Basic Lighting
by George Maciver
Perhaps the most important part of the whole
Tomb Raider experience is the lighting. Without careful
lighting, there is no atmosphere, and without atmosphere
there is no Tomb Raider. It isn't about darkness nor is it
about brightness. It's about atmosphere.
There are no 'rules' to lighting, and every room will be
different. The textures you pick, the time of day you set
your adventure and the location of your story will all
affect your lighting. But the following method which I use
will get you started.
First build your room and texture it. There is no lighting
applied here at all. The room has the editor standard
starting ambience of 128,128,128. In the editor and in game
the room looks terrible. No one would enjoy Raiding in an
atmosphere like this. Even Lara herself is bland and
lifeless. We need to start work on the lighting!
The Sun Bulb
Like I said, the following method is not a
rule. This is how I work and you will no doubt discover far
better methods which are infinitely more effective. But for
complete beginners just learning the editor, this will get
you going building some reasonable rooms with a little
atmosphere.
The first thing I do is turn the room ambience down to
32,32,32. Then I put a sun bulb in, adjust the X axis to 20
so the sun lights a part of the floor, the Y axis I spin
round until I find the best effect, and I decrease the sun's
intensity to around 0.25.
In game you can already see BIG improvements! The room has a
little atmosphere and Lara has a lovely silky 3D sheen about
her skin. Much better! Always, always, always put a sun bulb
in every room so Lara has this gorgeous sheen about her.
To be honest, the room is
still a little
plain. I use three basic methods to liven up an
area, and here they are.
Flames
The first is flame emitters. You can also use simple bulbs
turned red with their radiance diameter reduced to around 2
from 5 and their intensity softened to give the flames more
of a natural glow.
In game the room is much improved.
Water
My second method is water. Adjust the water
room to say 0,16,48 for a bluish appeal or 16,48,16 for
greenish - have fun experimenting. Then a simple bulb plopped on the surface and
turned the colour of the water will enhance the effect.
Don't forget to hit the R
(reflection) button so the dry room will cast a lovely reflection from the
water (the numbers 1 to 4 increase the intensity of the
reflection). This is a perfect way to highlight the middle of a
dull room!
Shafts of Daylight or
Moonlight
My third main method is to open the roof and
let some light in from the sky. This can be very dramatic,
especially in darkish levels like caves or jungles. A bulb
placed on the ceiling where the light object shines down and
one on the floor to simulate light hitting the ground can
produce some lovely effects. Not only that, but it brightens
the room while keeping it dark! Perhaps now you begin to see
how you can produce dark levels which are bright! This is an
art and your skills will improve the more you practice and
learn.
And, of course, you can mix
all these effects to produce some incredibly atmospheric
rooms, like this one from The Imprisoned Spirits
(writing tutorials has its benefits!).
Now that you know how I work, look at these
two shots from Jungle Ruins 2. Here you can see all my
lighting techniques used together. You can produce some
startling environments using very basic tools!
Why not be bold to really bring your atmosphere to life!
The Scroll of Seti by D Ray
Sudden flashes of Light on Lara
Ever noticed Lara can
suddenly flash with bright light while running through a
dark area? This can be easily fixed once you understand what
causes it. Lightbulbs and the sun affect objects as well as
the environment. So when mixing light bulbs with shadow
bulbs objects can sometimes shine with the light from the
bulb where the arcs for both the light bulb and shadow bulbs
cross.
The fix is to click on the light bulbs in
those corners and click the ON button OFF. This in effect
makes light bulbs have no effect on objects and they will
only light the environment. However, don't use this except
to cure this bright flashing problem as objects need this
extra lighting for ambience and atmosphere.
Switching this function off is also useful
for using with shadow bulbs, say for example, under a jeep
in bright daylight. The shadow bulb switched off will put
shadow on the ground under the jeep but there will be no
shadow on the actually vehicle.
Adjusting Ambient Room
Lighting
by George Maciver
When adjusting the lighting of rooms, you
can adjust the colour settings incrementally all together
without having to do them one at a time.
This is especially useful if you have the colour shading
perfect, but it's too dark or too light and you don't want
to lose the overall colour balance.
It is also very useful when starting with a brand new room
which has the lighting fully up. You can lower all three
colour tints simultaneously. Saves heaps of time and cuts
the frustration factor considerably.
Simply hold down the Alt key while adjusting the light
settings with your mouse.
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