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So, what are you working on right now?


Springheel

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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.

I always assumed I'd taste like boot leather.

 

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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 by killhour
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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.

I always assumed I'd taste like boot leather.

 

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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.

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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?

I always assumed I'd taste like boot leather.

 

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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 by killhour
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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 :)

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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.

I always assumed I'd taste like boot leather.

 

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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.

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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 by killhour
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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.

What do you see when you turn out the light? I can't tell you but I know that it's mine.

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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.

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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.

"The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man." -- George Bernard Shaw (1856 - 1950)

 

"Remember: If the game lets you do it, it's not cheating." -- Xarax

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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?

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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.

shadowdark50.gif keep50.gif
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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.

I always assumed I'd taste like boot leather.

 

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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?

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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 :laugh: )?

 

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

Edited by nbohr1more

Please visit TDM's IndieDB site and help promote the mod:

 

http://www.indiedb.com/mods/the-dark-mod

 

(Yeah, shameless promotion... but traffic is traffic folks...)

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