Q2E PPL light help - You decide...?

[o'dium]

As you all know I'm working on Q2E PPL, but i can't for the life of me decide how bright a light should be. Its a simple small, square light, seen everywhere in Q2. Now because of how small these are, they shouldn't be to large a radius (Radius is in X Y and Z fields), and they should be a square light. So, the shape I can decide on, but the side...?

Given your artistic eyes, take a look at this simple picture (Gamma increased pic of old build of Q2E, so you can SEE something, heh).

Look at the light in the center of the picture, just in front of the enforcer. What, in your honest opinion, brightness should this light be? Take a look at pic one, pick a value on the scale as to how far this light would reach outward, and then look at pic 2 and pic how far it would reach in front.

Keep in mind to remember that Pic 1 will work in height AND width, not just width.





Thanks for your help. Any help I get from you guys i'll try it in the map and give you the results, see if i can get something looking better.

[Don Carlos]

3 width
6 depth

from 5 to 3

[o'dium]

Thats really quite dim, I have to say I'm not liking the amount of light that shines on the back wall, that just wouldn't happen liken that, would it? Anyways, this is with wht you said:

[Don Carlos]

try 5 and 7 mate

[o'dium]

I'll try that next, here it is with a rounder light shader:

[bitWISE]

2x5 with round shader

[Don Carlos]

Odium, try directional lighting instead of a static light?
Also, do the surfaces reflect light?

[o'dium]

Odium, try directional lighting instead of a static light?
Also, do the surfaces reflect light?

We have pretty much the exact same tech as doom 3. If doom 3 reflects, so do we. I dont think we reflect (bounce) light because that would be to expensive, so i think that would need to be faked some how.

As for directional lighting, yes, i thought about this. We do have the choice with a few different light types, point_lights, projected lights etc etc, but point_lights are the best way to go for this according to 'serk.

[o'dium]

2x5 with round shader

Yeah, tried that, the thing is that you have to imagine light as being a three dimensional cube shape. You can change the height, width, and depth of the cube, but you cant change, say, one ends height to a different value of the other ends. Now, what you said makes sense; for one end. The light end. Doing it that thin will look right, but it wont even touch the "floor", so even though the light IS there, it lights up nothing because nothing intersects with it. Get me?

So what you end up with, is a dot on the wall, nothing more.

[Don Carlos]

point_light will do the job better than an orb light. Can you change the angle of the lighting? So for instance, have an 80* light instead of a 50* one?

[o'dium]

point_light will do the job better than an orb light. Can you change the angle of the lighting? So for instance, have an 80* light instead of a 50* one?

I think we can only rotate the actual shader, not the light itself. I see what your saying, point it down at the ground, so to speak?

I dont think thats possible in our current code base.

[o'dium]

Talking with 'serk, he suggests I use the light differently, making the light in the center of the area but offsetting the lights center origin to the light source... Ill give that a go.

[o'dium]

Right, what 'serk said allows me to get it looking the same as before, only this time I have shrunk the light bounds down to a lot smaller volume, so that it saves on performance. So at least I got a bit more performance out of it, even if it is still ugly

[Don Carlos]

Any more updates?

[seza]

keep up the good work odium. those graphics are coming closer and closer to matching my nintendo entertainment systems games. fan for life right here

[MKJ]

better get some more light in there lest you want another doom3 game, sir

[o'dium]

The lights are all suposed to come together, so just one isn't "bright".

However, trying to stay true to the original light sources is a REAL big pain in the ass...

And seza, thank you very much. I was going for the whole "Zelda 2" look, the worst looking one of them all.

[rep]

I forget, is anyone redoing the textures for you in 512x512 or even 1024x1024 goodness?

If not, PM.