Building a Simple Level Adding Lighting Copyright © 2015 Curt Hill

Previously We created, modified and saved a new level This had CSG geometry –It was textured We decorated the interior of out building with some static meshes One of these was a light –It is not yet recognized as a light source Now the lighting system needs to be fixed Copyright © 2015 Curt Hill

Initial Image Copyright © 2015 Curt Hill

Initial Commentary This is rather dimly lit at this point We can only see anything because of the light let in by the doors and portholes Can you tell what the ceiling material is? Copyright © 2015 Curt Hill

Actor Classes Next we go back to the Content Browser window Open up the Actor Classes Open up Lights and PointLights We should see the following: Copyright © 2015 Curt Hill

Actor Classes Copyright © 2015 Curt Hill

Light Actors These are separate from static meshes This is what the lighting system keys off of There are three basic types of light There are also variations in these –Dominant and movable Copyright © 2015 Curt Hill

Types of Light Point lights –Simulate a light bulb of various types –Produce a sphere of light Spot light –Produces a cone of light Directional light –Usually used for large lights like the sun –Produces a sheet of light Copyright © 2015 Curt Hill

Adding a Light Drag the light actor of interest into the scene We will then modify it later A light actor shows differently in the preview mode than it does when the game is played Lets see some screen shots Copyright © 2015 Curt Hill

After Actor is Drug Copyright © 2015 Curt Hill

Commentary Point light actors are represented as light bulbs It must show in preview mode –Not in game play Notice how the shadows now appear This is also the first indication that the ceiling has not been textured It has not been aligned with potential static meshes that it could emanate from Copyright © 2015 Curt Hill

Aligned Copyright © 2015 Curt Hill

Alignment The four viewport screen is particularly important here If most items are a little off it is not a problem If the shadows do not come from the correct source it will be more damaging to the realism Copyright © 2015 Curt Hill

Point or Points? The fixture in question has many small light points It would be better to have many smaller points This would be more work for you and the lighting system but produce better visuals However, the single light point does not look all that bad We would have to make a dozen lights much less bright –How? Copyright © 2015 Curt Hill

The Scene Tab The scene tab allows us to modify the light characteristics in a way similar to sizing Each actor class has different characteristics Point lights have a sphere radius –At what point can they be ignored Falloff Exponent Shadow Falloff Exponent Light Source Radius Among others Copyright © 2015 Curt Hill

Light Characteristics Copyright © 2015 Curt Hill

Now What? Time to rebuild the lighting This is done under the Build menu Next we see the perspective view after this done Copyright © 2015 Curt Hill

Perspective Copyright © 2015 Curt Hill

Perspective View We can still see the point light actor Next is the game play view Copyright © 2015 Curt Hill

Play Copyright © 2015 Curt Hill

Commentary Almost the same view Brushes and light actors are now ignored –Not the light from the actor Copyright © 2015 Curt Hill

Views Each window has independent controls concerning the display These are on the toolbar for the windows –Third and on We will review the initial scene with each of these Notice that all of these are in Perspective mode Copyright © 2015 Curt Hill

Brush Wireframe Copyright © 2015 Curt Hill

Wireframe Copyright © 2015 Curt Hill

Unlit Copyright © 2015 Curt Hill

Lit Copyright © 2015 Curt Hill

Detail Lighting Copyright © 2015 Curt Hill

Lighting Only Copyright © 2015 Curt Hill

Sphere We can see the sphere of the light in the top view –Among others –We only care about its distance in X and Y and top view shows us this best Notice in next screen –The point source –The barrel and storage tank –The building Copyright © 2015 Curt Hill

Top View Copyright © 2015 Curt Hill

Shrinking In general we do not want this sphere to be excessively large Like other properties of actors in the scene we can modify this in the scene tab Next we reduce to 750 uu Copyright © 2015 Curt Hill

New Top View Copyright © 2015 Curt Hill

Game Play Mode (Corner by light) Copyright © 2015 Curt Hill

Other Light Characteristics The sphere is not the only thing we can change We can change the color of the light or the brightness These are in the Scene tab and Lightmass –Brightness defaults to 1 –Light Color has a red, green and blue component Copyright © 2015 Curt Hill

Finally We should be able to light up our levels Do not forget to rebuild the lighting Copyright © 2015 Curt Hill