Displaying Paint on Brush

OfficialPogCat · March 29, 2024, 5:14am

Hey developers!

I am currently facing a problem with how to display paint on a brush, and need feedback on what I can do. Basically, in a game there is a brush and paint. The max amount of paint you can carry is 8 “usages” before you can no longer paint, and need to go collect more. A year ago, we made a 2D Ui disign to display this with a number. However, the game is a horror game and it feels “out of place”, cartoony, and therefore we want to remove it, if possible.

The paint brush is used in a minigame where you have to “draw” symbols around the map. There is 8 parts in the symbol and so to “draw” a symbol, it uses the 8 paint.

In an attempt to do this, as well as it being visually pleasing, we added a brush tool and painting amount. The less amount of paint left, the paint visually shrinks, until there is none left. The problem? The environment is dark (As this is a horror game, and can’t really be changed) and this can be hardly seen.

TL;DR
So my main question / feedback is how can I apply a solution that visually fits the environment, but also is useful, and displays or indicates paint amount, by either adding what is pre-existing, or introducing new solutions?

Useful Images

The paint Brush tool at a full amount of paint with a light source:

The Paint Brush tool with no paint with light source:

The Paint brush with full amount of paint within environment:

The 2D Gui (0 is the amount of paint currently in brush):

The Environment:

Any feedback, or possible solutions to this issue is much appreciated!

TimeFrenzied · March 29, 2024, 5:18am

make it magical spooky glowing paint and just say its like that in the lore >:)

otherwise i have no ideas lol

grimmerschool2 · March 29, 2024, 5:18am

Add a very dim PointLight, only visible to the player holding the tool.

OfficialPogCat · March 29, 2024, 5:32am

Thank you for the idea! So I did try this, and it appears that the way the lighting is set up, and the fact that I am using the Future light technology, Theres no really easy way to do this, however these were my attempts ( I “over did it” with brightness, with the idea that I would dim it afterwards)

I did a spotlight on a part pointing to the tip of the brush; this being the result:

I did a point light as well, as recommended, and this is what it looks like :

No paint:

Max paint:

Any other ideas with lighting to bold out the tip of the brush?

@TimeFrenzied It does stand out indeed, but does look a little weird as (radioactive?) paint haha.

TimeFrenzied · March 29, 2024, 5:42am

Ok, this is gonna be dumb but use a viewportframe, since it likes to cook shading, if you do this though you might have to do it for the hand as well so its more of a last resort

OR use particles that emit light and alter the rate and fade, just thought of this

(plugin when)

OfficialPogCat · March 29, 2024, 5:52am

I could use a viewport frame. However the hand and tools, in general, that are in the game use this “Hand Equipped” system. Some of them, like a lantern , interact with the 3D environment and emitting light, and I’m a little lazy a don’t want to script a system for JUST this . Also making it realistic, and fit to what I have now in a viewport would probably use a lot of resources, and I would rather use the neon red paint over this as I don’t mind the neon paint too much, although I would like to keep it texture.

Let me see how this looks!