Lighting questions.

[genocide604]

1.) When i creat light_spot, and put it in its model.. there is no light when i compile with (Rad/BSP only)

2.)Regular "light" entities work, but, when i place them inside the model they do not emit the same lightsource as if i place them just outside the model.. in this case the model's light looks off.. but i thought the entity could make it look on.. do i need to have an on light model to give it the right effect?

3.) I would like to have lights in certain room have the ability to turn on and off.. but with an "on" light model, when the light entity turns off it will still look on.. how would i go about making on/off lights?

 

[Ti133700N]

1. Right, if you don't run vis, RAD can't be run so you won't have lights.
2. Hum what? inside a model? What's the link between models and lights?

 

[genocide604]

Hum what? inside a model? What's the link between models and lights?

The model from train station "lightwhatever001" looks as if it is off... so when i add the light entity and drag it inside on the grid, and compile with rad and bsp... the lights barely gets through the model and doesnt engulf the model in light.. when i drag it out.. and compile with the same.. it lights up fine..

Right, if you don't run vis, RAD can't be run so you won't have lights.

I can see regular lights, and i can slightly see my spot lights... so i think rad can compile them.. Plus i hate running VIS.. it takes hours...

is there any shortcuts?

 

[Ti133700N]

Don't put lights entities into models, you have to simulate the lightning, if you put a light into a model it will be like.. stuck in it and won't cast light so you have to put the light entity near the actual model to make it look good. No there are no real shortcuts to compile faster, well, there are some tricks. You can try to run VIS at fast if you just want to test the geometry but your fps will be bad and it's not guaranty that everything will work perfectly. You can search the forums on how you can optimise your map for a faster compile and a better fps. I'll give you a starting point: Use the nodraw texture on every surfaces that the player cannot see (It includes exterior walls and faces that touches each other). Use hint brushes/texture (there are many good tutorials on how to use them, on the web). The more big/open your map is, the longer it will take to compile so if you can reduce the number of open spaces you'll reduce the compile time. Use models when you can. Convert the brushes that do not need to bloc vis (cast shadow) or seal your level, to func_details. Do not use the newb brush trick (make a big cube with a random texture to seal your level, use the sky texture for the sky and the nodraw texture as often as you can.

 

[genocide604]

Cool, thanks.

I have done everything mentioned in your post, but the hint brushes.. gonna read up on em. Also i only have a few func details.. thanks for the tips.

 

[genocide604]

Here is another question that just popped in, this happened in my compile
"WARNING: Too many light styles on a face (384,281,220"..

1.what does it mean, 2. will it affect the acutal ingame lighting..


3.. i have been having problems since ive added some lighting.. my fences flash black.. dunno why, they have cubemaps.. no avial?

 

[genocide604]

WARNING: Too many light styles on a face (2040,1,210)
.
WARNING: Too many light styles on a face (2040,1,51)

WARNING: Too many light styles on a face (2040,1,33)
..5
WARNING: Too many light styles on a face (384,281,220)
.
WARNING: Too many light styles on a face (1521,-591,9)

WARNING: Too many light styles on a face (1465,-591,9)

WARNING: Too many light styles on a face (2040,-437,210)

WARNING: Too many light styles on a face (2040,-53,210)

WARNING: Too many light styles on a face (1397,-583,210)
..6...7...8...9.
WARNING: Too many light styles on a face (1411,-576,17)
..10 (217)

its alot.. please help

 

[Limpet]

You have too many types of lighting being rendered across you brush face, just like the error says. Try to keep things that are different about your light down. Like don't have a bunch of different colored lights crammed next to each other, or if you change the appearance setting to different kinds of flickering make sure to put a fairly good amount of space between the lights. I think a face can have only 2 or 3 different styles on it.

 

[Ti133700N]

If you can cheat and put a light entity (or two) like in the middle of the room to light the whole room instead of putting 20 lights, it's better. You can continue to put a light next to each light model if you really need it but try to reduce the light casting distance or intensity.

If you find that your model doesn't seem to be lit (because you put 1 or 2 light in the room instead of one next to each model) you can always use entities like env_glow that will simulate a glow even if it doesn't really cast light.

In the good old HL days we'd use texture lights but i'm not sure they produce good results anymore, you could search for a tutorial on them and try it, it might improve the look of some textures and lights.

Edit: Hum, I just want to add that putting more than one light in the middle of a room increase the realism but you have to configure each light individually to set its properties correctly, I suggest you to never use pure white as the light color (always put a dim tone to it), look at the color of the textures surrounding the light and use that tone in the light color. And don't forget to play with the intensity of the light and the other settings, the more subtilities you'll add the more realist your map will be, but don't put too many lights cuz it won't help and it will take more time to compile for... nothing...

 

[The Dark Elf]

If you can cheat and put a light entity (or two) like in the middle of the room to light the whole room instead of putting 20 lights, it's better. You can continue to put a light next to each light model if you really need it but try to reduce the light casting distance or intensity.

If you find that your model doesn't seem to be lit (because you put 1 or 2 light in the room instead of one next to each model) you can always use entities like env_glow that will simulate a glow even if it doesn't really cast light.

In the good old HL days we'd use texture lights but i'm not sure they produce good results anymore, you could search for a tutorial on them and try it, it might improve the look of some textures and lights.

Edit: Hum, I just want to add that putting more than one light in the middle of a room increase the realism but you have to configure each light individually to set its properties correctly, I suggest you to never use pure white as the light color (always put a dim tone to it), look at the color of the textures surrounding the light and use that tone in the light color. And don't forget to play with the intensity of the light and the other settings, the more subtilities you'll add the more realist your map will be, but don't put too many lights cuz it won't help and it will take more time to compile for... nothing...

I think you can still use texture lighting but I faintly recall hearing there was now a reason to avoid it if possible. But for filler lights I don't see it being too harmful to the map if used with regular lighting. Might not work with normal maps perhaps? I'm not entirely sure.

 

[Richard Peper]

Faking Indirect Lighting (Diffuse only)

"....putting more than one light in the middle of a room increase the realism but you have to configure each light individually to set its properties correctly, I suggest you to never use pure white as the light color (always put a dim tone to it), look at the color of the textures surrounding the light and use that tone in the light color."

Ti133700N, that's the best lighting advice anyone can give. What you are saying is that a mapper can fake indirect lighting by using the texture's color/tone reflection as a coloured light source. Before I read this, I had been paying attention only to the color of the light source. I had completely forgotten that in real life, the colors of the objects in the environment reflect onto other portions of the surrounding area when light bounces off their surfaces. I remember reading about this the first time I heard about radiosity algorithms.

Radiosity concepts:
http://www.siggraph.org/education/materials/HyperGraph/radiosity/overview_1.htm
Comment: Slide 2 on Direct and Indirect light is exactly what Ti133700N is talking about. Also see diffuse interreflection.

Part 4:
http://www.siggraph.org/education/materials/HyperGraph/radiosity/overview_4.htm
This shows some awesome screenshots of what radiosity can do. I really wish our PCs had the power to render this in real-time.

Keep up the great advice!

 

[trebhome]

Your fences are flashing black for a reason...and that reason is because you are using a model texture on a world brush. What I did to solve this problem was to go to an empty spot in hamer, make a block with the texture I wanted, fit it, then posistioned the camera just right so that I was looking at only one face Directly, with every angle lined up so that it looked like I was just looking at a square. then I hit "Print Scrn", went to photo shop and made a new texture out of that. Good luck, and if you need more help with this feel free.

 

[genocide604]

Lol, thats an interesting way of getting around it.. i just used a different texture and fit a theme to it.. but Thanks.!