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Urban Terror Blogs
Frankie V's blog
Making Casa UE4 eps 4
June 4,2014
For this update I've add a bit more detail into the geometry, added trimmings and gutters, as well as further iron works and some foliage to get a better sense as to how well the use of space is building up towards the final result. The final result of course will be totally different than what’s being represented as part of the concept stage as the act of changing one thing usually means having to change another as to fit to finish.
Also to move things along a bit further as to lighting and shadows I made some adjustments, added a few entities, towards creating a balanced and linear lighting solution that also requires balancing out materials along the way.
Normally this is a pass best left for last as you can find yourself putting in to much time and effort doing the same requirements over and over again but out of the box UE4 is not really set up to give a quality render even as a working solution.
There are are a lot of features in Lightmass that just does not work with out some entity additions that needs to be added or adjusted as secondary requirements to added light elements. Perhaps the single most important parameter as part of the Lightmass World Setting is Diffused Boost that if left at it's stock setting of 1 none of the advanced setting will be effective if they work to expectations at all.
The nature of natural lights is they just don't hit a surface and go splat but rather bounce off the surface based on it's reflective index and when it does so carries along some of the color information along with it and transfers that color to surrounding surfaces and in the process picks up further color information in the next bounce. What you land up with is a hue of different light pooling that if balanced just right looks at the very least nature even if not realistic.
More or less this is what Diffuse Boost does that allows every thing else to work as expected like Ambient Occlusion that by it's self will look like a painted edge with no form of connectivity between other surfaces with in the same area.
The next secondary need is for some form of reflection capture as all materials should have some level of reflectivity index as lightmass bounces light into a given area. To accomplish this requirement a reflection capture needs to take place with in proximity of connecting surfaces and in some cases overlap as to the desired effect. In other words if it looks good then it's good.
It's interesting how reflection capture is preformed to it's real wold counter part by the use of a reflective object, by sphere or box, that suggests that an accurate lighting solution can not be achieved by the use of a single light entity but by the addition of secondary elements that supports the desired result based on observation.
It should also be noted that surfaces that are highly reflective, like metal for example, will not work at all with out a reflection capture and the result will be a black surface render of a surface that is not with in direct line of the light source.
The last thing of note that goes hand in hand with lighting is shadows and although there as somethings that directly or indirectly effects the overall quality the ideals of density does not apply but is controlled by the overall Environment Color used to balance the fusing of the light solution based on other parameter changes like Diffused Boost.
With out a doubt a lot more complex than one is use to as to map lighting for idtech3 but as part of a process it's best practice to focus first on use of space best suited to the ideals of someone moving through an area as well as to what areas a player can or can not be allowed to enter and leave the eye candy for the polish phase.
For this update I've add a bit more detail into the geometry, added trimmings and gutters, as well as further iron works and some foliage to get a better sense as to how well the use of space is building up towards the final result. The final result of course will be totally different than what’s being represented as part of the concept stage as the act of changing one thing usually means having to change another as to fit to finish.
Also to move things along a bit further as to lighting and shadows I made some adjustments, added a few entities, towards creating a balanced and linear lighting solution that also requires balancing out materials along the way.
Normally this is a pass best left for last as you can find yourself putting in to much time and effort doing the same requirements over and over again but out of the box UE4 is not really set up to give a quality render even as a working solution.
There are are a lot of features in Lightmass that just does not work with out some entity additions that needs to be added or adjusted as secondary requirements to added light elements. Perhaps the single most important parameter as part of the Lightmass World Setting is Diffused Boost that if left at it's stock setting of 1 none of the advanced setting will be effective if they work to expectations at all.
The nature of natural lights is they just don't hit a surface and go splat but rather bounce off the surface based on it's reflective index and when it does so carries along some of the color information along with it and transfers that color to surrounding surfaces and in the process picks up further color information in the next bounce. What you land up with is a hue of different light pooling that if balanced just right looks at the very least nature even if not realistic.
More or less this is what Diffuse Boost does that allows every thing else to work as expected like Ambient Occlusion that by it's self will look like a painted edge with no form of connectivity between other surfaces with in the same area.
The next secondary need is for some form of reflection capture as all materials should have some level of reflectivity index as lightmass bounces light into a given area. To accomplish this requirement a reflection capture needs to take place with in proximity of connecting surfaces and in some cases overlap as to the desired effect. In other words if it looks good then it's good.
It's interesting how reflection capture is preformed to it's real wold counter part by the use of a reflective object, by sphere or box, that suggests that an accurate lighting solution can not be achieved by the use of a single light entity but by the addition of secondary elements that supports the desired result based on observation.
It should also be noted that surfaces that are highly reflective, like metal for example, will not work at all with out a reflection capture and the result will be a black surface render of a surface that is not with in direct line of the light source.
The last thing of note that goes hand in hand with lighting is shadows and although there as somethings that directly or indirectly effects the overall quality the ideals of density does not apply but is controlled by the overall Environment Color used to balance the fusing of the light solution based on other parameter changes like Diffused Boost.
With out a doubt a lot more complex than one is use to as to map lighting for idtech3 but as part of a process it's best practice to focus first on use of space best suited to the ideals of someone moving through an area as well as to what areas a player can or can not be allowed to enter and leave the eye candy for the polish phase.
Frankie V
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