Because Lighting Makes Or Breaks A Map...
BlackPanther
Join Date: 2002-02-11 Member: 197Members
Join Date: 2002-02-11 Member: 197Members
<div class="IPBDescription">Go easy on colors!</div> **This ain't a tutorial on how to do lighting, but rather an article ON lighting. I'll continuously update it with new info/thoughs as i go along. Also spellchecking <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'><!--endemo-->**
During my recent "Custom ns maps download-a-thon" in which i proceeded to download over 200 meg worth of custom NS maps and check them out, trying to get new ideas on how to revive my ns_democles, i found a disturbing trend in some of them.
Lighting to make your eyes bleed.
Part #1 : Feel of danger.
Now, all NS custom mappers (and especially official mappers like KFS and relic25) knows that lighting gives your map the atmosphere needed to make the player beleive his surroundings are dangerous and full of hidden aliens.
For example, while you want your hives to be in a dark/damp place and you want the marine spawn to be lit enough for the commander to work easily, the rest of the map is up to you to decide how it should be lit. But please, do it with gameplay in mind.
What you need to do is think of the aliens above all. They need dark and lightly lit areas to move around undetected and do their thing. Always think of the rest of the map like this:
The whole map has been taken over by aliens and the marines JUST got there and have set up their base. They do not know what is outside their spawn, and you have to lit the map like this is the first time that marine has played this map, and he takes a second or to to STOP and look around after taking ONe step outside his spawn.
If you can acheive this, you've done it. The moment that players knows the map well and can go around the map without any real FEAR means that you basically failed. The sense of DANGER must ALWAYS be floating around. Fully lit hallways and gamma enduced blinding does NOT make a good map! <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'><!--endemo-->
A good way to know if you've done your homework when making your map, is to basically run around it over and over again by yourself.
<b>And If you ever STOP in an area and start looking around looking for aliens that might jump out of the vent to chomp you, yet you DAMN well know that you're 100% alone in your map and not even running and bots/are on the internet, then you've got it right.</b>
Simple as that.
Part #2: "All the colors of the rainbow!!!"... well maybe not.
<span style='color:red'>Colored lighting is SUPPORT lighting.</span> It's not meant to lit up a full room unless it's something that fits what the room is supposed to represent (like heavy machinery or a dark ventilation shaft.) Now, i'm not saying that your main lighting color should be PURE white. Far from it. (Never put 255 255 255 for your texlights.) If you must go white, choose a light grey instead. It makes the textures stand out, yet not full bright when looking at it. Plus, it can help to bring down the OVERALL brightness of the map down.
In real life, i have never been into a room where pure RED was used to lit it (well i did.. in a photo lab... but this is Natural Selection <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'><!--endemo-->). Red usually means danger. So put it where you see things that might be dangerous for a worker to stay in or signify an area with importance.
For example, if you have a vertical structural gurder sustaining a ceiling, it's important. Put up a light_spot to lit it's side going up or down.
If you've got a bunch of wires hanging (like a func_wall or illusionnary), lit it up also with a small red spot.
Another thing to consider, is heat. Altough it's not "felt" ingame, different colors give out certain feelings when looking at it. When you check out the TRIAD generator room in ns_eclipse, the dark blue lighting gives it a "cold" feel, as if coolant was running through the generators.
Got a bunch of steam coming from a pipe? Steam is hot. Lit it red.
(But don't forget to change the color of the steam to a darker shade of red. White steam in front of a red spot ain't really realistic <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'><!--endemo--> )
Got a warning sign next to a heavy machinery? Give it a nice yellow-ish/orange look.
The architecture can tell you a lot on which type of colors fit. Even more so with the right texture. Steel is cold. To bring out the cold feel, blue lighting on a grey surface gives out the right effect.
Trial and error is the best way to go here. Depending on the color scheme of your level with your textures, not all types of colored lighting applies. If you have an infested areas near a hive, a dark green fits well.
To see what types of colors apply to your texture scheme, do the following:
Make a box in WC and apply the most used textures in your map onto the walls in 256x256 sections with the texture applied to fit in a 1x1 scale. Copy/paste the brush about 10 times. Put a light_spot with a different color ranging from all the main colors in the spectrum (red,orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, purple, those kinda things) on each section. Compile and check out which colors bring out the texture the most and use that. Don't be afraid to chaange the angle at which the spot hit the texture.
But keep in mind that doing stuff like puting a RED light near a texture that has a lot of RED in it, tends to "white" it out.
