Intermediate Lighting
This tutorial will cover the more advanced lighting techniques used in Source maps. If you are new to lighting in Hammer, you may want to read the basic light tutorial first.
Entities of interest
light
light entity (omni light), brightness 200The light entity is the most basic lighting entity in Source. It spreads an equal amount of light in every direction from the entity origin.
light_spot
light_spot entity pointing towards right side of room, 700 brightness.The light_spot entity creates a spotlight which can be pointed at a direction of the mapper's choice.
light_dynamic
light_environment
env_lightglow
The env_lightglow entity creates a glowing light.
Lightmaps
Lightmaps are 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. 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.
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.
Each little point on the lightmap will count as a patch and, for performance reasons, 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.