Misc _AC_Colors ppfilter 10b

[racinjoe013]

racinjoe013 updated _AC_Colors ppfilter with a new update entry:

_AC_Colors ppfilter

This is were I settled on the colors and the last color update unless a Sol update comes along that changes everything. The filters are based around the warm ambient hue version from the previous update. There are now only two filters, AC_Colors and AC_Natural. AC_Colors would be the warmer filter and AC_Natural the more balanced filter. It probably has the better color balance overall, but I still find myself using AC_Colors more often because I just prefer a warmer look. Both filters...

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[racinjoe013]

A little tweaking note I forgot to add. If you'd like to tone down or increase the warm ambient tone a bit, especially on the AC_Colors filter and you are familiar with using notepad++ to edit .lua files, do this. Open up the .lua file in the sol_custom_configs folder and look for the NERD AMBIENT section around line 60. Raise\Lower the saturation number from 0.25 to whatever value you'd like to try. Raising the value will increase the yellow hue and make things warmer, lowering will decrease and cool the ambient feel a bit. I wouldn't suggest going to far either way. I'm currently using 0.15 on the AC_Colors filter and I think it looks a bit better.

 

[racinjoe013]

racinjoe013 updated _AC_Colors ppfilter with a new update entry:

_AC_Colors ppfilter

Got a new TV\Monitor that required me to do some adjustments to my filters. Since I was going through the hassle, I decided to do a complete overhaul just to try something different with the look. If you don't like the new changes, you can always use the history button to download the old versions.

I will bore you with a rundown of what I did. First off, I coded the .lua file in a better way to allow the end user more control of tweaking via the Sol_Config app. Pretty much anything is...

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[racinjoe013]

Just a note for anyone who wants to 'cool' down the latest version. Use the Sol_Config app and lower the whitebalance to -2 or -3. To make it permanent instead of having to mess with config settings, open up the filter's .ini file with notepad and look for the whitebalance entry under the Colors section. Lower the number from 6225 to either 6150 or 6125. Actually, you can play around with this number to find a cooler setting you prefer but I like one of those two numbers.

 

[estellia]

Nice update! I have no problems with it being too bright or dark Sometimes my filters don't load in correctly (unnaturally bright/dark, as if tonemapping was disabled). So what I do is load the filter, then edit the filter, and basically unpreview the filter and then preview the filter again. That fixes my filter problem all the time. Once again thanks for the update

 

[racinjoe013]

Nice update! I have no problems with it being too bright or dark Sometimes my filters don't load in correctly (unnaturally bright/dark, as if tonemapping was disabled). So what I do is load the filter, then edit the filter, and basically unpreview the filter and then preview the filter again. That fixes my filter problem all the time. Once again thanks for the update

View attachment 411158

I appreciate the feedback on the lighting. It's hard to know how to setup brightness\lighting because everyone has different monitor setups. Glad to know it doesn't come out too bright on another system besides my own.

 

[racinjoe013]

racinjoe013 updated _AC_Colors ppfilter with a new update entry:

_AC_Colors ppfilter

No major update, just some minor color corrections to fix a few issues.

-- Reduced the red intensity which helps not only the reds but other colors like orange look less red.

-- Darkened the blues and greens. The darker blues seem to make the sky look better on my system. The darker greens are a mixed bag. I think they help the grass look better, but on some tracks I can see maybe a hint of too much yellow in anything green. Will work on it.

-- Lowered the white balance to give a more...

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[racinjoe013]

racinjoe013 updated _AC_Colors ppfilter with a new update entry:

_AC_Colors ppfilter

New update with tweaked colors and different attempt at the glare settings. I should mention, this filter is intended to be used with CSP and Sol. If you don't use these mods, these filters are not for you.

Updates:

-- Added a touch more contrast and slightly less saturation to the CG file.
-- Added a hint of black to every base color in the CG file to give the colors a deeper, richer look overall.
-- Slightly raised the color temp to try and get a better balance between warm and cool...

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[racinjoe013]

A little tweaking note I was just fooling with since i'm always tinkering with these. If you open up the filter's .ini file in a text editor for any of the filters, but especially the three base filters, look for the section labeled EXT_COLOR_GRADING. Scroll to the bottom of that section (might take some scrolling to get past the code for my CG file) and increase the strength setting from 0.95 to something higher. I don't suggest lowering it. I've been testing it at between 1.10 and 1.15 and I think I like the results. Makes the sky look better but may darken other colors too much. Could be a good tweak for the lighter color versions. You could edit it straight from the game, but you could only go as high as 1.0 (100%). Doing it with notepad allows you to set the strength higher. Maybe i'll incorporate this into the next update in a few weeks if I find I like it better.

 

[racinjoe013]

racinjoe013 updated _AC_Colors ppfilter with a new update entry:

_AC_Colors ppfilter

Just a small sky color fix and threw a little love towards the sky for Sol 1.5.x users. I kind of ignored it in the last version. If you are happy with the sky in the previous version, there is no need to update.

-- Added a little more blue booster to each filter's sky color and changed the sky hue every so slightly.
-- Added a fourth filter option for one more sky blue intensity option. Started driving some open wheel cars and noticed that from an external cam or open cockpit car, the...

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[racinjoe013]

Wondering how upset people would be if I pushed out another small update so close to the last update?

I did something tonight with my CG file after playing around with my reshade version of the filter. Yes I have an unreleased reshade verison of this filter that I actually prefer (sky looks better) but I know how some people feel about reshade so I never released it. I imagine people are getting tired of the constant updates with no major changes so i'm hesitant to release another update with the CG file changes. I could sit on it for a few weeks just for the sake of not having so many updates back to back, but since I don't plan to change anything else, that seems silly.

