The Importance of Lighting in Tracks. | Forums

[Morfyboy]

i like your idea about the banner..only, the one ive got has just been done by a friend.. also, good points about the friction....

there is so much to consider in building tracks....i think with this topic, we have just chiped the surface, and i hope to see more topics like this one, and my recent POLL about cameras... i will have a crack with baz, and see what else might be a good topic that is worth mentioning..

if they gain peoples interest, then they must help someone..

[RetiredRonin]

Stucked.

[Morfyboy]

cheers shift.

[Smeghead89]

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.

Could not have said it better, definitely agree with everything you just said

[JolanXBL]

I think you could have spent a bit more time on the lighting in the last example. It looked like a n00b level from Quake (one of my levels!). Instead maybe combine either the day or night lighting with some point lights for detail.

[Barrybarfly]

I think you could have spent a bit more time on the lighting in the last example. It looked like a n00b level from Quake (one of my levels!). Instead maybe combine either the day or night lighting with some point lights for detail.

I was deliberately trying to keep it really simple tbh. Its just a reference point to showcase the difference in the styles/types of lighting, rather than using tracks created by people. Noone would want to be used as a bad example and people would always have a different/better example of a track with good lighting. So I just made that track quickly to demonstrate the difference between good and bad. But yes, the lighting could have been far, far better I agree.

[rlmergeuser]

great demo barry, nice one the last example just jumped off the screen with the use of lights going on

[rlmergeuser]

I Live In a Parallel Universe, Where There is no Dynamic Lighting

[Fernanjoe]

Good thread this. I had trouble trying to get a good lighting feel on my captain caveman track, which is set underground. Without having the natural sunlight i had to put a fair few others in. I still think the track is a bit dark but i ended up using a point light to follow the riders position with an object position event. I think this is used on the depths track in the main game. I found this the best solution to keep the track line lit without having to put loads of other lights in. Anyone got any other tips for lighting indoor/underground tracks?

[stiggyhead]

Good thread this. I had trouble trying to get a good lighting feel on my captain caveman track, which is set underground. Without having the natural sunlight i had to put a fair few others in. I still think the track is a bit dark but i ended up using a point light to follow the riders position with an object position event. I think this is used on the depths track in the main game. I found this the best solution to keep the track line lit without having to put loads of other lights in. Anyone got any other tips for lighting indoor/underground tracks?

If you put a lot of lights, dynamic or not, make sure you activate/deactivate them with triggers along the way so that you don't have all the lights activated at once and you should be safe from any performance issue.