Effekseer

[oriongates]

So, I'm trying to import some MV animation sheets into Efekseer effects. I've got the basic process down, but my issue is the size.

After turning a sprite-sheet into an effekseer file and everything positioned in the proper game folders, I go to test things out and the animation proves to be fairly small, requiring significant upscaling in order to get it to the appropriate size on the screen, leading to a lot of pixelation. I tried increasing the scaling in Efekseer but I get a similar issue.

So, I decide to try and increase the sprite-sheet size itself, making the file bigger in photoshop using "bicubic smoother" image resizing in order to get a decent-looking but larger image. At this point the file is 3 times the original size and from a rough eyeballing it looks like it'll be better than what I was seeing before.

Since this means the individual cells are now 576 x 576, I change that in efekseer so that it can process the sheet properly...but the size of the animation on the node doesn't actually change, resulting in an identical apperance despite the much bigger sprite sheet.

This is what the sprite sheet animation looks like at the original 192 x 192 (scaling factor set to 10).

This is the exact same efekseer file, the only change being that I've replaced the image file with the larger one and set the size to 576 x 576 (scaling factor is still 10). It's even the exact same frame.



The two are totally identical despite the larger source image. Anyone know how to deal with this so I can get this sized appropriately without looking terrible?

 

[Lion Blade Soler]

So, I'm trying to import some MV animation sheets into Efekseer effects. I've got the basic process down, but my issue is the size.

After turning a sprite-sheet into an effekseer file and everything positioned in the proper game folders, I go to test things out and the animation proves to be fairly small, requiring significant upscaling in order to get it to the appropriate size on the screen, leading to a lot of pixelation. I tried increasing the scaling in Efekseer but I get a similar issue.

So, I decide to try and increase the sprite-sheet size itself, making the file bigger in photoshop using "bicubic smoother" image resizing in order to get a decent-looking but larger image. At this point the file is 3 times the original size and from a rough eyeballing it looks like it'll be better than what I was seeing before.

Since this means the individual cells are now 576 x 576, I change that in efekseer so that it can process the sheet properly...but the size of the animation on the node doesn't actually change, resulting in an identical apperance despite the much bigger sprite sheet.

This is what the sprite sheet animation looks like at the original 192 x 192 (scaling factor set to 10). View attachment 161905

This is the exact same efekseer file, the only change being that I've replaced the image file with the larger one and set the size to 576 x 576 (scaling factor is still 10). It's even the exact same frame.

View attachment 161906

The two are totally identical despite the larger source image. Anyone know how to deal with this so I can get this sized appropriately without looking terrible?

Looking at the screenshots, I noticed that you are using Linear Interpolation for Filter, so I'm surprised to read that you are getting pixelation. Normally, you get pixelation (especially heavy pixelation) when the Filter is set to Nearest Neighbor, so it's rather odd that you are getting pixelation as the filter is set to Linear Interpolation. The only suggestion that I can think of at the moment is for you to check the settings for Options, Camera Settings, and Recorder (especially the Recorder).

Everytime i try and download this my Antivirus flags it as "Infected web Page"

Your antivirus program is just being protective of your computer. There should be an override on your antivirus program that will allow you to download Effekseer. Even though Effekseer can be trusted and that the developer(s) can be trusted, I recommend for you to do a virus scan on the program and on the files that come with the program just to be on the safe side as the website might not have virus protection.

 

[oriongates]

Looking at the screenshots, I noticed that you are using Linear Interpolation for Filter, so I'm surprised to read that you are getting pixelation. Normally, you get pixelation (especially heavy pixelation) when the Filter is set to Nearest Neighbor, so it's rather odd that you are getting pixelation as the filter is set to Linear Interpolation. The only suggestion that I can think of at the moment is for you to check the settings for Options, Camera Settings, and Recorder (especially the Recorder).

I took a look, but I can't find any settings that seem relevant. The Recorder doesn't seem like it would be involved, isn't that for exporting the file as an image? I'm saving this as a effekseer file in order to use it in MZ, so I don't think that would be involved (correct me if I'm wrong, of course).

A lot of it seems to be because of the sheer amount of magnification I need since this is a screen-filling attack and my resolution is larger than normal (1104 x 624). I find myself needing to magnify it over x25 to fill the screen.

But thinking about it, that's confusing...192 x 192 pixels should be between 15-20% of the screen size, so it shouldn't require more than x6 magnification in order to fill the screen completely. So, I did a test with effekseer at a scaling factor of 1, and that confirms it: Effekseer is actively shrinking the size of the animation. What should be a default of 192 x 192 comes out as more of a 10 x 10



That white box in the middle of the screen is the default output of Efekseer when the scaling factor is set to 1, so it's no wonder things get muddy when I have to magnify it to fill 1104 x 624

Now I just need to figure out how to stop it from doing this...


