Basic Lighting Tutorial

[Chems]

lighting tool basics:

file>select map

file>select map texture directory

if you want repeat for a skybox but not necessary.

file>start

if you are modifying an existing lighting solution you would load one at this time.

if not decide which room you want to light first.

I usually do the out door room first since that is where you start.

Right click on the screen.

turn on shadows and darkmaps

file>save lighting solution

wait.....

then add an ambient light to every room.

Edit.>select light

select the ambient light in the outdoor room you just created. (r-click)

R 128 G128 B128 is good to start with for an ambient light. (neutral gray)

file>save lighting solution (overwrite the previous version)

wait....

double click on the screen to add a sun light. It will come in pointing at the horizon and won't do anything until you rotate it. It is shaped like a flashlight. Use your middle mouse button to rotate the light. You can constrain its rotation axis from the menu above. Point the flashlight towards the floor.

wait.....

file>save lighting solution

Repeat this process with different types of lights for the rest of the rooms. You won't be able to use a sun in anything but outside.

save often! this program is buggy. Nothing is more frustrating than spending a couple of hours waiting for each lighting tool calculation only to have it crash on you and lose all your work.

keyboard shortcuts are in the pdf. It takes a few maps to become comfortable with the tool so just take your time. Don't every maximize the window or it will crash. Don't ever accidentally click off the screen while rotating a light. It will crash.

When you are satisfied with your results in the lighting tool it is time to save the map and darkmaps.

file>save map

You will have to choose a different name for your map that you have exported from max. The map will save to the same folder that you selected the unlit map from and the darkmaps will save to the save folder that contains your textures.

good luck.

Thanks Oso

Oringinal Thread here

[hartog]

ok. my map loads and plays fine. in gr and igor i have no problems. so now i am adding my lighting, to make it look good. and it needs the help .

but the problem is. i have a dm ground so it will take the shadows. but when i load it in the lighting tool it squishes the ground on to just half of the map. the rest of the ground is black. in game the "black" area, looks like i did not use the tool. the half that is squished is got an odd purple glow. i assume the purple is just fixed with fine tuning the color of the sun. but why does it squish the dm ground? and even in the ground_dmdmbob2 it is only on half of the rsb file.

does this make any sense or am i as clear as mud? any ideas

[GRT]

hmm for the flashlight(sun) did you rotate it so its pointing down the ground(also you have to raise it up above the playing mesh).also did you add ambiet light to the map.

Edit-did you right click and make sure that the 2 first boxes are checked(forgot what they are).

Edited April 19, 2004 by RR_GRT

[OSO]

This isn't the lighting tool. It's the detail texture that's applied to the map.

Save your color texture as 16-bit (The first option on the top). Re-export your map with the new settings. It should look correct now.

[sleeper]

@Hartog, cool, its nice to see theres a third person whos had that problem now.

Oso and I each had to figure that one out by ourselves. Its a tough one when you dont know whats wrong, thats for sure.

[OSO]

@ Sleeper: Rgr that! I spent a whole day messing with a map and was just about to delete it. I was working on a new map and modified the color texture and discovered by accident that I was using the wrong settings.

[hartog]

Well i do apprecaite the advice. but it still wont work. I went in and resaved both the detail and the gorund dm file to 16 bit. I also can add the flash light and i move it above the ground then aim it in the right direction and it lights up the map. i add the ambient and all is good.

up to this point the ground has not squished to half of the map. the problem is when i right click on the room. and check "use darkmap" as soon as i do this and click ok it squishes it . it does not matter if i check both top boxes or not. once i use darkmaps it squishes. i have not changed any of the default settings under the "texel" boxes. should i?

also all i did was resave to the 16 bit, then went to max and opened and reexported. should i have redone the texturing to the ground for it to take the change?

i guess i need to

I spent a whole day messing with a map

so i can figure it out. but i am still willing to take any advice, so i don't have to use a whole work day trying to figure it out.

[k1ller]

I had same kind of problem when I was making Guarded Forest (no screenshots of that bug though).

I think that the darkmap-bug was there because some objects in the scene were inside other room's portal. For example object A was grouped with "room 1" and it was partly inside "room 2" too - and still everything would export nicely.

Try to move objects near portals further away and check if your floor planes are somehow crossing and see if the bug still happens. Strange shaped / positioned portals can cause such thing too.

If you have time and interest you can download Guarded Forest MAX5 and see why it happens there. Some rocks on the bottom right side of the map are between two rooms.

I don't have darkmaps enabled in the released version of GF so there isn't such darkmap-bug.

[hartog]

Thanks for the ideas K1ller. but it is all room 10 outside with no other rooms or portals.

so for now i am doing this

thanks again for your time.

Hartog

[OSO]

Here's the down and dirty. I'm using screenshots of the map I had problems with. Follow these screen shots and your map will light correctly.

Here is how the material should be set up in max on channel 1:

Here is a ss of the material editor on channel 2:

Please note that the corresponding uv map modifiers need to be set up per the level building pdf.

Here are the settings needed for the color map (base material) when saved in photoshop:

If you need to, use one of the detail textures (they are the greyscale ones) from one of the original maps. They work just fine. No need to resave them as they have the correct setting already.

Now export the map. Load the map into the lighting tool and direct it to the directory that holds your map textures. You may use a skybox but it isn't necessary. It will help you adjust the ambient light and gives you a base to work with.

