- Joined
- May 29, 2016
- Messages
- 90
- Reaction score
- 91
- First Language
- German, English
- Primarily Uses
~ SHADOWS ~
Are you tired of painting shadows on your maps with the old boring shadow pen?
Do your eyes hurt when looking upon square shadows cast by round objects?
Fed up with sprites being on top of shadows which should actually shade them?
Well, I was. So I made my own shadow tiles and used them as part of my tile sets.
One drawback, however, was the limited number of images you can layer on one tile square. Thus sometimes it was either another plant, or an appropriate shadow.
Also layering the shadows was still a problem occasionally, and the shadows took up quite a lot of space in the tile sets that could have been used for more variety.
But with Yanfly's genius plugin Grid Free Doodads there's no more limitation to all your shadow-casting desires.
That's why I turned my shadow tiles into doodads, and thought I'd share them with you.
Download View attachment QT Shadows.zip
Showcase screenshots
Example for the use of gradient shadows with indoor lighting. For objects closer to the light source, I chose the darker gradient.
As you can see with the rubble and coins, objects are actually affected by these shadows.
Please not some (animated) sparkle effects on the treasure. I also made use of Whtdragon's Spiderweb tiles, doodadified by Hizuki Key.
An outdoor map with hard shadows, utilizing different kinds of edges and shadow width. The map could certainly use some more work, but I thought it might suffice to showcase the doodads. As you can see, characters and objects in the shadow are actually shaded.
I also made use of Cyanides nature tiles, which I doodadified and shared here.
Same scene, but with gradient shadows and some more doodads.
The new Gradients QT46-48 were used for the bottom of the cliffs, Gradient QT01 for the edges and Gradient QT22 for the top.
Terms of Use
Credit: If you feel like these doodads have improved your maps or your RPG-making experience, I'd be honored to be credited as "quite toxick"
:
Non-Commercial: Free
Commercial: Free
Maker Required: RPG Maker MV
Changelog
Instructions / Advice
- Download and put the png-files into your doodads folder. I'd recommend to keep the names and folder structure in case of further updates on my part.
- On outdoor maps the light source is usually considered to be on the left hand side, so place shadows on the right of cliffs and objects. Thus you will only need a select few of the shadows I made. Nevertheless, I included all of the possible orientations, as you might consider flipping doodads more effort than choosing between several variations.
- On indoor maps you should make an executive decision on the direction of the lighting. If you have an entrance, windows or a light source like a fire, place the shadows facing away from it. An evenly lighted room might not require hard shadows at all. Here the softer gradient shadows might help to create a nice contrast.
- Shadow gradients are provided in two sizes. Rescaling will take care of special cases, I hope.
- When it comes to placing shadows, I find it useful to activate grid snapping. This helps to align all shadows properly and to avoid overlapping.
- Shadows from tall objects, like cliffs and pillars should be on a higher level than characters, so they can be covered by the shadow. Shadows from low objects, should be on a layer below the characters. Those object, however, usually have a shadow included in their sprite.
- I also included a few animated shadows for floating, rotating objects. No idea if this will be useful… I'd be interested in some feedback.
__________________________________
__________________________________
~ LIGHTS ~
I really liked the idea of using doodads for static lighting effects, e.g. torches and candles.
To supplement the doodads Yanfly provided, I made some glowing effects, which can be placed around any fixed light source.
This way, you don't have to bother with overlays or other plugins to add some lighting atmosphere to your maps.
I also experimented with additional effects for which I edited some RTP sprites as well as animations from Hadecynn (please follow this link to their topic on this forum and their T&Cs).
Feel free to use these to add some extra sparkle to your maps For now, they are kinda proof-of-concept only, so there aren't many. I will add more effects as I make them. Feedback and requests welcome.
Download View attachment QT Lights.zip
Showcase screenshots
Aura glow (additive blend) and rays (normal blend) emitted by a magical sword as examples for light effects.
The dark magic circle (multiply blend) shows a special effect. If I knew how to make gifs, those would be animated as well...
