One last thought from me on modding and photo editing in general. If you're like me and like to mod lighting, contrast, saturation and color palates, keep in mind that there's often a big unforeseen issue with doing so and that's that environmental conditions aren't static. Take these sets as an example. Before, then after shots, two each for the scenarios. Some outside show drastically darkened conditions, which admittedly I like, but it there's no real uniformity. In some the sky is darkened, but bloom on light sources is enhanced and detail can fade when conditions are too dark. On the contrary, interiors actual benefit from a saturation boost as they're brightened versus unmodded lighting conditions.
Because lighting, contrast and saturation differ from external to internal set pieces and with weather conditions and effects, the effect of a graphics modification doesn't uniformly enhance the game's look, it just uniformly apply the changes. There are dynamic mods and graphic sets that alter based on changes in lighting, but again, they apply for all objects within the field of view, just changing to prevent bloom from becoming too overwhelming.
Detail in these two pictures differs depending on whether graphics mods are applied. In the first there's more detail on the body of the angler, but it's quality isn't great.
In this piece the scene near the angler's lure is enhanced, as is its face, but the effect of increased saturation makes the periphery of the image faded and less visible. Where as in the first image we could see the angler's body, but the quality of the unmodded image isn't good, the second picture is too dark from the boosted saturation, and the effect light has on hiding objects near or behind the light's source (acting on the angler's body) - ask me about that in relation to sniper tactics for a good lesson in marksman theory
- to make out sufficient detail on the angler.
Unmodded the sky in this scene is a pretty red and purple palate and the surrounding buildings are visible, if not partially obscured from foreground objects and the fog.
Notice how much darker the scene is? Saturation is boosted across the entire piece, not just the sky or buildings. The result is difficultly viewing distant objects. Bloom enhances the glow from the fog condensers (blue glowing things), but the lamp on the left sees its bloom enhanced to the point of it being a hindrance on visibility.
But here's the kicker. This first shot is an internal scene in an unmodded game. It's dark and visibility and detail are poor, too poor to really make out what the scene shows exactly.
But a saturation boost actually improves lighting within internal set pieces, while also enhancing the look of the piece. The reason is because saturation, like contrast, effects lighting. Where as contrast increases bloom and light, saturation increases color depth, which in turn improves the "pop" of a scene or object, even in the absence or limiting of lighting changes.
Rounding out, a few screenshots of my character.
Unlike a fair number of people, I do try to model my video game characters after myself.
Hope you've enjoyed this bit of photo/graphics modding theory
. I've a lot of experience as a photographer, civilian and military, and also as a software engineer. Combining the two into graphics modding just seemed like a natural extension for me.
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!! EVGA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti FTW3 Ultra Hydro Copper Gaming.
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