Help! How do you make some nice lighting?

TheLapper96

L1: Registered
Feb 25, 2011
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1
How to make nice lighting like sunset, or just nice weather?
I just don't get how everyone does this :O
 

Fruity Snacks

Creator of blackholes & memes. Destroyer of forums
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Sep 5, 2010
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Its based off the env_sun angle, ambiet lighting and the skybox.

For a sun set you get a tf2 themed skybox (sky_well_01 is one) go to map properties, and where it says Skybox texture or something, put that. You also need to look up the details for env_sun, shadow_controler, etc.

If you google "Sky List" it'll be the first hit. This will give you a list of skyboxes for all valve maps and their suggested sun angles.
 

Fruity Snacks

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http://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Sky_List#team_fortress_2_materials.gcf

What I do a lot is just copy all the lighting related entities out of a map and use it in mine

works pretty well

Acegimko made a prefab map off all the lighting entities (and soundscapes) for maps... I'm *was* searching for it...

Found it! This comes with a .vmf (just have to place the materials folder and such into the proper place)... but when you do that, open the .vmf in hammer and you'll see a couple rows of pictures of maps with their corresponding lighting entities/soundscapes in front of them. Just copy and paste into your map, and change the skybox texture :)
 
Last edited:

TheLapper96

L1: Registered
Feb 25, 2011
6
1
Acegimko made a prefab map off all the lighting entities (and soundscapes) for maps... I'm *was* searching for it...

Found it! This comes with a .vmf (just have to place the materials folder and such into the proper place)... but when you do that, open the .vmf in hammer and you'll see a couple rows of pictures of maps with their corresponding lighting entities/soundscapes in front of them. Just copy and paste into your map, and change the skybox texture :)

Thanks mate :thumbup:
 

Doctor Paprika

L4: Comfortable Member
Apr 24, 2011
150
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Rather than post a new thread, I'll just hijack this one with my own lighting questions. I think it requires the most finesse of any part of mapping and I can't quite get mine to the way I want.

1. From those of you who've done a lot of detailed lighting work, when, in general, do you want to opt for a light spot rather than a light (aside for just using spots to highlight important features of a room or environment)?

2. How do area portals affect light coming in through the holes they "plug"? As far as I can tell, there doesn't seem to be anything special you need to do with them, but I know area portals can be a bit fussy and I can't find anything on how they affect lighting.
 

Fruity Snacks

Creator of blackholes & memes. Destroyer of forums
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Sep 5, 2010
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Rather than post a new thread, I'll just hijack this one with my own lighting questions. I think it requires the most finesse of any part of mapping and I can't quite get mine to the way I want.

1. From those of you who've done a lot of detailed lighting work, when, in general, do you want to opt for a light spot rather than a light (aside for just using spots to highlight important features of a room or environment)?

2. How do area portals affect light coming in through the holes they "plug"? As far as I can tell, there doesn't seem to be anything special you need to do with them, but I know area portals can be a bit fussy and I can't find anything on how they affect lighting.

1. Lights are for radial light, spots are more realistic, I generally use spots everywhere with the exception of bare light bulbs (or something else that requires radial light). Spots are more realistic (imo) and when used properly can make things look really good.

2. I don't know too much about it, but I don't think areaportals affect lighting at all, they just affect what is being rendered.
 

grazr

Old Man Mutant Ninja Turtle
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Mar 4, 2008
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Areaportals don't affect lighting directly, but as can be true with any adjacent individual faces, sometimes smoothing groups will be required to smooth shadows across said faces to force them to blend. Whether or not areaportals increase the chance of 2 face's lightmaps not joining is unknown and ultimately not important; if it happens and you see it ingame the solution is the same.
 

Mr. Happy

L6: Sharp Member
Jul 16, 2008
320
158
I think regular light entities are best for creating low level ambient light indoors which can be supplemented with spot's. Use a constant value of 1 on them (along with a high linear or quadratic).