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FPSC Classic Product Chat / lighting Tips, Anyone?

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crispex
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Joined: 22nd Jun 2007
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Posted: 20th Feb 2011 00:19
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Well, I've gotten to the point in a few of my levels where I need to start add lighting and such to make the levels more appealing. However, in my work with other programs including Valve's Hammer Editor, I have always been terrible at lighting. I know a lot of members here can do a great job of it, so I'm asking for some tips on the matter.

Basically I can never get my level light enough without being fullbright, and I can never get it dark enough without getting too dark.

I just now realized I've had a typo in my signature for the past 3 years.
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BlackFox
FPSC Master
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Joined: 5th May 2008
Location: Knight to Queens Bishop 3
Posted: 20th Feb 2011 04:50 Edited at: 20th Feb 2011 04:54
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We found this to be helpful when we were first learning how to effectively add lights to our levels. It's a video that shows how to place the lighting and the settings for the lighting.

http://forum.thegamecreators.com/?m=forum_view&t=163911&b=21

Hope that is some help to you.

**ADDITIONAL**

Also came across this:

http://forum.thegamecreators.com/?m=forum_view&t=169793&b=21

- BlackFox

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Wolf
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Location: Luxemburg
Posted: 20th Feb 2011 05:03
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Quote: "Basically I can never get my level light enough without being fullbright, and I can never get it dark enough without getting too dark."


People always ask me: what's my secret?....why does my lightmapping look so "alive"?

Well, in a nutshell:

*Use wide lightranges (200 - 400) and dark colors.
*Every light has a source
*Never use plain, white light

Open you're setup .ini and set you're lightmapquality to something between 30 and 100 (I use 32), you're lightmapatten to 32 (and nothing above!) and you're texsize to 128, 256 or 512.

The rest is learning by doing.



-Wolf

God Helps the Beast in Me!
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BlackFox
FPSC Master
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Posted: 20th Feb 2011 05:48
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Thanks, Wolf. I was hunting for a thread where you had mentioned these settings. You're another source we have learned from, and your techniques have yielded positive results for us.

- BlackFox

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bond1
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Posted: 20th Feb 2011 21:27
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Quote: "*Use wide lightranges (200 - 400) and dark colors."


I wanted to quote this for emphasis. Especially if you're using bloom, use lower intensity light colors since bloom is additive, and you can achieve stunning lighting.



"bond1 - You see this name, you think dirty."
SPECS: Windows7 x64, Intel Core i7 920, Geforce GTX 580, 6GB RAM
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RelMayer
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Location: France
Posted: 20th Feb 2011 21:37
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Useful tip, thank you Bond1, and what about coloured lights, what kind of intensity we should use ?

Please apologize my bad english, I'm French.

ELDORA Rocks !
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bond1
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Posted: 20th Feb 2011 22:12
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Quote: "what about coloured lights, what kind of intensity we should use ?"


Same thing: just open the color picker dialog and move the slider on the right down a bit. This has the effect of removing brightness of the light, without effect the range. It's a bit of trial and error, but after some practice you get the intuition on what settings will give good results.

"bond1 - You see this name, you think dirty."
SPECS: Windows7 x64, Intel Core i7 920, Geforce GTX 580, 6GB RAM
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crispex
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Posted: 21st Feb 2011 01:20
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Any pointers on ambiance level?

I just now realized I've had a typo in my signature for the past 3 years.
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Hamburger
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Location: Grand Rapids MI
Posted: 21st Feb 2011 01:40
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Quote: "Any pointers on ambiance level?

"


I always use zero never above
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crispex
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Posted: 21st Feb 2011 01:45
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Doesn't zero cause complete darkness?

I just now realized I've had a typo in my signature for the past 3 years.
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That Guy John
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Posted: 21st Feb 2011 03:15
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Crispex,
Yes, but that is what adding the lights is for.
Ambient light is the light that is there rather you place lights or not.
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crispex
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Posted: 21st Feb 2011 04:24
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Hm, I notice a FPS decrease, that's probably because of the shaders. I'll turn them off until the final level is done for the sake of time.

I just now realized I've had a typo in my signature for the past 3 years.
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