1. #1

    The Importance of Lighting in Tracks.

    Many tracks I've seen recently have what I consider to be a major flaw in their lighting. When you play the tracks, there are no shadows anywhere, from the rider or from stationary objects. Often, this has been done deliberately in an effort to improve performance. However, it leaves the tracks feeling very flat and lifeless compared to a track with good lighting.

    There are several ways to do the lighting corrrectly in a track. If its set outside in daytime, then simply using the environment settings suffices. If its nighttime, then these settings can still be used effectively or in conjunction with dynam and static lights. When working indoors, it is still possible to use environment lighting in sections if it is done carefully but is more likely to achieved effectively with a combination of dynamic and static lights.

    In an effort to highlight this, I have made an extremely simple 3 sided structure lit in 5 different ways. By watching the video below, you should be able to see the difference between all the tracks. In particular you should be able to see how flat the track looks when there is only light provided by point lights and/or nothing else.







    I would be interested to hear what people think about this (including the devs if they feel so inclined) and wether it is even something that people notice, or pay particular attention to when either riding or creating a track.

    Edit: I had to add this post fro mcannibal shogun to the op as he know far better than I do! lol

    Originally Posted by CannibalShogun
    Nice to see people talking about this, it's been something that has been bothering me since launch. I've seen some really nice looking tracks in the decoration and drive line department that i just can't justify giving a good rating because the lighting was completely flat. In my eyes it's a balance. A really good track pays attention to every aspect of track creation and lighting is a very important one. Imagine going to the movies and seeing one with a great story and acting but the cinematography has had no thought put into it all, 99 times out of 100 that's going to be considered a bad movie.

    That being said I do think it is possible to create dynamic lighting looks without using dynamic lights. Shadows are good because they are a great way to create depth in a track, but you can also create that depth with other lighting options when the dynamic lights just aren't going to work. Flyer's track Lost Future is a great example of this. The track uses background action, static lights, colors and effects to create a great sense of depth throught the whole track to the point where I never really noticed that there weren't any shadows. And that's the main thing about lighting, it's not really that you have to have dynamic lights, it's just that you need to spend some time on lighting to make it look good, if that means dynamic lghts than great, but if you come up with other ways to do it that's all good as well. The worst thing you can do is spend a long time creating a nice track then just use only the ground and sky environment lights to light it (which i've seen many times now).

    For me I try to always use at least the sunlight in some way so that there are some shadows cast from that. If interiors are too complex for dynamic lights (which is often) than the point light is great. Light the background differently from the drive line, find ways to make the rider or certain obstacles/scenery stand out. But whatever you do, if your track is having performance issues don't just sacrifice lighting to save your decorrations.
    Share this post

  2. #2

    Re: The Importance of Lighting in Tracks.

    1st
    Share this post

  3. #3

    Re: The Importance of Lighting in Tracks.

    that last example looked really nice i dont usually pay much attention to lighting, but i definatly will in the future
    thanks for the vid!
    Share this post

  4. #4
    RetiredRonin's Avatar Senior Community Manager
    Join Date
    Sep 2012
    Location
    Ubisoft NC Office
    Posts
    7,343

    Re: The Importance of Lighting in Tracks.

    I thoroughly agree. Lighting is so important to the theme of a track. I hate it when I see that hours have gone into decorating and then the lighting has been killed. Dead is the right word, lighting can help make a track feel much more vibrant and alive.

    I understand that it can help with performance, but the same can be said about complex decorations. If you are willing and able to spend hours on a driving line and decoration, why not spend and hour or two on getting the lighting to work out?

    @boris - That's spam, sir.
    Share this post

  5. #5
    nannerdw's Avatar Senior Member
    Join Date
    Jan 2013
    Posts
    1,268

    Re: The Importance of Lighting in Tracks.

    Always try to place lights in places that will enhance the detail. Even if you're just using pointlights, try placing them in a position so that the light will glance off of an object's bump maps. You can bring out a ton of detail in rock objects and brick walls just by letting the light fall on them at the right angle, and try to keep the brightness relatively low, or you'll wash out the bump map detail.
    Share this post

  6. #6
    stiggyhead's Avatar Senior Member
    Join Date
    Mar 2014
    Posts
    1,585

    Re: The Importance of Lighting in Tracks.

    I agree with the OP, i figured this out a while ago while wathcing some random trials hd replay.
    If you look at my track Crimson Wine (shameless plug, booo) i used a lot of differently colored point lights and some directional lights and it really gives the track a better look than what i would've obtained by just using the ground/sky ambient light or the light of the sun.
    Share this post

  7. #7

    Re: The Importance of Lighting in Tracks.

    Yup. Makes a so-so track look great.
    Share this post

  8. #8

    Re: The Importance of Lighting in Tracks.

    Originally Posted by Barrybarfly
    Many tracks I've seen recently have what I consider to be a major flaw in their lighting. When you play the tracks, there are no shadows anywhere, from the rider or from stationary objects. Often, this has been done deliberately in an effort to improve performance. However, it leaves the tracks feeling very flat and lifeless compared to a track with good lighting.

    There are several ways to do the lighting corrrectly in a track. If its set outside in daytime, then simply using the environment settings suffices. If its nighttime, then these settings can still be used effectively or in conjunction with dynam and static lights. When working indoors, it is still possible to use environment lighting in sections if it is done carefully but is more likely to achieved effectively with a combination of dynamic and static lights.

    In an effort to highlight this, I have made an extremely simple 3 sided structure lit in 5 different ways. By watching the video below, you should be able to see the difference between all the tracks. In particular you should be able to see how flat the track looks when there is only light provided by point lights and/or nothing else.







    I would be interested to hear what people think about this (including the devs if they feel so inclined) and wether it is even something that people notice, or pay particular attention to when either riding or creating a track.

    a beautiful demonstration of the importance of lighting and shades

    it would be although you continue the examples with on the last piece of the different tests with fog, camera effects, color sunlight and site of the sun (in front of, behind…) - to see evolving/moving a track
    , all the four will create the environment of a track

    still cheer of this demonstration
    Share this post

  9. #9
    Surrur's Avatar Trials Developer
    Join Date
    Jan 2013
    Posts
    29

    Re: The Importance of Lighting in Tracks.

    When I start making tracks I always begin with lightning. I think lighning is the most important thing because thats what makes the overall feeling.

    Well detailed tracks can look bad with bad lightning. Its nice that you made a video about it
    Share this post

  10. #10

    Re: The Importance of Lighting in Tracks.

    defo agree a great example of how lighting can really make a huge difference to a track. Sadly its not always to clear cut.

    Take my last track ;



    i had HUGE problems just getting it to run as well as it did ( and even now there are area's that aren't perfect ), if i had dynamic shadows, the track would have been unplayable with both screan tarring and more pixcellation than you could wave a big stick at.

    To date, i have never built anything on the ground, and always build in the sky. This helps with the complexity ( not 100% sure with lighting ). But when you add lots of diffent lights along with a **** tone of detail something has to give and often results in pixcellation. It was the same in HD, only to a lesser degree.

    I know you wasn't having a pop at me, but i wanted to point out that its not so cut & dry as adding dynamic lighting to everything
    Share this post

Page 1 of 7 123 ... Last ►►