Talk:Intermediate Lighting

Added a little about the lightmaps. --RabidMonkey 11:06, 30 Jun 2005 (PDT)

Suggestion: Should this page be renamed to Intermediate lighting? I think it should, because:

1. The title "Advanced" makes it sound like these things should be used only attempted by "advanced" mappers. But in my opinion, almost as soon as a mapper can manage to use normal light entities, they should be graduating to light_spots and light_environments, because the results are much better but they aren't really that much more complex.
2. There is plenty that could be written about lighting that is at a genuinely an "advanced" level. For example, lighting for dramatic expression and mood setting purposes, techniques for correctly lighting characters, etc.

--Giles 00:37, 17 May 2006 (PDT)

Smoothing groups

I'll add some screenshots from Metastasis 2 when I reboot into Windows later - I managed to get some lovely lighting on some vaulted ceilings through using multiple, separate smoothing groups that way... —Cargo Cult _{(info, talk)} 04:12, 13 Sep 2006 (PDT)

Excellent TY, I was tihnking about getting some images to demonstrate it. Any tiny possibility there could also be one that shows it without the groups to proove the point? NM I jsut spotted the article shange thats perfect. --Angry Beaver 13:59, 13 Sep 2006 (PDT)

Lightmaps

I'm wondering if a lower lightmap value actually means "better quality", or just sharper lighting. I mean if you have an area with mostly indirect, diffuse lighting, you don't want to put low lightmap values in those areas, because that would look worse, am I right? --Andreasen 14:19, 13 Sep 2006 (PDT)

Higher resolution / better quality representation of the lighting reaching the face. Same difference, a lower lightmap value wont improve the light reaching it but it will improve how its shown.

Psychology

Hope you dont mind I ran an overhaul on that, there more supposed to be mini tutorials and what you were getting into need explaining deeper and better. I do belive its needed but I think the better place for it is the color theory article it now links to. And anyway the POV and organization were a bit shaky there. If i hadn't felt inclined to rewrite it i would of slapped on a cleanup and POV tag. --Angry Beaver 20:15, 13 Sep 2006 (PDT)

Well, actually, it needs less explaining, because I'm not talking about color theory "new-age" aestetics, but color temprature science: 254 216 146 is the color that Valve uses for light bulbs, so (if you were to trust them) any light source with this common temperature should be 254 216 146. The 255 255 255 shouldn't be avoided because it doesn't look pretty, but because real life light sources (with the only exception possibly being the sun at mid day) doesn't use this color. If you want to scrap something, scrap the psychology bit, but the impact of temperature on subjects has been much more proven than "the viewers eyes are being drawn to places by colors" mumbo-jumbo, so I am going to be grumpy if the section ends up in color theory. --Andreasen 20:43, 13 Sep 2006 (PDT)

I rewrote it into no fewer than FOUR topics now: Temperature, emotional stress factor, color theory mentioned, and spacing of lights. Now I'm happy. =) --Andreasen 22:45, 13 Sep 2006 (PDT)

The extra light

From the article:

"Another way to create a high quality light source that portrays real life better but doesn't compromise on performance, is combination of a light and light_spot. Position the light_spot as described above, but position the light around 50 units away from the model that is the light's source. Make this light have a brightness of approximately 50, and be the same colour as the light_spot. This will often create a more correct form of glow on surfaces that the light_spot often lacks."

What sort of glow is that? The only glow that I have seen it create, is a glow past the shade of the prop, where it's not really supposed to be. It would be nice if it made the underside of prison lamps light up, but it does a poor job at that at best, making an env_sprite more suitable for that job instead. ...so what is the extra light good for? Valve uses it for some reason (with a brightness of mere 8 for prison lamps), but even if it had a use, I doubt that it's anything more than fine tuning - not really intermediate. --Andreasen 21:34, 16 Sep 2006 (PDT)

I tihnk I'd tend to agree hence it not being present in the first revision. But composite lighting effects can require two lights and its an important point to make.--Angry Beaver 22:05, 16 Sep 2006 (PDT)

I'd still like to see a better example where two light sources (light or light_spot) are really required, because I can't think of any. --Andreasen 22:20, 16 Sep 2006 (PDT)

On Extra Lights

Going to necro this for future peoples. The extra light entity is to create a reflected light effect to properly light the surface from light that would have been reflected from surrounding surfaces sense VRAD doesn't account for this. This also helps to illuminate the prop light source if it or the surface it's on appear too dark. You can find lights like this throughout Valve levels with no light source as well - same reasoning is there, some areas get a bit dark so adding these ambient sources (using your environment lights ambient colors) can really help.

Ensure the constant value of these ambient sources are set to something like 10000, so when the player walks past them in-game they don't appear to light player view models. --Moxxie (talk) 16:16, 8 May 2020 (UTC)

Shadow Control edits

For a summary that infos too detailed, it should be placed inside the shadow_control entity itself, and also the dynamic shadows link should be created and that info placed there; however, that would be an entirley pointless waste of time as no one knows precisley how the orange box is going to screw that all up so I think we need to wait on that before rectifying any mistakes. --Angry Beaver 22:35, 6 Oct 2007 (PDT)

Banned lighting?

I find this hard to believe: "Certain types of light in the coolest temperature range has been outright banned from use in the states due to the effects they had on people in their environment." I tried Googling things related to it, but nothing came up. Anyone care to give some kind of source? Or as said on Wikipedia: [citation needed]. Flarn2006 03:10, 27 April 2010 (UTC)

Found within seconds. --TomEdwards 14:55, 27 April 2010 (UTC)

Well yeah, but those weren't banned for their effects on people, those were banned cause they suck. I've removed the offending comments from the article.

Links to Dropbox/SparkleShare

I just added some links to these programs, because I collaborate with other people on their maps occasionally, and I've always had really good results using Dropbox. I have to admit that the Dropbox link is a referral link to get me some more space, but I figure it's probably okay because people using that link don't lose anything. Anyways, Dropbox keeps files in sync, and makes using 2 computers for development a lot easier, so I had to add it.

SparkleShare needs a bit more work before it's ready for development work, but it's open source, and should be ready for use soon. lx45803 19:39, 1 October 2010 (UTC)

"I'm spamming for my own benefit. It's okay, though." Thelonesoldier 00:16, 2 October 2010 (UTC)

Kinda, yeah. I use Dropbox almost every day for collaboration with people I'm working with, so I can attest to how useful it can be to a developer. I'm restoring the links you took out. If it really bugs you that recommending it gets me (and anyone who clicks the link) a little extra storage space at no detriment to anyone else, then change the link to point right to their website, but don't screw other people over just cause I'm looking for free stuff. lx45803 19:12, 3 September 2011 (PDT)

The indirect links were removed. It may seem harmless, but this type of linking cannot be allowed because it can create unwanted competition between users and questionable motivations for adding new links. --JeffLane 17:00, 4 September 2011 (PDT)