Proper lightening...

[Recoil]

Hi there...

...I've got a small problem: I'm building a map right now that consists of a town basically... which of course is under free sky. I'd like to know if anyone of you guys know how to lighten it properly? A light_environment makes a sun... but ugly shadows also. On maps like de_cbble it looks great, but in the .vmf there's also just a light_environment - so how do I use those lights properly? Does it have to do with env_cubemap?

Thanks.

 

[VigilanteP]

Hi there...

...I've got a small problem: I'm building a map right now that consists of a town basically... which of course is under free sky. I'd like to know if anyone of you guys know how to lighten it properly? A light_environment makes a sun... but ugly shadows also. On maps like de_cbble it looks great, but in the .vmf there's also just a light_environment - so how do I use those lights properly? Does it have to do with env_cubemap?

Thanks.

Make sure you adjust the angle of the light environment to something realistic like 60 degrees, you can make it higher or lower if you want to simulate a different time of day.

The default is 90 degrees and that creates some terrible looking shadows. I had the same problem with my map for weeks until i figured that one out.

 

[Ti133700N]

Personally I would change the lightmaps settings on the textures.

Lower the number of luxels per unit. Default (16) Lightmap Scale.

This will make vrad longer to compile though so to counter balance this you can up the scale on the surfaces that do not receive shadows or are almost black. (Don't forget that you can use the nodraw texture on the faces that will not be seen).

 

[Mess]

Also, is there a way to define which way the skybox goes in your map? Eg which side has the front of the skybox. (I usually am concerned about this to get the sun in the correct place)

At the moment I am having to completely rotate my map so that the skybox faces the right way.

 

[Recoil]

Make sure you adjust the angle of the light environment to something realistic like 60 degrees, you can make it higher or lower if you want to simulate a different time of day.

The default is 90 degrees and that creates some terrible looking shadows. I had the same problem with my map for weeks until i figured that one out.

Yes, of course. It's not like I don't know Worldcraft/Hammer and the classic entities this was more like a design-specific question. Thanks anyway.

Personally I would change the lightmaps settings on the textures.

Lower the number of luxels per unit. Default (16) Lightmap Scale.

This will make vrad longer to compile though so to counter balance this you can up the scale on the surfaces that do not receive shadows or are almost black.

Ok, I'll try that.

(Don't forget that you can use the nodraw texture on the faces that will not be seen).

I know