Fade in & Fade out - Same rate for every clients?

Garry's Mod coding
#1

Something came to mind,

I was writing a convenience function for fading in and fading out a color value ( not a whole color, simply one of it’s values ) and realised that, the value’s fade in and fade out rate was different for everyone and that for one reason, drawing speed ( FrameTime() ).

Here was the actual code I had:
[lua]function FadeInFadeOut( Start, End, Speed )

return math.Clamp( math.abs( Start - End ) * math.sin( CurTime() * Speed ) + ( 255 - Start ), Start, End )

end[/lua]

It has been tested and proved to work smoothly, but unfortunatly, the speed set in will be different for everyone because of their FrameTime(), so I thought, how about I set a ratio using FrameTime(). Ex:


( Speed / FrameTime() ) * 100

That would make it so, people with a slower FrameTime() would get a faster Speed value, as opposite to those with a faster FrameTime(), they would get a slower speed value.

So far all this code and the ratio works perfectly once used in a draw event. The problem is, since I am using math.sin to make my value oscillate from low to high, the FrameTime() part, being inconsistant, comes in and ruins the smoothness of the fade.

Does someone have a way to do what I am trying to accomplish? Or possibly know if there is a work around inconsistant FrameTime()?

Thanks for taking the time.

( ps. If you test this function, Start is assumed to be a lesser value than End. )

#2

FrameTime() is the distance a object moving at 1 pixel/second has moved in that frame. So if you want your speed to be the same for everybody multiply by FrameTime().

#3

That dosen’t change anything, FrameTime() is an inconsistant value, think of it as FPS, slower your FPS, slower your draw time( FrameTime() ) so, it would still ruin the smoothness. Thanks for responding and trying tho.

And btw, FrameTime() is:

The time taken to render the last video frame clientside, or the delay between ticks serverside.

#4

FrameTime() is not inconsistent, you use it to work out how much a variable should change in that frame/tick. IE
[lua]a = a + FrameTime() * 30[/lua]
That would increase the variable a at a rate of 30 units/second.

#5

FrameTime() will output a value, it being the time taken to render a frame. The values I get are generally something along the lines of:



0.01685466464878
0.01796626464879
0.02654847498872
0.01689794562187
0.03484946186548
0.01794613219873

Using math.sin as said in the OP, with FrameTime() breaks the smoothness of the fade. When I say, FrameTime() being inconsistant, I mean outputing different values everytime.

Here is an example of what is happening.

http://img826.imageshack.us/img826/7669/exmaple.png

Do you get where I am going?

#6

If you are using CurTime you shouldn’t have to worry seeing how it’s synced with the server.

#7

Use CurTime() not FrameTime()

#8

Yah, CurTime will work better.

#9

So CurTime() would be the solution to my problem?

The way I seen it is, since I am running the function in the draw hook, someone with a faster draw time would mean that the function gets executed faster, thus, making a faster fade in and fade out than some other clients. But now that I understand what you guys meant, everything is fine.

Thanks alot for the responses, case closed.