Lava heat effect

[RatBoy]

I'm still working on my first attempt of an UT map =D

The map has lava all over the map, there are some big pools where you can fall and die, and some little tunnels where you see the lava flowing but can't touch it.

As said by someone in the Screenshots thread, my lava could use something to make it look more hot.

The point of this thread is so you can give me advice in different ways to make it look that way, I'll provide some screens so you see what I mean. Keep in mind that everything you see is still in primitive shape or WIP.

Screenshot #1:
Here you can see the picture I posted in the Screenshots thread. This particular scene is practically finished, but the effect on the lava is needed badly.


Screenshot #2:
Another place in the map, brushwork is poor, but here I tried to make the heat effect, using five coronas placed just above the lava and playing around with the DrawScale function.

(The coronas on the walkway were from some lamps that I erased since they were causing some HOM errors -_-)

The effect looks nice, but I don't know if this is the best way to do it, I heard it could be improved with a fogzone or something. So here I ask you all to give me tips on how to make that effect and pros and cons of each way. Thanks in advance! ^_^

[rohitggarg]

Coronas are like if someone goes too close to them, they seem like small balls hanging in the air which looks really disgusting .. thus coronas should only be used with lights because they are made for that...

Now as far as Fog zone is concerned, it can give a nice look to your lava. Find a screenshot attached below to see the effect. I am also working on a lava based map and added a fogzone...

from a large distance away

lava when you are close to it

Now to add a fogzone you just need to add a zoneinfo and put the bFogZone=true in the properties. Now to add fog you need to place a light and set its volumetric lightning properties as they suit.. The color of the fog can be controlled by the color of the light.. That's it!!

[RatBoy]

Tried (Or is it tryed?) out that way and gotta say results are pleasant. Looks nice and it's quite easy to set different effects. Gotta thank you rohitggarg since you answered quickly and perfect ^_^

Here are some screens of the outcome, maybe I'll tweak it differently later, lava sheets were set to "Bright Corners" instead of "Unlit", I think it looks way better.

Now I only have to finish the entre level xD




PS: BTW, I was discussing this with a friend, lava in real life is supposed to instantly burn anything you throw at, so should I go ahead and tweak Zone damage for it to kill instantly or should I leave it at it's default?

[rohitggarg]

Tried (Or is it tryed?)

Its tried no issues with that

PS: BTW, I was discussing this with a friend, lava in real life is supposed to instantly burn anything you throw at, so should I go ahead and tweak Zone damage for it to kill instantly or should I leave it at it's default?

I can understand your concern regarding lava kills a person instantly. But in real life as well, it takes 2 seconds to kill a person whatever the reason might be thus the default setting without armour is good enough.....If you want to tweak your lava a little bit, i would suggest put some zone fog color to the lava zone you have. Make it yellowish red so that the person actually has a feel of falling in lava

(WOW I think I thought too much with the lava zone that I have)

[[did]Madis]

Is this hot looking enough?

This is how I do it. I use two sheets, an unlit one below, and a modulated one on top of it (4 UU's between them). The modulated sheet is lit by normal lights, giving the lava some variable shades.

[Creavion]

Lava is to dark in my opinion.

[[did]Madis]

Lava is to dark in my opinion.

IRL, lava often is dark, especially in a natural environment. Though, it's not 'natural' in the map I made, I didn't want to overbrighten it, since it would only glow brightly if it's superheated.

Edit:

[Creavion]

Hmm ok, this can be accepted.

[Feralidragon]

Lava is to dark in my opinion.

IRL, lava often is dark, especially in a natural environment. Though, it's not 'natural' in the map I made, I didn't want to overbrighten it, since it would only glow brightly if it's superheated.

Edit:

Depends on the lava type. There is hot lava and cold lava. The hottest are on the wide, low altitude and relativelly calm volcanos (like in Haway for example), and the coldest are in the narrow, high altitude and higly explosive volcanos. So everything depends on the context/location/environment.
So, if you want to have the lava of a explosive volcano, it's darker, and moves like tooth paste, but if you want lava in a metalurgy or calm and low altitude volcano, then it's much brighter and fluid almost like water.

In your specific case Madis, the reason you gave about your lava doesn't fit your map context, althought it's ok that way, but I would consider to add more contrast to that lava a bit imho (like export that texture, enhance the brighter and darker zone on the lava [rising contrast], and then MyLevel the result and use it instead).

[Emandion]

You also have to take into account people's accepted general perception.. The way people en masse would imagine such a thing..
How many people would imagine lava as a dark red, as oppose to a bright orange? I'm going to take a stab at not many.

As much as that colour lava CAN exist, it's not how people would usually think of lava, and thus it looks strange and out of place..

[[did]Madis]

Yeah, it might be a little bit out of context, but I didn't want to make it too bright or it would have killed the contrast and brightness of the map I intended to achieve.

[rohitggarg]

Is this hot looking enough?
Attachment:
Lava.jpg
Lava.jpg [ 74.34 KB | Viewed 1 time ]

This is how I do it. I use two sheets, an unlit one below, and a modulated one on top of it (4 UU's between them). The modulated sheet is lit by normal lights, giving the lava some variable shades.

The only problem that i could see with the lava was not the color of the sheet but the ambience in the lower part where the lava zone exists..

If it is lava, its surroundings should get illuminated. You must know that red hot lava emits red light as well... take reference from a really great lava map named DM-Mojo.....

[GenMoKai]

A whole discussion about lava?! I think both can be good, depents on the lighting in the map, when a map already has to many bright lights, i use less bright lava, when its a dark theme, i use more brighter lava... thats my opinion

[papercoffee]

Say the lava is fluid what abaout some white sloshy effects if the lava changes level. This can show how hot the lava is.
Would it be buildable ...?

[Myth]

It's all about having the right amount of contrast. There is no warm whit out the cold. The walls around the lava must always look a lot less intense than the lava. This also applies for other light sources.