Darkmod: Inspiration thread

[nbohr1more]

Yes. The idea here is that ambient lights pass through objects so if there are parallel surfaces where reflected lighting or shadows will
traverse a large area you can apply this same lighting behavior to a large swath of geometry. You just have to divide your space into
parallel runs.

Prior to this, traditional Quake mappers thought that using lots of custom textures for lights would waste texture re-use but Lunaran found
that the engine doesn't really re-use textures on lights anyway. Eg. you might as well use the feature if you are going to waste the resources
on it either way.

Edit: Here are the words of the author:

http://www.quake3world.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=561561&sid=30da022080c32802e8d5b09d9faa17ff#p561561

 

GODLIKE wrote:
Wow.. Okay, tutorials/strategies for painting light textures for ambient lights, please. That whole idea is dead secksy.


Well, this one isn't for an ambient light but the principle is the same. You've got a light source in a room, and that light is going to spread out from the source in volumes. The trick is visualizing what direction you can project a 2d image from that will let you most closely map those volumes.

Take the first side room. With the main light source (the skylight) directly above, it'd be impossible to project an image from above that fits the way the light spreads out as it comes down. But from the side:



all the angles of the shape of the room and the shadows they cast can be seen at once. Thus, we take the room from the side:



and through the magic of photoshop we make a light image that looks like this (minus the white outlines, those are just for visualization):



This is mostly radial/linear gradients and some masking. The dark bit in the lower right corresponds to the machines running the length of the room, and contributes some softened darkness to the corners where you can see behind/inside them. Make a light shader out of it, and rotate the light volume in the editor so that the top is turned to the side, and the projection happens from the direction we want. You can see the softness of the shadow against the far wall in the first image now.

You can now make a second z-image with dark stripes for the columns or a big dark splotch for that bridge in the distance, because those features fit the second axis of the volume the best. Fog brush on the ceiling to mimic some volumetric glare, give the ambient light in this room a similar (but much more blurry) treatment to fill the black shadows in, and you're sold.

That's probably not the best explanation since it's 4am and I'm rushing, but I think it helps visualize the idea. Rooms with more funky shapes can be achieved with multiple volumes fitted to the room shape, and you can paint dark areas that line up between two images so that when the lights overlap they add over each other to hide the seam.

I actually had to do this for the room in the example, since at the far end that bridge divides the room vertically, so I need a second light volume there with the same image cropped to the top half, so the volume doesn't need to extend below the bridge (which would be pointless overdraw as it's supposed to be dark down there. There's also a bounce light above the bridge shining back up at the ceiling, because having a big white concrete floor right there so close to the skylight would be reflecting a bunch more light straight back up.

So, yeah. Lighting!

 

[Melan]

 

Oskar Kaubisch - Eisenach, Wartburg. The Elisabeth Well at the Knight's Hall, 1926. Saint Elizabeth of Hungary and Martin Luther had both lived in the castle (several centuries apart, ofc.).

[NeonsStyle]

Oh that is beautiful Melan

[Outlooker]

Just a youtube video, but nevertheless I expect most of you will like the content.

 

 

[jackiebean]

You may be right.

 

However, the names of food doesn't neccessarely reflect where they are made, but more often how. And for tourists it would be obvious either that they are in Nürnberg.

 

True the names of food in Germany can be interesting. Nuremburger may be a brand or a type of bratwurst. For instance a Berliner is a pastry, which makes JF Kennedy's Berlin speech kind of an inside joke, if you understand he was calling himself a pastry. Nuremberger Bratwurst are excellent, with a tiny bun and a bit of mustard (delicious).

 

Lots of cool places in Germany to use as reference for locations in TDM.

[Anderson]

TDM has great credits music but:

[Petike the Taffer]

Not really a visual bit of inspiration, but a good bit of narrative/plot inspiration to mission makers nonetheless. Recently, I stumbled upon the following article on archaeological and ethnographic research conducted in Poland:

Apotropaic Practices and the Undead: A Biogeochemical Assessment of Deviant Burials in Post-Medieval Poland

These are one of those archaeological finds where contemporary scientists can clearly see the influence of period folk culture and folkloric superstitions even on burial practices. Throughout European history, there was a bit of a recurring fear in many cultures about deceased people becoming undead and haunting the living, either physically or in semi-ghostly form. This was doubly true for individuals suspected of dabbling in magic, cursing others, etc. Some of the latest examples of such public hysteria occured in the early 18th century in central Europe, including Poland. In fact, despite the medieval period often getting a bad rep about being all obsessed with witchhunts.

