Light Issue

Kelee

L1: Registered
Mar 24, 2012
14
0
Hey everyone, finally starting my map again and I came across a really weird issue. The shadows on my particular piece (and others but not as much) looks awful.

My question(s):
1) Can I remove all shadows from a map?
2) Can I remove certain items from having shadows?
3) Do sky boxes effect this?

2SyHi.jpg

As you can see it looks awful with said shadows and on the right side it doesn't even have one (For some reason).
 

Kelee

L1: Registered
Mar 24, 2012
14
0
Thank you for the quick response, sadly I do not know what you mean. The only prop I am using (for light) is light_environment. I do not see the "disable shadows" and the other objects are materials not props. I will however use that in the future (when I start adding props).


Thank you.
 

xzzy

aa
Jan 30, 2010
815
531
Then it's likely those shadows are being cast by brushes, which you cannot directly do anything about.

You could turn them into func_brush entities and disable shadows that way. Select the brushes making offending shadows and hit ctrl+t. In the window that pops up, type func_brush in the text box and hit apply. Then in the values that appear, disable shadows.

This does mean the brush will no longer be considered map geometry, which means it can't seal the map, and won't block vis. Which is probably fine for what you're doing here but keep it in mind.


Another option may be to mess with the lightmap scale on the surfaces receiving shadows you do not want to see. Select the face that you do not want to receive shadows with the texture select tool, and change the lightmap setting to 64 or 128.

This doesn't technically eliminate the shading, but it makes it so diffuse you won't be able to see it.
 

Kelee

L1: Registered
Mar 24, 2012
14
0
I tried the func_brush, seems to work fine but I noticed sticky bombs roll off instead of sticking, not a huge deal.

I will try the lightmap scaling on other objects when the need arises.


One last question as mentioned above you can use fullbright, when I think of fullbright I think of a way to exposed area that makes your eyes hurt. I'd assume this is the same way in-game? If it is, is it possible to dull the fullbright and make less bright?
 
Last edited:

xzzy

aa
Jan 30, 2010
815
531
No, fullbright is all or nothing.

You should never release a map with fullbright because everything will look terrible, and people will laugh at you for making a newbie mapper mistake.

It technically only exists to be used for map development, so you can see the map before lighting has been developed.
 

Kelee

L1: Registered
Mar 24, 2012
14
0
Figured as much, thank you for your help. T'is seems to work good enough, don't think anyone will notice otherwise.
 

Kelee

L1: Registered
Mar 24, 2012
14
0
Another question, didn't want to make a new thread so I shall post here!

Glass issue, in hammer it looks awesome, in-game it is glitched and poopy looking.

Images:

In hammer:

MEwUO.png


In-game:

L3T3x.jpg


Why is this? And how in the heck can I fix it?
 

Kelee

L1: Registered
Mar 24, 2012
14
0
Oh, I know that, I was talking about the pillars and how you can't see the 3D aspect of them through the glass in-game. I have tried no-draw to no avail.
 

xzzy

aa
Jan 30, 2010
815
531
Either make the pillars func_detail, or slightly thicker than the glass.

Map compilation deletes faces that it considers "non visible", and it doesn't take into account texture transparency when doing it.

nodraw is definitely not what you want, anything with that texture will not be visible in game at all.