Also play with the intensity of the light. A strong dark blue doesn't have the same feel as a light blue.
This is a tedious process, but assures you of the best colors to use in your level.
And last but not least, keep in mind that colored lighting affects models which will also be lit the same color as the ambient light, even more so with the ligth_envirronment entity.
Imagine ns_hera's glass hallways lit up white, as normal, but with a light_env which gives out green! Totally ruins the effect.
I hope i have been of some help to newbie and expert mappers alike.
Keep the players in mind, and gameplay even more.
And if at first you don't succeed, do it again.
"Do or do not. There is no try." - Wise master yoda
During my recent "Custom ns maps download-a-thon" in which i proceeded to download over 200 meg worth of custom NS maps and check them out, trying to get new ideas on how to revive my ns_democles, i found a disturbing trend in some of them.
Lighting to make your eyes bleed.
Part #1 : Feel of danger.
Now, all NS custom mappers (and especially official mappers like KFS and relic25) knows that lighting gives your map the atmosphere needed to make the player beleive his surroundings are dangerous and full of hidden aliens.
For example, while you want your hives to be in a dark/damp place and you want the marine spawn to be lit enough for the commander to work easily, the rest of the map is up to you to decide how it should be lit. But please, do it with gameplay in mind.
What you need to do is think of the aliens above all. They need dark and lightly lit areas to move around undetected and do their thing. Always think of the rest of the map like this:
The whole map has been taken over by aliens and the marines JUST got there and have set up their base. They do not know what is outside their spawn, and you have to lit the map like this is the first time that marine has played this map, and he takes a second or to to STOP and look around after taking ONe step outside his spawn.
If you can acheive this, you've done it. The moment that players knows the map well and can go around the map without any real FEAR means that you basically failed. The sense of DANGER must ALWAYS be floating around. Fully lit hallways and gamma enduced blinding does NOT make a good map! <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'><!--endemo-->
A good way to know if you've done your homework when making your map, is to basically run around it over and over again by yourself.
<b>And If you ever STOP in an area and start looking around looking for aliens that might jump out of the vent to chomp you, yet you DAMN well know that you're 100% alone in your map and not even running and bots/are on the internet, then you've got it right.</b>
Simple as that.
Part #2: "All the colors of the rainbow!!!"... well maybe not.
<span style='color:red'>Colored lighting is SUPPORT lighting.</span> It's not meant to lit up a full room unless it's something that fits what the room is supposed to represent (like heavy machinery or a dark ventilation shaft.) Now, i'm not saying that your main lighting color should be PURE white. Far from it. (Never put 255 255 255 for your texlights.) If you must go white, choose a light grey instead. It makes the textures stand out, yet not full bright when looking at it. Plus, it can help to bring down the OVERALL brightness of the map down.
In real life, i have never been into a room where pure RED was used to lit it (well i did.. in a photo lab... but this is Natural Selection <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'><!--endemo-->). Red usually means danger. So put it where you see things that might be dangerous for a worker to stay in or signify an area with importance.
For example, if you have a vertical structural gurder sustaining a ceiling, it's important. Put up a light_spot to lit it's side going up or down.
If you've got a bunch of wires hanging (like a func_wall or illusionnary), lit it up also with a small red spot.
Another thing to consider, is heat. Altough it's not "felt" ingame, different colors give out certain feelings when looking at it. When you check out the TRIAD generator room in ns_eclipse, the dark blue lighting gives it a "cold" feel, as if coolant was running through the generators.
Got a bunch of steam coming from a pipe? Steam is hot. Lit it red.
(But don't forget to change the color of the steam to a darker shade of red. White steam in front of a red spot ain't really realistic <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'><!--endemo--> )
Got a warning sign next to a heavy machinery? Give it a nice yellow-ish/orange look.
The architecture can tell you a lot on which type of colors fit. Even more so with the right texture. Steel is cold. To bring out the cold feel, blue lighting on a grey surface gives out the right effect.
Trial and error is the best way to go here. Depending on the color scheme of your level with your textures, not all types of colored lighting applies. If you have an infested areas near a hive, a dark green fits well.
To see what types of colors apply to your texture scheme, do the following:
Make a box in WC and apply the most used textures in your map onto the walls in 256x256 sections with the texture applied to fit in a 1x1 scale. Copy/paste the brush about 10 times. Put a light_spot with a different color ranging from all the main colors in the spectrum (red,orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, purple, those kinda things) on each section. Compile and check out which colors bring out the texture the most and use that. Don't be afraid to chaange the angle at which the spot hit the texture.
