Overlay" and select the scanline pattern you created.
In "Blend Mode" select "Multiply" and leave the opacity at 100%.

6] Go to Layer menu and select "Flatten Image".
Go to "Image -> Image Size". Resize the image at exactly the double of its original size.
For example if the original size is 768x540, change it to 1536x1080.
Make sure "Scale styles" and "Constrain Proportions" is checked.
In "Resample Image" select "Nearest Neighbor".

7] Go to "Filter -> Blur -> Gaussian Blur", in "Radius" value enter 1 and press OK.

8] It's time to apply the shadow mask effect.
Go to "Layer" menu and create a new "Layer from Background".
Go to "Layer -> Layer Style -> Blending Options", click on "Pattern Overlay" and select the shadow mask pattern you have previously created.
In "Blend mode" choose "Color Dodge" and set the opacity at 25%. Press OK.

9] Go to "Layer" menu and select "Flatten Image".

10] At this time our image should look a bit dark after all these effects we applied.
Go to "Image -> Adjustments -> Levels".
Set the "Input Levels" values at 10 - 1.0 - 137 and press OK.

That's it!
I still believe that i got my myopia from the green GT-65 monitor, but i can't prove it! :)

Executioner

It's not possible to do accurate PAL emulation, certainly not with the resultions which are currently standard or the way LCD monitors display pixels. WinAPE PAL emulation is just a quick and dirty method to produce a similar effect to VICE without taking stacks of processor time.

mr_lou

Thread revival.

I'm about to record a lot of videos from my Amstrad CPC464, and would really like to apply a scanline effect to them.

The XRGB-Mini Framemeister can add such an effect for me. And it does look cool, but I don't feel it looks very CPC'ish.

Therefor I'm instead thinking about the option of applying an image as an overlay, either in the video-editor for post-processing, or else as an option the viewer can turn on/off as he pleases.

And that's why I'm bringing back this thread.

Can someone make me a 1280x720 pixel overlay in PNG?  :)
This 1280x720 video is an Amstrad CPC image that has first been cut to 240p and then multiplied by 3. The result is that each line is drawn 3 times.

The Framemeister emulates scanlines by making every 3rd line darker. But even though I can apply blur and also set how much darker the 3rd line should be, I just don't feel it looks CPC'ish. It does look cool, but just not very CPC-like.

I've read the tutorial and sadly see that it asks me to multiply the image by a factor of 4.
I could do this, by cutting the image to 270p and then up-scaling to 1080p - but then I can't get 50 fps, because my recorder doesn't support 1080p50fps. And 50 fps really takes priority.

Therefor I'm "stuck" with 720p.

So what do the experts say? Is it possible to create a PNG overlay image that gives my 720p videos a semi-realistic CPC-look?
Or is it best to settle for the Framemeister approach because it's only 720p?

robcfg

It would be nice to have a couple of screenshots, with and without scanlines, to see the effect and suggest a solution.

mr_lou

I found this one:

http://i.imgur.com/VXcVUTX.png

Gonna try with that one first then.

mr_lou

Quote from: mr_lou on 20:18, 28 January 16
I found this one:

http://i.imgur.com/VXcVUTX.png

Gonna try with that one first then.

Alright, tried it. Looks great, really lifts up the screenshots, but I still feel something is missing. I just can't figure out what it is...

robcfg

If you post some of your tests maybe we can help you figure out what's the touch they need  :D

mr_lou

Yes, I'll do that. It's just a matter of merging the image with whatever overlay it is.

I can't take a screenshot of what I'm seeing, because it's running of a TV from blu-ray. I'm not actually using a blu-ray emulator on my PC.
Adding the overlay is trivial though.

In my project I can even offer the reader to select between several scanline-overlays.

I'll have to dig up my CPC monitor from storage and take a closer look in regards of how the RGBs are placed. Some overlays place them directly in line with each other, while over overlays (like the description linked to in the first post of this thread) puts them a bit off in relation to each other.

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