EDIT: Testing with only magnification from Efekseer, it takes x36 magnification to totally fill the screen, meaning effekseer is reducing the basic image size from 192 x 192 to something like 30 x 30, resulting in pretty massive quality loss.


EDIT 2: Another weird problem. I was experimenting with a few non-standard animation sheet sizes (1280 x 960 cells) which I had gotten ahold of. Not only are these huge cells still being output in the same tiny, 30x30 size, they're also being displayed as squares rather than rectangles, compressing the image along the side. This is frustrating.

 

[ShadowHawkDragon]

@oriongates The size of a particle in effekseer is determined by the 'scale' of the node, it has nothing to do with the actual pixel size of the image/spritesheet itself.

Basically all images are 'stretched' to the same size based on your node's 'scale', unrelated to the image's actual pixel size.

For example: if you were to increase the 'scale' to a much larger number your particle will appear bigger but you will notice that on smaller images/spritesheets it will start to become more blurry/pixelated. Whereas a larger image/spritesheet will remain crisp up to much larger scales.

This also applies to rectangular images/spritesheets. To make them appear as a rectangle not a square you have to change the x and y scale to match the aspect ratio. For example if you had an image with a pixel size of 120x360, you would need a scale of 1.0x3.0. And if you wanted the particle to be bigger you'd need a scale like 15.0x45.0. btw I'm ignoring the z axis for this example as it won't make any difference on a 2d image.

Long story short: if you want your animations bigger or smaller you'd need to actually increase or decrease the 'scale' of your nodes inside of Effekseer. You only need a large pixel size for images if you intend to blow them up to very large sizes.

 

[oriongates]

Gotcha. Unfortunately these are some long sprite sheets and efekseer seems to have trouble loading them if I enlarge them more than x2 or x3 and the final results are still fairly pixelly.

hmmm...Does anyone happen to know the size of the default image node in efekseer? I'm wondering if things will scale a bit better in multiples of the original size. I'm thinking it's 30x30, from the scaling needed to fill the screen, but that's kind of a guestimate.

 

[ShadowHawkDragon]

Honestly you are really pushing Effekseer beyond what it is designed to do, you would be better off working out how to make a similar effect using particles.

Anyway I wish you look with finding a solution.

edit: Also have you actually tested in-game and not just in the preview window? the preview window can be a bit iffy, for me it shows all animations extra pixelly but doesn't in an actual test-battle.

Because now that I think about it, if its being stretched too much it should look more blurry than pixilated...

 

[Lion Blade Soler]

@oriongates - I just want to quickly apologize about the part of needing to look into the Recorder along with Camera Settings and Options. It slipped my mind that RPG Maker MZ uses the Effekseer files themselves and not the videos that are recorded through Effekseer. Regardless of what was going on yesterday with me, that's no excuse for me to have overlooked that one important detail. With that out of the way, I suggest for you to look into one of the Effekseer files from RMMZ as one of the files could be used as a measuring stick for determining how visually big the sprite sheet cell should be for RMMZ.

 

[oriongates]

Honestly you are really pushing Effekseer beyond what it is designed to do, you would be better off working out how to make a similar effect using particles.

Anyway I wish you look with finding a solution.

edit: Also have you actually tested in-game and not just in the preview window? the preview window can be a bit iffy, for me it shows all animations extra pixelly but doesn't in an actual test-battle.

Because now that I think about it, if its being stretched too much it should look more blurry than pixilated...

I have used it in game. Blurry is probably a better description, overall, but there's a bit of pixelation as well (might be the result of some of the shapes being used).

The main reason I'm trying to push it to work is because these are mostly animation packs that I had already paid for back when I was working in MV and I'd love to get some use out of them.

That said, I may just give up on the screen-fillers, which is unfortunate but it is what it is. I wasn't actually able to use them well in MV anyway since they weren't designed with widescreen resolutions in mind.

@oriongates - I just want to quickly apologize about the part of needing to look into the Recorder along with Camera Settings and Options. It slipped my mind that RPG Maker MZ uses the Effekseer files themselves and not the videos that are recorded through Effekseer. Regardless of what was going on yesterday with me, that's no excuse for me to have overlooked that one important detail. With that out of the way, I suggest for you to look into one of the Effekseer files from RMMZ as one of the files could be used as a measuring stick for determining how visually big the sprite sheet cell should be for RMMZ.

No problem, mix-ups happen.