Please show off what crt shaders can do!

RetroArch Additions Shaders
#6646

These phosphors are looking more like Aperture Grille than Slot Mask. Where are the horizontal slots?

I think if you play around with the sampling mode/type you can get a more realistic looking slot mask.

One thing that no one seems to be mentioning is the effect of the dust/noise which is present in the CRT-Royale mask png. It’s possible that this plays a significant role in the final look of the Mask just as having a darker mask and scanlines and deconvergence all play a significant role in improving the contrast, smoothness and “analog” look and feel of the final image.

I was actually wondering if there was a way to incorporate the dust and imperfections in the shape of the phosphors into the shaders which use generated subpixel mask.

I think there is a way. The dust and other static mask imperfections can be overlayed over the existing generated mask so that in the final appearance a zoomed in would look closer to a macro shot of a real CRT Mask which is what CRT-Royale seems to use as the basis for its mask tile.

1 Like
#6647

On 1080p the whole slotmasked aligned phosphor barley takes 1x3px cell; there is really no room for anything else than a line and maybe even 8k would be not enough.

Keep that dust laying on your real panel, instead :rofl:

2 Likes
#6648

They’re slot actually, and can be seen more on dark pixels. Aperture looks very different on Royale:

4 Likes
#6649

I’ve improved overall brightness and gamma, soon I’ll will work with mask strenght.

9 Likes
#6650

Pleasing to the eyes. I like it.

2 Likes
#6651

What shader are you talking about? In addition, would you kindly post another picture. I thought the first was a zoomed in picture of the second until I noticed the status bar in the second picture.

#6652

Wow this is an amazing new look here, looks like you’re taking things to the next level.

2 Likes
#6653

Here there are some more screenshots…

7 Likes
#6654

They wont show here, but I can see them in the other thread.

1 Like
#6656

That was weird, I just uploaded them again. :sweat_smile:

2 Likes
#6657

Excellent. High accuracy without going overboard. I think it can please a lot of people who had access to a better connector than composite; perhaps even LCD-only users. Congratulations for your effort, you’re really nailing it. Just don’t lose what you have by tinkering too much.

1 Like
#6660

I’m learning new things, and I keep improving the image, I was doing something wrong with gamma correct, taking it to the other opposite side, also I’m learning with the feature “raise black level” and I’m loving it. Here is the result.

7 Likes
#6661

Great job! The magic glow seems to be a tad too high in the first screenshot. It doesn’t look so severe in the last pic. The scanlines in general look a little blurry when zoomed in. Could be due to too much bloom/halation. Also the Mask Strength is a bit low.

Just by pushing the Mask Strength and Scanline Darkness alone will have a side effect of increasing the apparent sharpness and contrast.

At the end of the day it is you preset and you would know best what type of look you’re going for…

Don’t be afraid to push the Mask Strength and lower the Mask Mitigations a bit for a richer look.

If you’re concerned about brightness loss just raise Gamma_C or Bright Boost and Saturation but you can use a test image, even if it’s from a game to know if you’re boosting too high till the point of whites or colours clipping - which is when they appear burnt, harsh, and you lose details like creases in clothes and different shades of colour appear as one shade.

Once you’ve found the maximum you can push the brightness/gamma/saturation, if it’s not bright enough, you can then start to back off slightly with Mask Strength and add other mask mitigations.

If adding things like bloom, halation and magic glow, try adding only just a tiny dash of each, rather than pushing one high enough until you or “everyone can see it”.

Sometimes it’s the sum of the subtle effects that we can barely make out with the naked eye that add up to making the image something really special in terms of character.

3 Likes
#6662

Wing Commander (1990)(Origin)-250424-130813
Wing Commander (1990)(Origin)-250424-1308131440×1080 767 KB

Wing Commander (1990)(Origin)-250424-130820
Wing Commander (1990)(Origin)-250424-1308201440×1080 599 KB

Wing Commander (1990)(Origin)-250424-130832
Wing Commander (1990)(Origin)-250424-1308321440×1080 1.23 MB

7 Likes
#6663

Is this Better? I’m still learning…:sweat_smile:

2 Likes
#6664

Those screenshots look fantastic :heart_eyes:, which game is it?

#6665

It’s the glorious Wing Commander. If you wanna try it, my personal preference would be the CD32 whdload version, like the PC one, but with better sound/music.

2 Likes
#6666

For me yes, it’s definitely a step in the right direction. It’s easy to see the improvement even before zooming in. Everything is clearer with better contrast.

Aren’t we all?

I get the feeling like you used to be more aggressive back in the day, when it came to pushing mask strength and getting the preset to look almost identical to your Sanyo CRT.

I prefer when the Mask is used as much as possible to do its job, unaided by mitigation techniques because for me, that’s part of the essence of a CRT.

There’s nothing wrong with your approach though. Don’t forget you can add HDR on top of all of this to squeeze even more excitement and brightness into these presets!

1 Like
#6667

That is because there was another old mask clipping that Guest removed, and I can’t make it clip the masks triads that are not lit, I haven’t found yet how to do the same effect without it.

1 Like
#6668

This is the best I can do right now, but I’m not sure if it’s ok.

mk2-250424-200027
mk2-250424-2000271440×1080 1.78 MB

1 Like