Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
Now, let's consider the effect of color relection and saturated colors. Color, especially saturated color,
can be relected off adjacent surfaces onto what you are viewing. For instance, a green wall next to a
red-and-white logo may act to dim the apparent colors of the logo by relecting green on it, making the red
look more grayish and the white look like pale green. This is a real-life phenomenon; you will not see this
effect in the real-time rendering of virtual worlds until graphics cards and bandwidth allow for more detailed
rendering in the lighting of the virtual world scene. However, since you are aware of this phenomenon, you
can provide textures for your virtual builds with these kinds of color effects added to them. In 3D modeling
systems, there are many lighting features, such as those for ray tracing and radiosity, which calculate this
relected light effect in the scene and add it to your model's textures for export into a virtual environment [7].
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When you begin to set the color of the particles in an LSL (Linden Scripting Language) script (Section 7.6.2
provides an example table of a basic LSL particle script), you will note that the 0-255 range (integer format)
of the red, green, and blue system in your graphics software has to be converted into a range from 0 to 1.0 (or
a percentage format) for the LSL code to use it. In this system, 1.0 is 100% of the color, and 0 is 0% of the
color. For instance, to obtain purple, you would have 0.5 in red, 0.0 in green, and 1.0 in blue, and pushing the
red up to 1.0 makes the color change to magenta.
In the texture editor of Firestorm (Figure 7.2), three tabs are given in the Color Picker submenu so you can
switch back and forth between the integer, LSL percentage, and hexadecimal formats. There is also a button
that gives you the additional option of copying the RGB values into the format <r,g,b>, so you can paste it
into an LSL script. For example, the color magenta will be converted to <1.000, 0.000, 1.000> and stored on
your clipboard for your use in the LSL particle script.
Notice that you have spinners on the menu for Hue, Saturation, and Luminance. In this menu, you can
think of Luminance as lightness or value. All in all, this little menu has some very useful features for the
designer working on a color palette.
7.3 COLOR FROM A DESIGNER'S PERSPECTIVE
In all cultures of the world, color has emotional overtones, spiritual meaning, psychological impact, physi-
ological inluence, and a socioeconomic relationship. The most obvious example of this is represented by
the lags of each nation. Each country has created a design using colors and symbols and placed them on
a banner, which provides a cultural anchor and iconic identity for them. Colors chosen for corporate logos,
seasonal fashion, uniforms, and industrial signage are all fascinating examples of how color serves global
marketing, creates a company's image, and is utilized to communicate with all cultures. Because blue is the
universal favorite color, it is often used in multinational corporate logos, such as that of IBM, also known as
“Big Blue.” When you are designing a virtual world environment, you are also designing for the real world.
Every designer working must have an awareness of what colors mean in the client's native culture because
it helps communicate ideas with the client and ultimately supports the client's message. Here are some
questions you should ask yourself as you prepare to design the color scheme of a new virtual environment.
1. Who is your client, and what kind of culture does the client want you to represent?
2. What is the climate like in the virtual environment?
3. What country/region will this virtual environment represent?
4. What demographic is this virtual environment designed for?
5. What goals/effects/moods does your client hope to achieve?
