Side by side comparisons: Vertex Shaders in 1.9.1.13

So, some of us have noticed that having Vertex shaders on is actually affecting more than the shiny toys we'd expect it to effect. A coupple people have done side-by-side comparison pics. The three below are all "average' scenes, no fancy stuff like shiny transparent in them, but there's a fair mix of transparent, shiny, indoor and outdoor views.

http://members.limitless.org/~heartwood/junkpics/1point9_vertexshaders.png <-- Me (gForce 5700 LE 256MB, drivers last updaded Feb 24 and assumed current)
http://belaya.parodius.com/sl-gallery/vertex-on-off.jpg <-- Belaya Stataosky (Radeon 9700 Pro 128MB, latest drivers)
http://img371.imageshack.us/img371/6981/shaders7ht.jpg <-- Sean Gorham (gForce 6600 GT "with latest reference drivers"

The most obvious difference is that having vertex shaders on really desaturates the color in a scene, something that was deemed most obvious in Sean's picture. That would make some sense for stuff way in the distance but it doesn't look so great up close on an avatar. (I'm going to bug report that, as no one I've talked to thinks it very desiarable).

I'm the only one with primarily non-prim hair in these pics, so the hair bug makes itself evident, but that's allready knon. Probably worth noting that with vertex shaders, there seem to be deeper shadows on my face (particaurly around the mouth) and on my shirt. The shirt is plain white with no texture, my skin is a translucent overlay over the SL default.

The vertex shading seems to pay a lot more attention to the color of stuff behind translucent objects. Note Belaya's blue bubble helmet and Sean's glasses.

Feel free to keep playing "spot the differences", upload your own comparisons or engage in the resiquite complaining.

I'm using the drivers found here: http://www.nvidia.com/object/winxp_2k_84.21.html

Edit: I had to reinstall the Forceware 77.77 drivers because of texture corruption problems I saw under 84.21. Lighting with and without vertex shaders looks identical to how it does in 84.21, so don't bother upgrading to the latest and greatest just for the shaders.

Just as a note, I am wearing a glass bubble helmet that is set shiny+transparent. You can see its effects on the skin beneath the helmet on the left-side picture where the shaders allow for shiny+transparent.

There is a general agreement on the desaturation the Vertex Shaders cause. That's my biggest complaint about the VS option, itself. The rest is related to the avatar mesh. I won't go into that rant, however.

http://www.thallos.net/sezshaders.jpg (ATI Radeon x800 XT Plat, 256mb, CAT 6.4 drivers; left is VS on, right is VS off)

The inherent "greying" effect doesn't damage a grey-base av as badly as it does an av with normal pigmentation, at least. The hair issue is also present.

Overall, I'm pleased with the effect VS has on terrain and objects, but the desaturation side-effect isn't very flattering. Some tweaking may be needed, so avatars don't look quite so "Satiny".

Something shaders don't grey out: Lights! Or at least sunlight.

Shiny windchimes + orange sunrise (HW light turned on in both)

http://members.limitless.org/~heartwood/junkpics/1point9_lightshaders.png

The light with shaders on is a very noticalbe improvement here, brighter with better looking highlights and more intense color. Then by accident, I went into mouselook and woah...what happened to the shiny? I'm not sure which version is "correct", but suffice to say they look very different. I got it to happen twice. Can anyone else manage to reproduce this?

Elle, isn't that just because you're lower down in mouse-look? The shininess is a sort of texture which is overlayed onto the shiny object, if you go up then you see more of it, it's hard to explain, but in mouselook if you jump then it'll look the same, what you're seeing currently is the 'top' of the shininess.

It's a fairly simple trick to make shiny objects, but it works at very little expense so it's all good

I think you're actually right, after playing a bit more, though I thought of that at first and then couldn't change it by flying up/down in mouselook. but yeah...