Crisp shadows - Quick lighting tip for you all:)

[QuillioN]

Hi there

Just thought i would share a quick tip on how to get some
real crisp shadows from your lights:) Not sure if this is well known, but hey! I never tend to use this, but for my last map
(coming soon) i will use it. Ok, here we go. This MUST be done on imported textures ONLY. DONT do it on
standard packages. First, bulid yourself a simple 512 cube and stick a cross in the middle, add a light on one side.
SEE FIG ONE

Now import a texture into mylevel ( If you want to use stock texture, just export it out, then import back to mylevel)
Apply the imported texture to all your surfaces and align it.
Go back to your texture browser and right click on your new texture you just imported, go to properties/texture/drawscale set the drawscale to
four, collapse the texture part and exit the properties. SEE FIG TWO

You will notice that your texture has become a little bigger:) now all you need to do is set your texture scale (in map) to a low
value select all your surfaces in map and go to surface properties/alignment tab/ and set scale to 0.0625 and rebuild, this will make
your shadows very sharp and clean FIG THREE hope this helps someone out:)

[FraGnBraG]

hmm, that's a pretty old trick but only older mappers would know that i guess
My Warpcore maps are a rather extreme example of that technique - good tip for new folks
Cheers

[Isotoxin]

hmm, that's a pretty old trick but only older mappers would know that i guess
My Warpcore maps are a rather extreme example of that technique - good tip for new folks
Cheers

Older, O_o, I'm 15 and knew it no offense!

Thanks for the toturial though, i'm sure it'll help some others out.

[FraGnBraG]

...Older, O_o, I'm 15 and knew it no offense!

erm, well i really meant "older" as in folks that have been mapping for a little while already, not really their age

you're only 15? wow that was a really decent dm map you made some months ago - the shaneChurch one with lava

i'm not sure when i first heard about that trick, though - i think at up in the earlier times (maybe 2003-2004?) i know cool shadows started to show up once we found out about the technique ... a couple of maps iirc use the mentioned technique to good effect: dm-1on1-cogworks by cooloola (aka wael) omg drawscale is set to 8 on most textures! and also dm-ctc-ravencross by hortonswho, drawscale 4 on many textures (two great dm maps imo )

[Isotoxin]

...Older, O_o, I'm 15 and knew it no offense!

erm, well i really meant "older" as in folks that have been mapping for a little while already, not really their age

you're only 15? wow that was a really decent dm map you made some months ago - the shaneChurch one with lava

i'm not sure when i first heard about that trick, though - i think at up in the earlier times (maybe 2003-2004?) i know cool shadows started to show up once we found out about the technique ... a couple of maps iirc use the mentioned technique to good effect: dm-1on1-cogworks by cooloola (aka wael) omg drawscale is set to 8 on most textures! and also dm-ctc-ravencross by hortonswho, drawscale 4 on many textures (two great dm maps imo )

I was actually being alittle bit of sercastic though. I've only been mapping since the late 2008 - beginning 2009. I had so much fun figuring out what to do because I did not understand english at all! I was told by that trick by some BT mapper, although did it in another way (using photoshop).

And thank you for the positive comment! if it's even ment to my map which is a CTF, and not a DM map. if so, thats really appreciated.

[FraGnBraG]

doh, srry - it is a ctf

[papercoffee]

Ok this is new to me ...will this rise the MB of a map drastically?

[Metalfist]

Does this affect performance?

[Isotoxin]

Ok this is new to me ...will this rise the MB of a map drastically?

Well, i'm not sure of that, but as far as I know it doesn't.

Does this affect performance?

Nope, for sure.

[Creavion]

Yes, if affects the performance and yes it increases the filesize! It just depends how often you are using that.

[QuillioN]

performance wise on a modern pc, nah not really any affect. File size however, there is a big difference so use it wisely.

[Isotoxin]

Yes, if affects the performance and yes it increases the filesize! It just depends how often you are using that.

Oh well, I'll shut my mouth from now

[Myth]

Pros:
The trick increases lightmap resolution for that particular texture.
It has no impact on performance. (as long as you don't run out of memory)
You can get sharp shadow. Best used when a complex shape casts a shadow.

Cons:
It needs more memory. (more diskspace for file, more ram/vram when running the game) If you double the resolution of an image it uses 4 times as much memory.
Lightmaps are stored as 16-bit images. That's significantly less color depth than you might expect. If you increase the resolution you get more color banding. Especially if the level is dark.
The software render uses a highly optimized linear filtering algorithm for lightmaps. This is a hardware specific routine for the 486 processor. Long story short, the horizontal resolution is 8 times less. Texture sampling and perspective correction happens on every 8th pixel. If the lightmap is too dense then the filter will produce horrible aliasing artifacts. (don't remembery, maybe it was 16 pixels?) But I'm sure none of you use software render anymore.
Smooth shadows are .

If you want to improve lighting, read some stuff on lighting models, radiosity and color theory.
I shouldn't be posting in these forums...