Hello! At one time I did color correction for pipes, tanks and pumps for hot liquids and acids

Illustration:
https://post-images.org/photo-page.php?photo=SjhfpbvC

Graphic files:
https://disk.yandex.kz/d/YI_Ptf9qr4COhw

I also did additional color correction improvements for acid pipes with green "streaks" instead of rust...
https://disk.yandex.kz/d/e8P1aVRo1wwisg

I did all these color corrections for the mod https://mods.factorio.com/mod/call-plumber/discussion/6754ece8eef1dc1b03495d17

But unfortunately, the author of this mod behaved a little strangely and I could not find a common language with him.

All these color corrections were made by me personally. Therefore, if you want, you can use them without restrictions.

Hi there,

Thank you for reaching out and presenting your work, although i like your graphics very much, it is not really what i was looking for. The current look of the pipes in my mod, where i modified the graphics from the original mod, was intended to show all kind of baked ash on the outsides of the pipes. I also especially like that the pipes have some concrete below them, perhaps it would be even better if the whole pipe was made out of some sort of concrete to isolate the heat. Perhaps you have ideas how you could improve on these perspectives?

In addition, your post inspired me to look a bit more into it, and i found that molten aluminum is sometimes transported using so-called launders. I found a video about it:
https://youtube.com/shorts/ujAZVeT1k6c?si=Af-AoJNbIV0IMnQm
You think such a graphic could be made?

Unfortunately, I am not an animator or a 3D specialist to create such graphics.

As for the graphics that I offered you - it was quite a large amount of work, and it would be a pity if it turns out that it was wasted.

That is why I am ready to offer it to anyone who might be interested in it.

I released it, it looks great! Many thanks again for reaching out and provided the graphics!

As the graphics don't really show all the stuff i was rambling about i decided to change the recipe to: 3 concrete and 5 tungsten carbide

Hi NOiZE! Launders (and pipes too, honestly) seem to be very simple in their shape, and I believe I can model them without much issues. I would gladly try myself at such graphics.
Is there any specific references and description on how you want things to look?

I also prefer to communicate via Discord, so feel free to add @komunre.

Hello komunre!

The reference is shown above: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/ujAZVeT1k6c

Only instead of molten aluminum, lava should flow openly through the gutters. And this imposes certain difficulties both with graphics and with the code...

In terms of graphics, for a good 3D artist and animator, this is difficult to do, but feasible:

1. You should not take pipes as a basis, because everything is implemented there as static sprites, but rather converter belts, where sprites work as frame-by-frame animation.

2. You need to take into account 4 states of the gutters:
   a. Empty
   b. Movement of the beginning of the lava flow
   c. Movement of the main lava flow
   d. Movement of the end of the lava flow

In the case of the code, everything is much sadder: neither pipes nor conveyors provide for such mechanics. Most likely, you will have to write your own scripts:

And first of all, you need to make the game transmit commands to each segment of the gutters, about what type of animation to display at what moment.

1. It is quite possible that at the moment of passing through the pipes, you will have to turn the lava from "liquid" into "objects". And then you will be able to adapt the mechanics of the conveyor belts for this.

2. Accordingly, based on the first point, we need scripts for both turning lava from liquid into objects at the moment of entering the gutter, and vice versa - turning the lava back into "liquid" at the moment of entering the foundry

3. But there are also branched gutters, for which you need to write your own scripts!

It is hard for me to even imagine what other pitfalls will be encountered in this case...

Hi Keysivi! Factorio specifics do not matter much to me - NOiZE has more experience with it, so it will be up to them to decide how to handle the graphics in-game. I will focus on modeling and renders.

But, a little note on this - you overcomplicate things. Liquids in factorio since 2.0 flow instantaneously across entire pipe segment. Afaik, pipes always only needed 2 states - empty and containing liquid.
Changing pipe behavior is unreasonable for such mod, and new behavior would act as a severe re-balance towards behavior similar to 1.x, which is likely undesired. (and in 1.x the flow visuals are handled by factorio itself)

That's the problem, that in the pipes the lava is visible only in the windows. And there the static nature of the sprites doesn't really hurt the eye.

But when the lava is all in sight, the lack of dynamics will immediately become an eyesore.

I've seen something similar in several mods: motionless geysers or motionless waterfalls. This greatly spoils the aesthetics of the game.

Pipes are animated even in vanilla, actually. They support animated sprites, and launders will flow visually too. The issue of course is that it will "flicker" on and off, but that's noticeable even with pipes to some degree. Overall I'd say not critical. Perhaps, though, pipes support blending between states like the machines?

Hey, nice to see the interest in my fork of a mod by C-mers. I truly appreciate this discussion. To be fair I think that Keysivi is right with regard to the animation. It will be hard to get right.
Therefore, I think it's best to not spend more time on this project. As I don't want to waste anyones time, let's stick to the pipes for now.

Thank you all for the support and interest!