The first thing I do is add an ambient light to every room. This is a quick way to get a simulated bounced light in each room that you can adjust later if desired.

Click on the color and chose a color.

I usually stick to the greyscale to avoid wierd colors on actors.

Click ok twice to got back to the viewing screen. Next step is to add a sun light to the outdoor room. Double click on the map somewhere (It doesn't matter).

Change the light type to sun from the top list:

Chose a lighter color than your ambient color for the sunlight. Obviously if this is a night map your colors will need to be much darker.

Click ok twice again.

Now the sun light you just placed will be facing the wrong way and you'll need to adjust that. I like to zoom right up on the light so I can see exactly what I'm doing. This is easily accomplished by using the select light from the Edit menu:

Select the sun light from the list and click ok:

Now use the down arrow to move back away from the light just a little bit. Use the middle mouse button (click+drag) to rotate the direction of the light. It is shaped like a flashlight to help you see which direction it points. Point the head of the flashlight towards the ground.

Now right click in the view (not on a light) to bring up the following window:

Select the first two options and click ok. Now you have to sit and wait depending on the amount of geometry and alpha channels that need to be calculated to draw the shadows on the ground. This will depend on the amount of RAM you have available on your system and may take hours to complete.

Once it is done it should look like this:

I had a previous map that was doing what you described and couldn't figure out why for the longest time. I had been lighting this map throughout its construction and when I decided to modify the base material for the final lighting scheme I saved it in photoshop with the incorrect settings for the rsb. It came out exactly like my other map and what you described. Fortunately I had the original color map and was able to quickly come to the conclusion that the settings for the rsb in photoshop mattered.

I tried to cover everything here because I don't know where you are at or what it is that is happening. Good luck and I hope this helps you.

[GRT]

..think this needs pinned now

[Zeko]

! El_Oso is on fire again!

Somebody pin this info plz!

[hartog]

I will give this a try. but it is worth pinning for the newbies still trying out there

thanks for taking the time. that is what makes the game grow.

[hartog]

@El_Oso i don't know what i was doing wrong. but i went and doubled checked it all according to what you showed and now it works. thanks for the SS they make it easier for the newbie in me.

thanks again.

Hartog

[hartog]

well i don't think this will get pinned at this rate. so i have saved a copy for my self of what El_Oso posted.

for any newbie that does read this. make your own copy you wont think it a waste of time later

[OSO]

Glad to see you got it working.

[H-Hour]

Does anyone know if there is a way to move a set of lights already placed in the lighting tool? I went and did up lights on this one building without realizing it wasn't going to be the final placement of that building, and I'd like to just shift all the lights instead of recreate them. I opened the .DMP in notepad, but it looks like I can't edit them there, which makes me think I'm out of luck. Any ideas?

[Biro]

I'm not 100% sure in this H-Hour, but I think (and only think) that the lighting tool calculate where the lights is on the map after where you have placed the "scenecenter" in your maxfile. So with a little movement of that, maybe you can get it right again? (I think you just have to test it out, it can work but don't thrust me 100%.)

[deleyt]

you have placed the "scenecenter" in your maxfile. So with a little movement of that, maybe you can get it right again?

I wouldn't do that if I were you.

The scenecentre is also used for determining animations, dynamic object-placement and collision-checks.

Moving the scenecentre could have unexpected results.

There is a way to solve your problem, although it's a bit of a patch rather then an easy fix.

You could delete all the lights in the scene except the ones that need to be moved. Then move the lights and save them out with a different name.

Reload the original lighting-file and delete the lights that you moved in the first place.

Next, merge the new .DMP file with only the moved lights.

It's a work-around, I have to admit, but that should do the trick.

Edited June 23, 2004 by |rsi|™deleyt

[Biro]

Well, maybe I'm wrong again now, but think about this:

There's NO way that there can be any "combination" between the dynamic objects/collision walls and the "scenecenter" in 3dMax. Max can't and won't understand that you have moved the "scenecenter" from one place to another. The "scenecenter" is important first when you export as it is the GR engine that needs this object to be possible to detect where this objects (dynamic/walls etc.) is placed. So I just can't understand why it should make any damage to move this one around.

Are you guys with me?

[H-Hour]

Thanks for the replies. I'm not sure about whether moving the scenecenter would cause a problem, but I had heard that it was a bad idea. For my purposes, I've already got a lot of lighting placed in the correct places, so if I move it to fit one one building I'll mess up all of my other buildings.

Ahh well. Lesson learned: Don't even think about lighting unless you're sure everything is set up in the right spot.

[liteluvr]

OK.... REALLY dumb question.... the PDF file says use the Middle mouse button to rotate the SUN light.... what about if ya only have a two button mouse....?

[X69RZX]

you need a new mouse?

[liteluvr]

Another problem I'm having.... on this particular map, when I follow the steps at the top, the map loads, but the terrain is black, and the building objects are all white. Only trees and a couple of objects have any texturing at all...

Any ideas?

[The Worm]

looks like missing textures...

GR can "find" whatever texture you use on a map, even on another mod (if activated),but lighting tool cannot. Copy and paste all your texture files you need into the map folder before lighting up. The "debug.txt" in the lighting tool folder will give you what you need.

You can delete the redundant textures once you're done lighting.

Edited July 13, 2005 by The Worm