postprocess_controller

Code classes:

• CPostProcessController
• CBaseEntity (all ents)

postprocess_controller is a point entity present in all games since Left 4 Dead. This entity controls a few visual effects.

Note: It seems that no post process effects work in , except Fade to black, vignette, and local contrast in .

Note: The Shader Detail setting needs to be at High or Very High to see most effects!

Appearance of effects

• 

  (start 0.8, end 1.1, strength 1) The vignette created by this entity is not a conventional one. A desaturation+blur fades in from a certain radius around the center of the screen, to an outer radius, where it's at full strength.
• 

  No vignette.
• 

  The blur strength begins to invert colors when more than 1.0.
• 

  (strength 1) Local contrast increases contrast near the lines where objects meet. This makes details more visible, even in the dark, and gives everything a small glow. Note that local contrast is also affected by the vignette's start and end.
• 

  No local contrast.
• 

  (strength 2) Film grain adds random noise to the image. It applies more in darker areas.
• 

  (strength 1 vs 0) "Top vignette" applies a conventional vignette to the top portion of the screen. This makes the game feel a bit more cinematic.

Flags

• 1: Master - For use with fog_volume. If no other postprocess_controllers are active, the game goes back to this one.

Keyvalues

Fade-in time (fadetime) <float>

How long it takes for this set of effects to switch in when using fog_volume.

Vignette start distance (vignettestart) <float>

Radius at which the blur and local contrast begin to fade in. Measured as a distance between the center and edge of the screen. 0 is the center and 1 is touching all four edges tangentially.

Vignette end distance (vignetteend) <float>

Radius at which the blur and local contrast fade in to full strength. Measured as a distance between the center and edge of the screen. 0 is the center and 1 is touching all four edges tangentially.

Vignette blur strength (vignetteblurstrength) <float>

Strength of desaturation & blur inside the vignette. 0 is no effect, 1 is full strength and above 1 inverts colors.

Local contrast strength (localcontraststrength) <float>

Strength of local contrast in the non-vignetted portion of the screen.

Local contrast edge strength (localcontrastedgestrength) <float>

Strength of local contrast in the ring-shaped area between the start and end of the vignette.

Fade to black strength (Not in FGD) (fadetoblackstrength) <float>

Simple screen darkening. 0 is no effect, 1 is completely black.

Top-of-screen vignette strength (topvignettestrength) <float> (available in all games since )

Normal vignette on top half of screen.

Film grain strength (grainstrength filmgrainstrength) <float> (available in all games since )

Film grain applied to dark areas in the image.

Depth-blur effect strength (depthblurstrength) <float> (available in all games since )

How blurred objects are by distance from the camera.

Depth-blur focal plane distance (depthblurfocaldistance) <float> (available in all games since )

Distance at which things are not affected by the depth blur.

Full-screen blur strength (screenblurstrength) <float> (available in all games since )

How much to blur the whole screen.

Inputs

SetFadeTime (Not in FGD) <float>

Sets Fade-in time.

SetVignetteStart <float>

Sets Vignette start distance.

SetVignetteEnd <float>

Sets Vignette end distance.

SetVignetteBlurStrength <float>

Sets Vignette blur strength.

SetLocalContrastStrength <float>

Sets Local contrast strength.

SetLocalContrastEdgeStrength <float>

Sets Local contrast edge strength.

SetFadeToBlackStrength (Not in FGD) <float>

Sets Fade to black strength.

SetGrainStrength (Not in FGD) <float> (only available in )

Sets Film grain strength.

SetFilmGrainStrength <float> (available in all games since )

Sets Film grain strength.

SetTopVignetteStrength (Not in FGD) <float> (available in all games since )

Sets Top-of-screen vignette strength.

SetDepthBlurStrength <float> (available in all games since )

Sets Depth-blur effect strength.

SetDepthBlurFocalDistance <float> (available in all games since )

Sets Depth-blur focal plane distance.

SetScreenBlurStrength <float> (available in all games since )

Sets Full-screen blur strength.

See Also

• color_correction
• env_dof_controller
• fog_volume