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Interesting article on making LCDs look like fuzzy CRTs
DJ_Izumi:
--- Quote from: RayB on May 03, 2009, 04:49:24 pm ---If the monitor/tv sharpness back then was equal to a multisync PC monitor or LCD, where you can see very square pixels with no bleed, I can assure you I (and other artists) would NOT have used techniques like I point out above. We used those because we knew most people's TVs would have a certain degree of pixel bleed/blend!
--- End quote ---
Lots of PC games used gradiants like that back in the 16, 64 and 256 color days, even though they ran on CGA and VGA monitors.
http://linuxdevcenter.com/linux/2003/02/03/graphics/hq1-0.original.png
RandyT:
To disagree a bit with RayB, they still would have used this method. What choice did they really have? They would have and did use the same technique, but with much less success.
On systems with more available colors, it can be used to greater effect. VGA screens (EGA, CGA) still had very coarse dot pitches at that time, which meant that that some blending was still possible. Dithering can work extremely well on an analog VGA display because the color changes can be so much more subtle. Just keep in mind also that the importance of blending goes down as the number of simultaneous colors that can be displayed is increased.
But those old displays, even with cleaner inputs, still shared much more in common with standard TV's than do the more recent hi-resolution tube displays. And as different as the old tubes are to the new tubes, they are still a hell of a lot more similar than tubes vs LCD panels. With the perfect, sharp-edged pixel representation of LCD's, the only real option is to have enough of these perfect pixels (or advanced algorithms) to decently simulate the interaction between adjacent pixels as would have occurred on the old analog displays.
I haven't really been all that impressed with most of the attempts so far. I don't think the resolution of most LCD panels can yet match what will be required to do this really well.
RandyT
Xiaou2:
Ray is correct... and being a game artists, he has more weight to his argument than
NON ARTISTS.
While some designers decided to leave their graphics more blocky and cartoony...
there were many who did utilize the faults of old CRT arcade monitors to create special
effects such as color blending, edge smoothing, texture, transparency and more.
severdhed:
--- Quote from: Xiaou2 on May 03, 2009, 02:09:26 am ---Look like crap? Who is the one with the OPINIONS again???
People who set out to make LCDs look like CRTs, do not seek to make LCDs look
like crap. They set out to REPLICATE the actual INTENDED DISPLAY IMAGES.
LCDs " CHANGE " the way that the picture is displayed for these older games... which
were NEVER meant to be viewed on such high res monitors.
People want to see the games displayed as close to the Original look as possible.
Many will buy CRTs to do this... but everyone knows that CRTs wont last too much longer.
Nobody but the fools think this is a LCD -vs- CRT fight. Because many who use
CRTs also have and love their LCDs. However, as stated.... these same people do not
like their game to look different than it should look. Different from their childhood
memories. Different from the artists designs. Different period.
A game drawn on a lowres arcade monitor does not look Better when viewed on a
high res LCD monitor. It looks Different. In most cases, looks Worse.
--- End quote ---
i never said that i didn't have an opinion...i'm just saying that if using the image from the link..
the right side of that image looks like crap. i dont understand why anyone would want their games to look blurry and out of focus, simply because that is the way it looked 20 years ago using obsolete technology.
Xiaou2:
Well, the article was simulating a primitive home console through a poor composite style
output. Its a LOT different than Arcade Monitor Simulation.
One thing to note in that pic, is that the sky is more blended rather than solid
bands of colors. Also, The Hills are smoother, rather than sharp blocky edges.