But keep in mind that doing stuff like puting a RED light near a texture that has a lot of RED in it, tends to "white" it out.
Also play with the intensity of the light. A strong dark blue doesn't have the same feel as a light blue.
This is a tedious process, but assures you of the best colors to use in your level.
And last but not least, keep in mind that colored lighting affects models which will also be lit the same color as the ambient light, even more so with the ligth_envirronment entity.
Imagine ns_hera's glass hallways lit up white, as normal, but with a light_env which gives out green! Totally ruins the effect.
I hope i have been of some help to newbie and expert mappers alike.
Keep the players in mind, and gameplay even more.
And if at first you don't succeed, do it again.
"Do or do not. There is no try." - Wise master yoda
Comments
One more thing, alot of FUN maps dont seem to use lights, then the map runs in full bright, making our eyes bleed.
One one more thing, a map should never have areas of pitch black. Its a game, and staring at a black monitor should never happen, its not fun. We cant feel our way out. Want a room thats pitch black? Thats kool, but leave a light somewhere, like near the doorways to guide the player out of that room.
Lit is the past tense of the verb usage of light. "I light the candle. I am lighting the candle. Yesterday, I lit the candle."
Just about every time you use lit in this document, you should have used light instead.
"...you want the marine spawn to be lit enough for the..." and "...the rest of the map is up to you to decide how it should be lit" are both correct, however:
"...and you have to lit the map like this is the..." should use the present tense form "...and you have to light the map like this is the..."
"It's not meant to lit up a full room unless..." should also use the present tense form "It's not meant to light up a full room unless..."
"...where pure RED was used to lit it..." should, yet again, use the present tense "...where pure RED was used to lightt it..."
"Put up a light_spot to lit it's side going up or down." is another example. Use "Put up a light_spot to light it's side going up or down."
Additionally, "its" is the possessive, and "it's" is the contraction of "it is". The world is screwy like that. "Put up a light_spot to light <i>its</i> side going up or down."
To continue, "lit it up also with a small red spot" should be "light it up also with a small red spot"... and that sentence could be improved further by saying "light it up with a small red spot, as well." which is less awkward.
"Steam is hot. Lit it red." should be "Steam is hot. Light it red."
Finally, "Imagine ns_hera's glass hallways lit up white" is actually correct.
Just remember, you brought this english lesson on yourself. Hehe...
Lit is the past tense of the verb usage of light. "I light the candle. I am lighting the candle. Yesterday, I lit the candle."
Just about every time you use lit in this document, you should have used light instead.
"...you want the marine spawn to be lit enough for the..." and "...the rest of the map is up to you to decide how it should be lit" are both correct, however:
"...and you have to lit the map like this is the..." should use the present tense form "...and you have to light the map like this is the..."
"It's not meant to lit up a full room unless..." should also use the present tense form "It's not meant to light up a full room unless..."
"...where pure RED was used to lit it..." should, yet again, use the present tense "...where pure RED was used to lightt it..."
"Put up a light_spot to lit it's side going up or down." is another example. Use "Put up a light_spot to light it's side going up or down."
Additionally, "its" is the possessive, and "it's" is the contraction of "it is". The world is screwy like that. "Put up a light_spot to light <i>its</i> side going up or down."
To continue, "lit it up also with a small red spot" should be "light it up also with a small red spot"... and that sentence could be improved further by saying "light it up with a small red spot, as well." which is less awkward.
"Steam is hot. Lit it red." should be "Steam is hot. Light it red."
Finally, "Imagine ns_hera's glass hallways lit up white" is actually correct.
Just remember, you brought this english lesson on yourself. Hehe... <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
was that fun? good now be quiet. heh <!--emo&;)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/wink.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='wink.gif'><!--endemo-->
The problem with most mappers is that we usually make a kick-**** corridor or room but then we dont know where to put the lights so it looks as we imagine. I have real problems with this, but if you test and test its not hard to get to the desired lighting. Ive seen really good lighting in some custom upcoming map pics.
I dont think coloured lighting is only support. i dont separate lights that way. If a room needs red as its a maint or industrial thing, ill put it. If a room needs green ill use it. I think thats a choice of the mapper and maps should look mostly as the mapper wants it (im not saying to make maps with discotheque lighting). I mostly use white, red and orange as lighting althoung blueish also looks great. Just find youre favourite colour mixes and use them.
