global lighting? - Games - Facepunch Forum

Hello Facepunch, How would I go about creating a moon overhead to light a map, particularly the stock black_void.bsp map? Albeit, a moon or sorts may not exactly be the thing I need. I'd like to showcase a series of models with a black backdrop, but given the transparency of various models, the lights, as offered by way of Create Animation Set for New Light, aren't exactly giving me the amount of light that I'm looking for - the sort of natural soft key and fill lighting - as even with eight of these spotlights, not all parts of various models are being lit quite right, leaving various areas to look a bit off and empty, with a pale shimmer. Either that, or areas are over exposed. And adjusting the intensity and maxDistance isn't achieving the effect either. Clearly, it seems the difficulty is me simply not knowing how to go about adjusting the values. Having watched Valve's Source Filmmaker Lighting tutorial ([url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xO6ouPYmIrM&feature=plcp[/url]), I think I've figured out the basics more or less. But beyond that I can't seem to figure this one out, even with Google. Would the following tip, offered by Darkomni, have anything to do with what I hope to achieve : [ [url]http://sourcefilmmaker.wikia.com/wiki/Filming_%26_Editing#Dynamic_Lighting[/url] ]? Regards, parqve

Light_environment can only be done when creating a map in Hammer Editor, and you dont have to sign your post :v:

I see! Thanks for tip(s) GoldPlatinum! But with light_environment aside, is there anything that could be done within SFM that would illuminate the immediate area around the model, filling the area with a soft radiance? Or any recommendation that you might have as to what values I could adjust to tweak the spotlights, via Create Animation Set for New Light, to give the transparent models enough light, beyond adjusting the intensity, while avoiding over exposure?

I'm not exactly sure what you mean but if you want a softer light, try increasing the "radius" slider about 25% to start out with, and then play around with it till you get the desired effect, if it's what you're looking for that is. What it does is spreading the light out a bit, so instead of coming from only a single direction, it will come from several. For example at 0% the light will be emitted from a single position which in real life would equal to a light bulb with a radius of 0 cm. This results in very sharp shadows as the light doesn't go around corners smoothing the shadows out. Increasing the radius in SFM will then equal to making the light bulb bigger in real life, increasing the radius the light is being emitted from. It should be noted that this effect will only show when you have a certain amount of DoF or motion blur enabled and rendered. Not necessarily exported just rendered in the SFM viewport.

Thanks for the suggestion and explanation TheDKer! And yet, adjusting the radius slider from left to right appears to have no effect on the light against the model, while the intensity slider works just fine. [QUOTE=TheDKer;37110501]It should be noted that this effect will only show when you have a certain amount of DoF or motion blur enabled and rendered. Not necessarily exported just rendered in the SFM viewport.[/QUOTE] Within Render Settings, both the DoF and Motion Blur have since been checked, and still nothing.

[QUOTE=parqve;37116955]Thanks for the suggestion and explanation TheDKer! And yet, adjusting the radius slider from left to right appears to have no effect on the light against the model, while the intensity slider works just fine. Within Render Settings, both the DoF and Motion Blur have since been checked, and still nothing.[/QUOTE] Simply enabling the DoF and motion blur isn't enough. It sounds as if you haven't rendered it properly, cause at 100% you will definitely notice a difference. Be sure to be in the clip editor and use any other camera than the work camera, or export the frame, else it won't work.

The radius effect is one of the very few things in SFM that don't get rendered as-is. You gotta be in Clip Editor mode, through a regular camera, with progressive refinement toggled on; and then, you should see the light "blurring" itself, like regular light behaves IRL!

Thanks guys! That did it! And yet, as informed, the adjusted radius effect is only visible when in the Clip Editor, through a non-work camera, as a still frame. Is there any way to view the result within the Clip Editor, while playing through the shot? Is there a command that I need to select to render the shot, to see the effect applied in motion? Or is that what you meant DKer, "..export the frame, else it won't work"?

[QUOTE=parqve;37131427]Thanks guys! That did it! And yet, as informed, the adjusted radius effect is only visible when in the Clip Editor, through a non-work camera, as a still frame. Is there any way to view the result within the Clip Editor, while playing through the shot? Is there a command that I need to select to render the shot, to see the effect applied in motion? Or is that what you meant DKer, "..export the frame, else it won't work"?[/QUOTE] There is no way to do that within SFM. To see it in motion you have to export it as a movie/image sequence and play it in an external media player. Do that by pressing "Ctrl+M" to bring forth the render window and enter your desired settings.

Any information you find in that wikia page, especially written by me, is going to be heavily outdated - as they were intended for use with the 2007 leak of source filmmaker. You can go ahead and [url=http://steamcommunity.com/id/bites]add me on steam[/url] if you've got any further questions about the lights in source filmmaker - I should be able to help you out.

TheDker, thanks for the follow thru! And thanks for chiming in Darkomni!