Why does my character become brighter when blinking?

[BigSharkZ]

Hello!

I created a common event to make my main character blink that looks like this:

When idling for 180 frames
Control Variables: #0001 Blinking = Random 1..3
If: Blinking = 1
Wait 10 frames
Change Actor > Blinking
Wait 10 frames
Change Actor > Not Blinking
End

If: Blinking = 2
Wait 10 frames
Change Actor > Blinking
Wait 30 frames
Change Actor > Not Blinking
End

If: Blinking = 3
Wait 10 frames
Change Actor > Blinking
Wait 15 frames
Change Actor > Not Blinking
Wait 10 frames
Change Actor > Blinking
Wait 15 frames
Change Actor > Not Blinking
End

All works fine, but for some reason, my character becomes brighter as they blink. I checked the sprite sheets and even tested on a new project and I still get the same issue. Some help would be appreciated!

 

[Shaz]

Can you show us your spritesheets? The only reason I can think of is that one of them is brighter.

When you say Change Actor - is that the Change Actor Images command? Are the images all on the same spritesheet, or does it have to load different spritesheets?

At what point do they get dark again? Is it bright then dark, or does it continually get brighter?

You don't have another process that's also changing the screen tone/tint at the same time, do you?

 

[BigSharkZ]

Can you show us your spritesheets? The only reason I can think of is that one of them is brighter.

When you say Change Actor - is that the Change Actor Images command? Are the images all on the same spritesheet, or does it have to load different spritesheets?

At what point do they get dark again? Is it bright then dark, or does it continually get brighter?

You don't have another process that's also changing the screen tone/tint at the same time, do you?

Here's two sprites taken from both sprite sheets:


I am indeed using the Change Actor Image command. I have two sprite sheets; one for when she has her eyes open, and one for when her eyes are blinking.

It gets dark again (normal colors) when her eyes are opened, but as soon as she blinks, it quickly flashes and her colors look brighter as seen here (in-game screenshot):

I do not have anything that changes the screen tone or tint.

EDIT: Upon further inspection, it seems that the good colors are actually on the right sprite. So for some reason, the original sprite appears darker.

 

[Shaz]

I actually don't see a difference.

Perhaps they appear different because of the face? Left one has more blue, right one is more plain / has more flesh colour.

If you cover her head so you can't see it while she's animating, does the rest of her body look like it's changing?

 

[BigSharkZ]

Here's a gif if that makes it any easier, the outline I think is the most noticeable change.

It basically seems like the normal sprite is too dark, and then switches to the proper and lighter colors when blinking. I even took a screenshot of the non-blinking sprite in-game, overlapped it with the non-blinking sprite sheet, and I can see a color difference.

 

[Andar]

and I can see a color difference.

You can see a color difference, but that does not mean that there really is a color difference.
The human eye is subject to optical illusions where a color can appear brighter or darker depending on the surrounding colors - an identical grey looks different depending on if it is placed on a white or on a black background.

Open both pictures in an image program that has an eyedropper tool, and read out the color numbers of the pixels in both cases. Are those numbers identical?
If yes the effects is an optical illusion.
If not most likely either some of your plugins modify your display functions, or the way you're changing the pictures has some sideeffect problem. In that case well need a screenshot of the event code to help you find the cause.

 

[TWings]

Looking at the "in-game screenshot", I can tell the left sprite pants is purple, while the right one is blue, so there is indeed a difference.

 

[Shaz]

and socks

 

[BigSharkZ]

You can see a color difference, but that does not mean that there really is a color difference.
The human eye is subject to optical illusions where a color can appear brighter or darker depending on the surrounding colors - an identical grey looks different depending on if it is placed on a white or on a black background.

Open both pictures in an image program that has an eyedropper tool, and read out the color numbers of the pixels in both cases. Are those numbers identical?
If yes the effects is an optical illusion.
If not most likely either some of your plugins modify your display functions, or the way you're changing the pictures has some sideeffect problem. In that case well need a screenshot of the event code to help you find the cause.

Like I mentioned though, both sprite sheets are identical. I created the art myself and I have a specific palette for her.

However, in-game, the main sprite sheet appears too dark. I overlapped an in-game screenshot with my actual sprite sheet and yes, used the eye dropper tool as well, and the colors are clearly different. Overlapping the blinking sprite with my sprite sheet shows no differences which means that one of the sprite sheets is working properly, but the other isn't.

The event is as mentioned in my initial post; there is nothing else to it. I also had a more simple version of it that was just "Change Actor > Blink" into "Change Actor > Not Blink", nothing fancy. I also tried without plugins and in a brand new project, and the same issue still occurs so I'm quite confused.

 

[Shaz]

The only way we can be sure is for you to post the full spritesheets, not just a single frame. Don't worry - nobody is going to steal your art.

 

[BigSharkZ]

There you go.

Edit: Sheet removed.

 

[Shaz]

What is the second one? That's not a character sheet.

I'd like to see the two images that you use in the Change Actor Images commands.

 

[BigSharkZ]

It's this sprite sheet, I simply didn't find the need to show the rest of it since it is the same sheet. Only the standing sprite is changed to be blinking.

Edit: Sheet removed.

 

[Shaz]

okay - that's really weird. I can confirm that in paint.net, the images look exactly the same except for the face and one pixel in the lower right of the hair.

Can you show a screenshot of the event where you're changing the images? I didn't think that MV allowed you to set any kind of hue like some of the earlier engines did, and even if it, the whole thing would change, not just that part.

 

[BigSharkZ]

Sure thing! Thank you for trying to help.

There you go:
Edit: Removed.

Note that I'm using Galv's Character Animations plugin with it:


Edit: You know, something else that I find strange.. I opened the console, looked into dev tools to see the files on the network, and my sprite sheet appears darker there.

2nd Edit: Fixed it! I'm not sure what the issue was exactly, but I imported the sprite sheets into another drawing software that I use (Clip Studio Paint), saved both, and now it looks just fine in-game.

I'm really confused as to why the other program (Paint.Net) would mess up one of the two sheets.

Thanks for the help!

 

[slimmmeiske2]

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