So, what are you working on right now?

[AluminumHaste]

There are 3 in that shot - 2 floodlights and the moon (also, the lighthouse has one, but it doesn't ever intersect with the floodlights - I think.

 

I'm going to make the statue not cast shadows, as well.

 

I don't know that might look a little weird. I also find that lights in Doom 3 that don't cast shadows really stick out like sore thumbs for me.

[killhour]

Just enable some fixed tessellation using the patch inspector tool (shift S). Find that nice sweet spot where it fits in more with your geometry and doesnt look uber smooth and "oh that's a patch" (usually around 5/6 for rounded stuff, in one direction). should increase FPS and make the scenes look more TDM-like.

 

I already use fixed tessellation. What do you mean by more TDM-like? Jagged edges aren't exactly my idea of an artistic direction. I want my maps to look better than TDM is "supposed to".

Edited June 28, 2010 by killhour

[AluminumHaste]

I already use fixed tessellation. What do you mean by more TDM-like? Jagged edges aren't exactly my idea of an artistic direction. I want my maps to look better than TDM is "supposed to".

 

He means to select the patch, press Shift+S, at the bottom of the patch inspector, click the checkbox, and change the number of subdivisions until it looks better.

 

I just reread your post and it sounds like you are doing that already lol.

[killhour]

He means to select the patch, press Shift+S, at the bottom of the patch inspector, click the checkbox, and change the number of subdivisions until it looks better.

 

I just reread your post and it sounds like you are doing that already lol.

 

Yes, that's what I'm doing. He told me to reduce the subdivisions so it looks more in line with everything else or something.

[AluminumHaste]

Yes, that's what I'm doing. He told me to reduce the subdivisions so it looks more in line with everything else or something.

 

Ah I see what he's saying, I don't think it looks super smooth, I was actually going to suggest adding more subdivisions lol.

What is your subdivisions at anyways?

[killhour]

Ah I see what he's saying, I don't think it looks super smooth, I was actually going to suggest adding more subdivisions lol.

What is your subdivisions at anyways?

 

It's pretty high - 8 horizontal and 16 vertical. The problem with less is that the light really highlights the edges.

Edited June 28, 2010 by killhour

[Serpentine]

Yes, that's what I'm doing. He told me to reduce the subdivisions so it looks more in line with everything else or something.

 

Not to detract from artistic license or anything, however I do think that under most circumstances the 'roundness' of patches is something that makes them look out of place, cylinders have a visible square bias, arches look flat in the middle etc, they also look smoother and shade differently than the models and other objects in TDM which have larger faces/lower poly count.

 

To me the lack of continuity/congruency of such elements detracts from the look of a map, but that's just my personal feeling.

 

But as said, it's your map and I'd prefer that you do things which make you happy at the end of the day

[AluminumHaste]

Not to detract from artistic license or anything, however I do think that under most circumstances the 'roundness' of patches is something that makes them look out of place, cylinders have a visible square bias, arches look flat in the middle etc, they also look smoother and shade differently than the models and other objects in TDM which have larger faces/lower poly count.

 

To me the lack of continuity/congruency of such elements detracts from the look of a map, but that's just my personal feeling.

 

But as said, it's your map and I'd prefer that you do things which make you happy at the end of the day

 

I have to agree with this though, happening upon some geometry in game that is significantly smoother than the rest makes it really stand out. Having said that, I would still prefer higher fidelity to congruency.

[killhour]

Not to detract from artistic license or anything, however I do think that under most circumstances the 'roundness' of patches is something that makes them look out of place, cylinders have a visible square bias, arches look flat in the middle etc, they also look smoother and shade differently than the models and other objects in TDM which have larger faces/lower poly count.

 

To me the lack of continuity/congruency of such elements detracts from the look of a map, but that's just my personal feeling.

 

But as said, it's your map and I'd prefer that you do things which make you happy at the end of the day

 

I usually do try to make the patches reasonable, but in this case, the lighting really makes the individual faces stand out, so it's necessary to over compensate a bit.

[Bikerdude]

but dosent having too many subdivisions impact on performance..?

[killhour]

but dosent having too many subdivisions impact on performance..?

 

Not if you're careful about it. That fountain has about 2500 tris, not counting the statue. Since there's only one of them in the level, it's not a big deal. Also, performance in those shots is more limited by the fact that the visportals are far from finished.

 

Besides, I'm not under any constraints from a publisher to reach a wide audience, so the level is going to be tuned to be playable on my card - a GTX 260.

Edited June 28, 2010 by killhour

[demagogue]

In some thread around here, we were talking about using faux shadows (decals?) for static lights so you could turn off shadowcasting to help performance, but it still look and act like a shadow (for lightgem purposes). I don't remember how that panned out now, but something to look up if you really want shadows and the performance really needs help in a scene.

[Bikerdude]

In some thread around here, we were talking about using faux shadows (decals?) for static lights so you could turn off shadowcasting to help performance, but it still look and act like a shadow (for lightgem purposes).

Hmmm this sound interesting, I use decals and the smoke/scorch decal to provide fake shadows under lights, but I would like them to effect the lightgem for sure.

[killhour]

How difficult would it be to program a "static" light? One that only cast shadows from worldspawn and func_static entities.

[rich_is_bored]

You can make faux shadows with "textures/common/shadow" or by painting a projection image for a spotlight. Either solution will work with the lightgem.

[Tels]

Not if you're careful about it. That fountain has about 2500 tris, not counting the statue. Since there's only one of them in the level, it's not a big deal. Also, performance in those shots is more limited by the fact that the visportals are far from finished.

 

Do you know you make things appear "round" by using "smoothing" so even a 4-tris "block" appears round like a round bar? That might help without compromising on the quality.

[killhour]

Do you know you make things appear "round" by using "smoothing" so even a 4-tris "block" appears round like a round bar? That might help without compromising on the quality.

 

As far as I know, patches should do this automatically. Doesn't seem to be working though. Is there something I need to do to explicitly tell the engine to do this?

[Komag]

The lighting on the actual texture will appear smoothly rounded, but any shadow cast by it (including onto itself) will be exact as the polys are, so when the light is going over the curve there will often still be a very solid line of where the shadow starts.

[nbohr1more]

That kinda sounds like normal mapping... ?

[AluminumHaste]

You can see an example of this with a Square Cylinder, instead of a Regular Cylinder. Checked it out it's pretty cool.

Create a brush, go to the Patch menu and go to I think More Cylinders, and pick Square Cylinder. It's square but when lit by a light looks rounded.

[killhour]

The lighting on the actual texture will appear smoothly rounded, but any shadow cast by it (including onto itself) will be exact as the polys are, so when the light is going over the curve there will often still be a very solid line of where the shadow starts.

 

Yeah, that's the problem I'm having. It's giving me a jagged line following the polys right where the shadow starts. I assume there's no way to do anything about this other than increase subdivisions?

[nbohr1more]

...or set it to noshadow

[Diego]

Quick test to see the impact on the frame rate with an area light. Results: huge impact. well, duh

 

But it does look good.

[Bikerdude]

thats an awesome looking shadow, what was the actual fps, res etc in the scene. And whats an area light..

[nbohr1more]

Is that the Doom 3 Soft-shadow mod or is that a faked shadow via one of rich_is_bored's suggestions?

 

(So is FPS up or down )?

 

(I thinks it's up from Biker's catch of the filename clue "painting a projection image for a spotlight" )

Edited June 29, 2010 by nbohr1more