About hives: The way Flayra envisionned his mod, is that the aliens pick dark and damp spots for their hives to be built in. And since hives should never been seen with a direct "line of sight" from a hallway (to stick with the NS theme and just for general gameplay issues), it backs this up completely.
And THE WAY to the hives is just as important as the hive itself.
If you're walking down corridors full of techno gadgets all around you, turn a corner and see a hive, you've failed. Turning the hallways PROGRESSIVELY into infested areas is key.
The best example of "Turn around the corner and there it is" is the maintenance hive in ns_eclipse. When you're going through the "keyhole" area, surrounded by sci-fi stuff, you go up the ramp and BOOM! The infestation just hits you when you see the maintenance area. It just feels... too sudden.
No offense towards KFS at all (the map is fun. No argument about that man!), but the correct way to do it is to change the hallway from "clean", to "semi-clean", to "broken" and finally, "infested".
Infestation needs to feel organic. I won't tell you HOW to do it (Since this is an article about lighting, not mapping), but i can tell you how to make the lighting fit the progression. Obviously, the 4 "stages" i described earlier have their own lighting feel.
The "clean" portion has adequate lighting to fit the rest of the map. No change there from my first post.
Once you reach the "semi-clean" areas, you should start to see infested textures spread around equipment and walls and. This indicates that the infestation is starting to spread to this area and is not complete. Lighting there can be darker, as to signify that the infestation goes over light fixtures and textures.
"Broken". The infestation has spread through the bulkheads and is breaking them. The ground is uneven. Light fixtures are not where they used to be. The hallway is in chambles, but it's still walkable. Sparks fly from broken equipment, it's getting darker every step you take. Only faint spots are still visible through the infested walls to light your way. Every dark corner could hide a skulk ready to jump on your. The adrenaline is pumping...
You reach the hive. Every seam is crawling with infestation, you see the hive in a dark corner of the room. Everything is broken and loose, ready to fall on your head.
A faint red emergency light and infested-over light fixture give out barely what's needed to see the hive and the only walkway to reach it. You raise your gun to fire.. you hear a shriek coming from behind you... you're surrounded... Every darkened spot/hole in the walls DID hide a skulk or a lerk. You turn around and press the trigger...
"Squad Alpha. Respond. Squad Alpha, come in." - Commander
Ok, so i went a little too dramatic. But the basics is to create the effect every time you go in. Like i said in my first post, you need to immerse the player so that he can wet his pants every time he reaches a hive location. S|lencer's got it right. Suspense is key.
One last thing. For the broken areas. Blinking lights and spots create "blotches" on the walls and generally increase RAD compile time. Go easy on them. If you want to create an effect to make a corridor dark and lit again with a broken blinking light, do it. But sparsely, and NOT along the entire length of the corridor. It usually works best for just around the corner like the data core hive in ns_hera, the corridor leading to processing. That, for example, would be a good spot for it. But again, not pitch black. You have to be able to see something without the lighting blinking.
Personally I think your best way to acheive really raw ambience is the tweaking - outlined in a tutorial made by Adam foster on the collective.
Basically, you keep making slight changes, reduce light levels, change the env_sound you have and try a different wav of a windy tunnel, keep making slight changes and searching for 'the perfect fit' for your map. When you have it you'll know, just as you do when you don't have it perfect.
The article is <a href='http://collective.valve-erc.com/index.php?go=hl_tips_1' target='_blank'>here</a>.
I generally try to avoid yellow lighting. I don't know why, I just don't like the way it looks.
But i did write them in conjonction with the mapping guidelines to stick with the NS theme AND the feel of the official maps.
Now this may seem weird to say, but my mapping carreer has been limited in terms of released maps. But i've spent enough days in front of WorldCraft to have tried and tested every dang effect this engine can pull off. My HD has over a gig of files PURELY for mapping. (I reallly need to do some cleaning hehe <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'><!--endemo--> )
Creating the right lighting effect ain't easy, but it can be easily the most powerful tool to make maps looks good, even if you need to make it boxy to keep the r_speeds down.
<img src='http://spns.thehivemind.org/amckern/ns_blow_b10002.JPG' border='0' alt='user posted image'>
2 styles of lighting from the same map
image 1, shows good use of lighting - with a combo of boring articher
image 2, shows bad lighting, with goodish articher
amckern
Light "blotches" done with a simply light entity like in pic #2 should be avoided at all costs.
Texture lights give you the best most of the time.
But you CAN have them non-theless. Just as long as they are not in potential gameplay-changing areas.
Again, dark is ok. Pitch black is not.