Improving Hud Readability - Philips DirectX Visualizer User Manual

3D Solutions
6.14.4 6.14.4 6.14.4 6.14.4
Visualization
Smooth visualization is a mode in which the transition between viewing cones is more gradual at the
expense of the depth range.
Option name Option name Option name Option name
Visualization
6.15 6.15
6.15 6.15

Improving HUD readability

Many games display statistics on the screen such as the player's health, ammunition, score, etc. These
items are often referred to as a Head-up Display (HUD). A HUD usually does not have a
corresponding profile in the depth map and will therefore be displayed at the depth of the part of the
scene that it is drawn on. This may have an adverse effect on the readability of the HUD depending on
the depth in the scene. To keep the HUD readable it is possible to define areas of the image that
should always be on the display plane. The following settings provide an easy way to define such areas.
Option name Option name Option name Option name
HUDScreenShotKey
HUDMaskImage
HUDMaskToggleKey
To define a HUD mask, follow these steps:
1. Define HUDScreenShotKey, run the application, and take a screenshot of a scene containing
the HUD. The screenshot will be saved to a file called
directory as the Visualizer.
2. Open the screenshot in an image editing application (e.g. Paint or Photoshop) and mark the
area containing the HUD by coloring that area white.
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Screenshots taken by the visualizer are darkened slightly when compared to the application's output. This is to
make sure that there are no white areas and it can be easily used to create a HUD mask.
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Possible values Possible values Possible values Possible values Default value Default value Default value Default value
0 or 1 0
Possible values Possible values Possible values Possible values
key
the name of a bitmap file
key
+ 1) pixels high to be taken into account.
Sets visualization to smooth (1) or raw (0).
Default value Default value Default value Default value
disabled Key that writes a screenshot to a file
named
disabled Specifies the name of the file that defines
the HUD mask
disabled Key that toggles the HUD mask on and off
hudscreenshot.bmp
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DirectX Visualizer
Description Description Description Description
Description Description Description Description
hudscreenshot.bmp
in the same