Intermediate Lighting

This tutorial will cover the more advanced lighting techniques used in Source based maps. If you are new to lighting in hammer, I recommend you read the Adding light tutorial first.

Example of "light" and "light_spot"entities:

Basic omni light - "light" entity
Basic omni light - "light" entity, 200 brightness.

Basic omni light - "light" entity
Spotlight - "light_spot" entity pointing towards right side of room, 700 brightness.

Advanced Lightmaps

Lightmaps are now variable in terms of density. This is set with the texture applicator, while you are in lightmap grid view mode.

Lower numbers will result in a more dense lightmap. What does this have to do with advanced lighting, you ask? Simple. Light effects and shadows will show up much better on a surface that has a lower lightmap density. The opposite is true, as well - Shadows are less quality if you increase the number. The default value is 16 units per luminosity pixel, or luxel. What effect does this have on compiles and the system? Why can't I make every surface lightmap 4 units? Simple. Each little point on the lightmap will count as a patch and you don't want to run over that limit. Subsequently, it makes your compiles take ages. So, use this sparingly on surfaces which require detailed shadow.

Likewise, this can be used to smooth out certain surfaces. You don't always want 20 sided quarter-cylinders, and you can get an equally good smooth if you utilize lightmaps in conjunction with 3-sided curves - Just apply a 4 density to them and you'll notice a smoother appearance on them.

Note: This page is still under construction, and the above content is incomplete. Feel free to add topics relating to "Advanced Lighting" to the list below.

It will cover:

• Spotlights
• Dynamic lights
• Environment lighting