What I did was removed a lot of the blue from the shadow portion of the highlights\shadows\midtones layer of my CG file. The result is a more natural shadow representation. All of my last versions had to much shadow blue and they would discolor shadowed areas. For instance a black dashboard would look sort of purple when a shadow was cast on it. This new version doesn't cause a huge color distortion in shadow areas. Black just looks darker black, not purple. The filter now has a warmer look overall, but I think a more natural warmer look.

So let me know if it's ok to post another update and I will do it in a day or two once I get all my variations converted to the new CG. Thanks...

 

[estellia]

Wondering how upset people would be if I pushed out another small update so close to the last update?

I did something tonight with my CG file after playing around with my reshade version of the filter. Yes I have an unreleased reshade verison of this filter that I actually prefer (sky looks better) but I know how some people feel about reshade so I never released it. I imagine people are getting tired of the constant updates with no major changes so i'm hesitant to release another update with the CG file changes. I could sit on it for a few weeks just for the sake of not having so many updates back to back, but since I don't plan to change anything else, that seems silly.

What I did was removed a lot of the blue from the shadow portion of the highlights\shadows\midtones layer of my CG file. The result is a more natural shadow representation. All of my last versions had to much shadow blue and they would discolor shadowed areas. For instance a black dashboard would look sort of purple when a shadow was cast on it. This new version doesn't cause a huge color distortion in shadow areas. Black just looks darker black, not purple. The filter now has a warmer look overall, but I think a more natural warmer look.

So let me know if it's ok to post another update and I will do it in a day or two once I get all my variations converted to the new CG. Thanks...

I personally don't use reshade, but maybe some comparison shots would be nice. I've heard that AC doesn't need reshade since it's post processing system/csp already offers basically everything you'd want out of reshade but with better performance, so I am also kind of wondering why you are using reshade? Does AC not feature what reshade has?

 

[racinjoe013]

I personally don't use reshade, but maybe some comparison shots would be nice. I've heard that AC doesn't need reshade since it's post processing system/csp already offers basically everything you'd want out of reshade but with better performance, so I am also kind of wondering why you are using reshade? Does AC not feature what reshade has?

Reshade allows me to do a couple of things that I have yet to figure out how to do via a filter's .lua file. I can fine tune a couple of the things I don't like about the colors in my filter. Since I only use one reshade shader, the performance hit is next to nothing. Comparison shots probably wouldn't show much difference because i'm not trying to drastically change anything. It's about fine tuning small things like sky color, shadow colors, etc. Things most people probably don't notice or care about.

 

[racinjoe013]

Examples you asked for. I don't use reshade all the time. Some tracks my filter works fine without it. Some tracks need a little reshade help.

No Reshade:

Reshade version 1 I use for tracks like Laguna Seca that are really bright:

The version of reshade I use most often when I use it. Sky is not typically that dark. I forgot to change a setting for the pic:

 

[racinjoe013]

racinjoe013 updated _AC_Colors ppfilter with a new update entry:

_AC_Colors ppfilter

What started out to be a simple tweak to my shadow colors to get rid of the purple looking shadows became a major overhaul of my CG file and a new version. I really like this version compared to past ones, but I can see how others may not. The colors are a little more vibrant (more on that later) and the filter is a little bit warmer. It's closer to where I hope the filter ends up. I won't bore you with all of the changes because there are a lot of them, but if your interested, there is...

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[racinjoe013]

racinjoe013 updated _AC_Colors ppfilter with a new update entry:

_AC_Colors ppfilter Hotfix for newer CSP versions

A little hotfix for people who have upgraded to newer versions of CSP beyond 1.60. I've been using 1.52 so I never noticed this before. With versions higher than CSP 1.60, my filter left a blue\purple tint on the racing line\skidmark areas on mostly stock tracks. This is an attempt to fix that. If you are like me and still use older versions of CSP, you do not need this, although it works fine with them.

The fix is not perfect and was thrown together quickly so it hasn't been tested...

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[racinjoe013]

racinjoe013 updated _AC_Colors ppfilter with a new update entry:

_AC_Colors ppfilter

Added limited support for Sol 2.0. The filter looks about the same, but there are some problems I can't do anything about. The biggest problem I see is the blue\purple tint from the reflection off the sky that appears on the racing line of some tracks (really evident at Monza) with the latest CSP version that is required for Sol 2.0. For some reason my filter really enhances this although it's there with other filters, just not as evident. I think it's because of my filter's lighting...

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[racinjoe013]

racinjoe013 updated _AC_Colors ppfilter with a new update entry:

_AC_Colors ppfilter

Finally had some time to tweak the filters for Sol 2.0. Still getting a handle on how the new settings effect the look and colors but I think these are a little better. Couple of changes worth noting.

-- Found a way to make a slightly lighter blue sky that didn't cause the blue tint to bleed through on some tracks with newer CSP versions. So now AC_Colors and AC_Colors2 work best for tracks like Monza with the blue tint bleed on the racing line. Colors 3-4 are for tracks without this...

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[racinjoe013]

racinjoe013 updated _AC_Colors ppfilter with a new update entry:

_AC_Colors ppfilter

Small tweaks here and there, nothing major.

-- Adjustments to cockpit view glare. A little more dramatical, but not over the top. You won't go blind.
-- Some tweaks for better neutral color balance between warm and cold. Should help people adjust better for their monitor via the whitebalance setting of the Sol_Config app.
-- Changed the sky setup for filter 3-4 for Sol 2.0 users. For new users, the four filters have different skies because of differences in skies from track to...

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[racinjoe013]

I just realized I uploaded the version of this filter with the CG file I use because I like my filters to be a bit more yellow\warm. I wanted to upload one that was more neutral. Would anyone care about another quick update or is the filter ok as is?