Gradient shadows pointing away from the light source (magic sword > light from outside)
Terms of Use
Credit: See above; additionally you need to credit "Kadokawa" for the RTP edits and "hadecynn" for the effects made from his animations.
Non-Commercial: Free
Commercial: Free
Maker Required: RPG Maker MV
Changelog
Instructions / Advice
- Download and put the png-files into your doodads folder. I'd recommend to keep the names and folder structure in case of further updates on my part.
- When it comes to lighting effects, I suggest playing around with the frame speed until it fits your liking. I found that normal speed works best for Glows, while Sparkle and Rays benefit from higher speed. When placing identical effects next to each oner it might be a good idea to offset their frame speed by 2-3 frames, so they aren't in synch. This way the effect looks much better.
- Most doodads are already transparent, so you can use normal blend mode. For more lighting power or non-transparent effects, however, additive blend mode is the way to go.
- I would recommend placing the lighting effects on a higher layer than the light source. Depending on the situation, however, you might prefer placing them one layer below.
- Most lighting effects are either yellowish or blueish in colour. Thus you can adjust the hue to your needs.
- While experimenting I found that you can easily turn any animation png into a doodad, just by appending [#columns x #rows] to the file name and putting them into you doodad folder. Standard animations won't loop, though, so you'll need to edit them further. Still, it might be useful for some of you.
- In general, you should rely on events to create special effects on your map. Doodads will loop continuously and there is no way (I know of) to stop them or to interact with them. Therefore I'd limit the use of doodads to static lighting or special effects. Here, however, they literally shine: the warm glow of a campfire, the flicker of a wall light or the sparkle of coins in a treasure horde… much less effort with doodads compared to events, and you'll be able to use that event tile for something more important.
__________________________________
__________________________________
I hope these prove useful to you. I'd love to hear your feedback.
Have a great day! BD
~QT
Are you tired of painting shadows on your maps with the old boring shadow pen?
Do your eyes hurt when looking upon square shadows cast by round objects?
Fed up with sprites being on top of shadows which should actually shade them?
Well, I was. So I made my own shadow tiles and used them as part of my tile sets.
One drawback, however, was the limited number of images you can layer on one tile square. Thus sometimes it was either another plant, or an appropriate shadow.
Also layering the shadows was still a problem occasionally, and the shadows took up quite a lot of space in the tile sets that could have been used for more variety.
But with Yanfly's genius plugin Grid Free Doodads there's no more limitation to all your shadow-casting desires.
That's why I turned my shadow tiles into doodads, and thought I'd share them with you.
Download View attachment QT Shadows.zip
Showcase screenshots
Example for the use of gradient shadows with indoor lighting. For objects closer to the light source, I chose the darker gradient.
As you can see with the rubble and coins, objects are actually affected by these shadows.
Please not some (animated) sparkle effects on the treasure. I also made use of Whtdragon's Spiderweb tiles, doodadified by Hizuki Key.
An outdoor map with hard shadows, utilizing different kinds of edges and shadow width. The map could certainly use some more work, but I thought it might suffice to showcase the doodads. As you can see, characters and objects in the shadow are actually shaded.
I also made use of Cyanides nature tiles, which I doodadified and shared here.
Same scene, but with gradient shadows and some more doodads.
The new Gradients QT46-48 were used for the bottom of the cliffs, Gradient QT01 for the edges and Gradient QT22 for the top.
Terms of Use
Credit: If you feel like these doodads have improved your maps or your RPG-making experience, I'd be honored to be credited as "quite toxick"
:Non-Commercial: Free
Commercial: Free
Maker Required: RPG Maker MV
Changelog
02.10.2016 - Uploaded basic shadow doodad collection.
03.10.2016 - Extra gradient shadows added.
13.10.2016 - Special cliff gradient shadow added.
23.10.2016 - Special cliff gradient shadow modified and two more added.
03.10.2016 - Extra gradient shadows added.
13.10.2016 - Special cliff gradient shadow added.
23.10.2016 - Special cliff gradient shadow modified and two more added.
