Radiosity shadows / sun intensity continued..

(Hewster) #1

I thought I’d better continue this in a separate thread, as the last once
was getting a little mixed up…
My last post in the original thread is here:
http://www.splashdamage.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=36147#36147

ok, reducing the sun intensity to 120 got rid of the odd colour
artifacts from the radiosity :smiley:

However if I’m picky, I still find I’m getting un-realistic shadows when
I have 2 walls close to each other…

This pic shows such an area… this first pic is with no q3map_skylight,
or radiosity:

This next image shows the same area, with just radiosity (8 bounces):

NOTE: this shot comes from a compile where the sun intensity was 320.

This is how the area looks with my most recent compile, with a sun
intensity of 120, q3map_skylight 20 5 and a 10 bounce radiosity
(only 40 lights left at end of compile):

It looks a lot better with the reduced sun intensity, and I can live with
how it is now, but I do feel its just not quite right.

FYI, here are the shaders used in the above pics:


The sky shader:
textures/ww_town/sky/midday
{
	qer_editorimage textures/ww_town/sky/midday_up.tga
	surfaceparm noimpact
	surfaceparm nomarks
	surfaceparm nolightmap
	surfaceparm sky
	q3map_sun	1.0 1.0 0.9 120 240 45
	q3map_skyLight 20 5
	skyparms textures/ww_town/sky/midday - -
}


The wood shaders are all like this:
textures/ww_town/wood/kb_wood01
{
	qer_editorimage textures/ww_town/wood/kb_wood01.tga
	surfaceparm woodsteps
	q3map_lightmapsamplesize 18
	q3map_lightmapGamma 4
	{
		map $lightmap
		rgbGen identity
	}
	{
		map textures/ww_town/wood/kb_wood01.tga
		blendFunc filter
		rgbGen identity
	}
}

and the terrain is thus:
textures/ww_town/terrain_1
{
	q3map_lightmapsamplesize 32
	q3map_lightmapaxis z
	q3map_texturesize 512 512
	q3map_tcGen ivector ( 150 0 0 ) ( 0 150 0 )
	q3map_lightmapGamma 4
	q3map_bounce 1.0
	q3map_nonplanar 
	q3map_shadeAngle 120
	surfaceparm gravelsteps
	{
		map textures/ww_town/ground/kb_ground02.tga
	}
	{
		map $lightmap
		blendFunc GL_DST_COLOR GL_ZERO
		tcGen lightmap
	}
}

Can’t wait to play with the new jittery lights :slight_smile:

Hewster

(ydnar) #2

Why are you using q3map_lightmapGamma 4?

That’s scaling the brightness of all the lightmaps by a factor of 4. That’s not the right way to tweak lighting in your map.

Nuke those and recompile. You are using -fast right?

Also, your sky light is really really dim. I’d say crank it up to:

q3map_skyLight 50 5

Also, add -samples 2 to your compile line so the shadows will be antialiased.

y

(Valhue2) #3

ydnar, i vaguely remember a post about lightmap data being lost over large brushes, could this be a similar case? Meaning that the entire floor (dirt) is one brush, and by ‘sectioning’ the brush would allow a more detailed lightmap to be placed upon it? I may be out on a limb here, im no where near 100% confident on this matter, but I thought it was relivant.

V^2

(DiaZ) #4

What is not right is that the shadow on the wall is much darker than it should. It should be about the same hue as the floor’s. You could try adding some filler lights?

(Hewster) #5

Hi,

Yeah I used lightmapgamma, instead of ambient or _minlight, as the
results, overall, seem to be better, plus I can tweak shaders individually
using lightmapgamma.

I’m trying to get the map looking perfect, in relation to overall brightness,
on systems with default graphics settings, as I’m fedup with players
complaining that the maps are too dark !! and then having to explain how
to tweak their settings time and time again.

My light switches are " -fast -bounce 10 -samples 3 -thresh 0.3"
I will try a compile with a no lightmapgamma’s in the shaders and a
stronger q3map_skylight, although I have noticed when you go much
higher than 20, the skylight shadows start to become a little obvious…
I’ll post my results when done.

@Valhue2, the brush there isn’t very big, and with no radiosity the shadow
looks right (although too dark since there’s no radiosity) Although it does
go underneath the building, which might be causing some problems.

@Diaz, yeah your right its the wall shadow that is too dark, I guess the
bounce from that wall is falling in the floor and causing the increase in
light, but no light is being bounced on-to the wall, and hence the shadow is
still very dark… careful placement of additional light would be a way to
correct it i guess.

Thanx for the input guys :slight_smile:

Hewster

(Hewster) #6

ok, I gave up, and simply moved the building that casts the shadow, and moved the
sun up a few degrees, so the shadow no longer falls on the adjacent wall :confused:

I did decrease my q3map_lightmap by 1, (4 became 3 ect) and increased my
q3map_skylight to 30. Overall I’m very happy with the lighting in the map now :slight_smile:

Hewster