Here's an intriguing excerpt from the beginning of the paper's abstract:

 

Apotropaic observances-traditional practices intended to prevent evil-were not uncommon in post-medieval Poland, and included specific treatment of the dead for those considered at risk for becoming vampires. Excavations at the Drawsko 1 cemetery (17^th–18^th c. AD) have revealed multiple examples (n = 6) of such deviant burials amidst hundreds of normative interments.

 

I suppose this could work in a mission where the protagonist arrives in a village or small town where locals desecrated the freshly or already burried, just to "make sure they won't become undead and eat us in our sleep" or something similarly morbid. Maybe the author could add a plot twist, where some suspected deceased person really is just a red herring and victim of the locals' superstitition, all the while real undead/vampiric/beastly/whathaveyou monsters lurk in the surrounding wilderness. Given the esthetics of TDM's setting and society, an idea like this could be worked into a mission's plot fairly easily.

[NeonsStyle]

This is just the most beautiful Medieval house. I don't know if it's new or old, but its just gorgeous.

 

[Bikerdude]

That would make a good self contained mission, infact we have ALL the textures I can see on the outside of that house. might have to do one of my demo screenshots...

 

It reminds me of Dragofers mission.

[NeonsStyle]

That would make a good self contained mission, infact we have ALL the textures I can see on the outside of that house. might have to do one of my demo screenshots...

 

It reminds me of Dragofers mission.

 

I was thinking the same thing, for me I'm going to do a town next, so go for it.

[Obsttorte]

Very nice, but not really medieval, though. I guess it is more from around 1900.

[Aosys]

So apparently Art Deco power stations were a thing:

 

http://gizmodo.com/a-rare-glimpse-inside-a-magnificent-abandoned-shrine-t-1000133696

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/picture_gallery/05/uk_battersea_power_station/html/1.stm

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[peter_spy]

One of those is in my area, I've been there twice on photo shoots (4th picture, counting from the top).

[Melan]

The first three are from the Kelenföld Power Plant in Budapest. The control room is an iconic piece of art deco industrial design; unfortunately, while this part of the plant is decommissioned, it is not open to the public

[nbohr1more]

This Templar Cave!!!!

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/gallery/stunning-700-year-old-giant-9981913








Mmm. Rock textures.

[OGDA]

For whole 5 minutes I didn't understand the point as I was thinking that I'm looking at TDM screenshots.

[Sotha]

Nice texturing and lighting. I am a bit concerned about the triscount and the overlapping lights. Did you check with r_showprimitives? Biker might be able to some good optimization, though... ;)

[peter_spy]

Hmm, looks like Level-Design.org has nice screenshot library with quite a few idTech4 games, from Doom 3 to Wolfenstein 2009, so you don't have to download or play those games if you're looking for an inspiration: http://level-design.org/referencedb/index.php?/category/29

[Petike the Taffer]

It's been a while since I've last posted images of manor houses for inspiration. Here's another, larger batch. Some of these are defunct or not fully reconstructed, but the basic shape and appearance can offer plenty of ideas for layouts.

 

 

Šarišské Michaľany (older, standing)

 

 

Šarišské Michaľany (newer, defunct)

 

 

Uzovce

 

 

Pečovská Nová Ves

 

 

Šarišské Dravce

 

 

Galanta-Nebojsa

 

 

Krivany

 

 

Betlanovce

 

 

Horná Ves (defunct, detailed cutaway drawing here)

 

 

Bretejovce

 

 

I think these are rather eclectic choices. This last one is even in Empire style, which is probably as far into the 19th century as I'm willing to go, before it stops fitting TDM's setting.

Edited March 13, 2017 by Petike the Taffer

[Melan]

[NeonsStyle]

Some gorgeous design here. Would be great to have TDM versions of many of these models.

 

[peter_spy]

Actually, Dragon Age Inquisition has some very high quality textures and models, if you need to see how the architecture stuff and props should be made, this is a good place to look. Game's pretty shallow but oh so pretty.

 

http://level-design.org/referencedb/index.php?/category/141

[peter_spy]

Double post: the gallery on level design org is a bit low res and general. I'm taking screenshots as I go, focusing on arch parts and textures, so you might find it more useful:

 

https://postimg.org/gallery/209l6j7z8/

[NeonsStyle]

"Screw you, I don't need no stinking land!"

 

 

A wealth of inspiration on this link:

 

https://au.pinterest.com/olaaa3/budynkiogród/

 

Also this interesting plate

 

https://au.pinterest.com/pin/472174342156819601/

 

and some gorgeous doors

 

https://au.pinterest.com/lfduduch/medieval-house/

Edited March 30, 2017 by NeonsStyle

[Anderson]

That was from a really good movie that goes by the name: "Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events".