Instructions / Advice
- Download and put the png-files into your doodads folder. I'd recommend to keep the names and folder structure in case of further updates on my part.
- On outdoor maps the light source is usually considered to be on the left hand side, so place shadows on the right of cliffs and objects. Thus you will only need a select few of the shadows I made. Nevertheless, I included all of the possible orientations, as you might consider flipping doodads more effort than choosing between several variations.
- On indoor maps you should make an executive decision on the direction of the lighting. If you have an entrance, windows or a light source like a fire, place the shadows facing away from it. An evenly lighted room might not require hard shadows at all. Here the softer gradient shadows might help to create a nice contrast.
- Shadow gradients are provided in two sizes. Rescaling will take care of special cases, I hope.
- When it comes to placing shadows, I find it useful to activate grid snapping. This helps to align all shadows properly and to avoid overlapping.
- Shadows from tall objects, like cliffs and pillars should be on a higher level than characters, so they can be covered by the shadow. Shadows from low objects, should be on a layer below the characters. Those object, however, usually have a shadow included in their sprite.
- I also included a few animated shadows for floating, rotating objects. No idea if this will be useful… I'd be interested in some feedback.
__________________________________
__________________________________
~ LIGHTS ~
I really liked the idea of using doodads for static lighting effects, e.g. torches and candles.
To supplement the doodads Yanfly provided, I made some glowing effects, which can be placed around any fixed light source.
This way, you don't have to bother with overlays or other plugins to add some lighting atmosphere to your maps.
I also experimented with additional effects for which I edited some RTP sprites as well as animations from Hadecynn (please follow this link to their topic on this forum and their T&Cs).
Feel free to use these to add some extra sparkle to your maps
For now, they are kinda proof-of-concept only, so there aren't many. I will add more effects as I make them. Feedback and requests welcome. Download View attachment QT Lights.zip
Showcase screenshots
Aura glow (additive blend) and rays (normal blend) emitted by a magical sword as examples for light effects.
The dark magic circle (multiply blend) shows a special effect. If I knew how to make gifs, those would be animated as well...
Gradient shadows pointing away from the light source (magic sword > light from outside)
Terms of Use
Credit: See above; additionally you need to credit "Kadokawa" for the RTP edits and "hadecynn" for the effects made from his animations.
Non-Commercial: Free
Commercial: Free
Maker Required: RPG Maker MV
Changelog
02.10.2016 - Uploaded basic lights doodad collection.
Instructions / Advice
- Download and put the png-files into your doodads folder. I'd recommend to keep the names and folder structure in case of further updates on my part.
- When it comes to lighting effects, I suggest playing around with the frame speed until it fits your liking. I found that normal speed works best for Glows, while Sparkle and Rays benefit from higher speed. When placing identical effects next to each oner it might be a good idea to offset their frame speed by 2-3 frames, so they aren't in synch. This way the effect looks much better.
- Most doodads are already transparent, so you can use normal blend mode. For more lighting power or non-transparent effects, however, additive blend mode is the way to go.
- I would recommend placing the lighting effects on a higher layer than the light source. Depending on the situation, however, you might prefer placing them one layer below.
- Most lighting effects are either yellowish or blueish in colour. Thus you can adjust the hue to your needs.
- While experimenting I found that you can easily turn any animation png into a doodad, just by appending [#columns x #rows] to the file name and putting them into you doodad folder. Standard animations won't loop, though, so you'll need to edit them further. Still, it might be useful for some of you.
- In general, you should rely on events to create special effects on your map. Doodads will loop continuously and there is no way (I know of) to stop them or to interact with them. Therefore I'd limit the use of doodads to static lighting or special effects. Here, however, they literally shine: the warm glow of a campfire, the flicker of a wall light or the sparkle of coins in a treasure horde… much less effort with doodads compared to events, and you'll be able to use that event tile for something more important.
__________________________________
__________________________________
I hope these prove useful to you. I'd love to hear your feedback.
Have a great day! BD
~QT
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