/tg/Station 13

So there's been a discussion in coderbus that has led to an idea about using the color var. This has been tossed around a bunch but basically it's about using the color var differently.

Currently the color var by default is unbelievably terrible and has several restrictions. I'm not sure what this is called, it might be MULTIPLYING.
Pros:
-Works with just a hex value, so it's easy to set up

Cons:
-Main color has to be completely white
-Does not allow and sort of lighting or highlights
-Leaves a sickly grey with just about anything already pale

This is completely unacceptable. I refuse to work with this, it's just way too restrictive and is a huge step backwards. It HAPPENS to work decently enough with humans when I tried to greyscale them with this method.
Here are some results with humans, this one being Caucasian 2:
Left: Original, Mid: Greyscale, Right: Results with hex value #fcccb3


Again, it is a COINCIDENCE it works with humans. The results are... much less acceptable with other sprites. And even here you can see some grey in the outline I simply can't do anything about.




JStheguy mentioned an alternative, apparently something called ADDING. It does not just add on color to your mob, rather it changes the grey colors themselves, starting from the middle point of luminosity (50%, or in this case 120 out of 240).

Pros:
-Allows for lighting and highlights
-No grey leftovers, or much less noticeable amounts

Cons:
-Currently no one knows how to do this, could be significantly more difficult to set up.

I desperately need someone to figure out how this even works so that I can follow their steps and replicate it. Without this, greyscaling humans is going to leave us with terrible results, and will make greyscaling just about anything else impossible.

Here's how its greyscale counterpart may look:
Left: Original, Mid: Greyscale, Right: Results unknown




I could also just be mixing these words, don't mind that I'm retarded.

SEND HELP PLEASE.

So apparently from what I'm being told, adding colors is basically what we had back when humans were orange and had a gradient of skin colors before byond even had an actual color var. Apparently this is so slow it's pretty much the reason why they became invisible for a moment when they were being updated, like new players or clones.

So while it's *possible* it's so bad it's best not to use it.

DAMNIT.

RIP hair that wasn't just blocks of solid color

WJohnston, it's not adding, it's overlay.

If this feature is so important for you, make a thread on the byond forums and ask for it. Either they can tell you how to do it, or they can implement the right mode in the rendering engine clientside.

https://tgstation13.org/phpBB/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=145

I haven't messed with the BYOND's color var before but I'd recommend getting GIMP and messing around with the layer modes. Create two layers. The bottom layer is the color and the top is one of the layer modes(most likely with a grey-scale image).

Here is guide to the layer modes in GIMP(with examples and equations).
http://docs.gimp.org/en/gimp-concepts-layer-modes.html

I also have a guide(with missing images) on the bay forums where I use a hardlight layer to make a jumpsuit.
http://baystation12.net/forums/viewtopi ... =6&t=10863

I hope this helps.