1. #11

    Re: The Importance of Lighting in Tracks.

    11th
    Share this post

  2. #12

    Re: The Importance of Lighting in Tracks.

    Originally Posted by Gus
    11th
    callate, goose.

    Rico muy Suave!
    Share this post

  3. #13
    RetiredRonin's Avatar Senior Community Manager
    Join Date
    Sep 2012
    Location
    Ubisoft NC Office
    Posts
    7,343

    Re: The Importance of Lighting in Tracks.

    Originally Posted by FLYER80
    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
    If you add a mix of static and dynamic lights in the most noticeable areas, with point lights in other areas that need light, you can usually get something working.

    Even if it's only one section that has dynamic shadows it can change the feel for the whole track and trick your brain into up-converting it to 1080-awesome*.


    *Scientific Term
    Share this post

  4. #14

    Re: The Importance of Lighting in Tracks.

    Originally Posted by ShiftySamurai
    If you add a mix of static and dynamic lights in the most noticeable areas, with point lights in other areas that need light, you can usually get something working.

    Even if it's only one section that has dynamic shadows it can change the feel for the whole track and trick your brain into up-converting it to 1080-awesome*.


    *Scientific Term
    i did try a number of different ways, but this time nothing seemed to work. I used pointlights for the blue and orange areas, and made each area seperate to the other in the hopes of adding better lighting. During testing, i had HUGE issue with pixcellation, and found the only way to reducing it was to remove dynamic lighting, and recuce the area of the pointlights - but even this wasn't perfect.

    I would have loved to have had dynamic shadows, not just on the rider but on other items.
    Share this post

  5. #15

    Re: The Importance of Lighting in Tracks.

    I can appreciate that in a track with a lot of light sources it can be tricky to try and get some dynamic lighting into the track. However, a lot of the tracks I have seen, where the lighting has been killed, dont even have that issue. They are simply left totally flat. While I still believe there was a solution for your track, it would have been tricky. Whereas certain tracks could have had it done very easily and yet it wasnt.

    Its good to see some people agreeing with the concept and even better to see someone post saying its not something they've considered before, but they will now. Until this was pointed out to me and I was given two tracks to compare, I didnt realise how much of a difference it could make myself! So its good to know I've at least passed the info onto someone else and hopefully helped them out as well.
    Share this post

  6. #16
    Oski's Avatar Senior Member
    Join Date
    Mar 2014
    Posts
    1,331

    Re: The Importance of Lighting in Tracks.

    Originally Posted by Surround
    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
    I usually do the lighting last, which is a mistake because of how much it affects the looks of the track.

    Depending on what kind of track it is, either 1st or 5th.
    Share this post

  7. #17

    Re: The Importance of Lighting in Tracks.

    There probably was more I could have done, I'm not the best in the editor.

    Like I said I do 100% agree with Bary. Some people don't even try to make their tracks look interesting.
    Share this post

  8. #18

    Re: The Importance of Lighting in Tracks.

    Originally Posted by FLYER80
    There probably was more I could have done, I'm not the best in the editor.

    Like I said I do 100% agree with Bary. Some people don't even try to make their tracks look interesting.
    I dunno, you're pretty damn good in my book mate! I've been working with lighting for a couple of months, experimenting, trying different things and so on. I certainly wouldnt claim to be an expert when it comes to executing it myself, but i can tell you that I have discovered it is probably the most fiddly, difficult aspect of some tracks. When working outside, its pretty straightforward tbh and there really is no excuse for dead lighting, as shown by the RL tracks, which always have active lighting.

    But when you're working indoors it becomes a totally different prospect and can be really tricky to pull it off, particularly if there are several "types/uses" of lighting in one area. As Shifty said, one trick is to resort to static lighting for those areas so that the objects there have shadows. If the areas either side of that have dynamic shadows, then the static section feels more active as your eye is used to seeing shadows from the rider. So when it sees shadows from the objects it assumes the riders shadow is there somewhere too. Particularly if there is no floor/wall close to the rider. Then it seems as if the shadow is simply cast somewhere without a reflective surface.

    It becomes a game of illusion and misdirection in some cases tbh! LOL
    Share this post

  9. #19

    Re: The Importance of Lighting in Tracks.

    I use lighting for atmospheric apsects, like the feels and look of a track but if there is a part of a track that is barely visible is will light it usually with enviro settings. If that is not possible then a very dim and low-ranged point light suffices. But when i changed enviro settings i try hard to blend colours and not make any 1 of them stand out more than another, especially shadows vs ground colour, i try to make more natural and realistic enviros with th DL visible, unfortunatly none of these ideas are directly shown in any of my tracks, but they would i i made one now.
    Share this post

  10. #20
    NasT65's Avatar Senior Member
    Join Date
    Apr 2014
    Posts
    628

    Re: The Importance of Lighting in Tracks.

    Well done Barry and rillo, and thx for pointing this out to everyone.
    Obviously I am guilty of having tracks with dead light, but I will definetly try to not let it happen anymore. What is most astounding to me is just how flat 2 dimensional and almost cartoony a great track can look with dead light. Also once someone shows you the difference on a track, or with a vid like you have done, it's very easy to notice dead lighting, but so easy to miss if no one has ever showed you. Well done again guys and thx.
    Share this post