Let your sky ligthing the outdoor (the cover of the skybox should be narrow over the map buildings!). Avoid to use point lights for natural outdoor.


For indoor lights use for example light=1024 and scale=.025
If you want to light outdoor (or big halls) use light=50 and scale=10
For these normal lights attend that the second ring of the light (Gtk shows the scale!) isnt overlaying the walls.

If you want bright day lights (this old ravensoft method above generates relative dark lighting)
use light=500 and scale=0.5 for indoor
Outdoor needs light=500 and scale=15 for example.
But for this attend that the innermost ring isnt overlaying the walls.


If you only use lights with a value of 300 and without the scale key the result are spots on walls! For perfect lighting you can give your lights a color. Lamp spots on walls you can simulate with light=10 and pointing to an info_null (Control+K).

Thats my proposition for a tutorial. Please complement me!

Very nice. The lighting is the last thing I need to do to my map, Kamchatka Train Depot. Should be done by tomorrow.

You're the man gynec. Someone should sticky this

WOW i have seen a project 'Bunker Wars' of a Jedi Knight 2 mapper.
Look at these amazing pictures!!!






his site
http://www.dadmad.de/
Prealpha
Download

the best map ive seen so far
now i have to secure jk2

If you want use q3map2's new improved and realistic shadows
download first
q3map2 2.5.8
and
Q3Map2Toolz (0.06.00)
In q3map2toolz you have to set up the paths.

Then write a new shader like this:

textures/skies/hk1
{
qer_editorimage textures/tools/editor_images/qer_sky

q3map_sunExt 0.75 0.79 1 85 315 60 2 16
q3map_lightmapFilterRadius 0 20
q3map_skyLight 30 3

surfaceparm sky
surfaceparm noimpact
surfaceparm nomarks
notc
q3map_nolightmap
skyParms textures/skies/hk1 512 -
}


this is the original sky shader:
textures/skies/hk1
{
qer_editorimage textures/tools/editor_images/qer_sky
q3map_surfacelight 30
q3map_lightsubdivide 512
sun 0.75 0.79 1 85 315 60
surfaceparm sky
surfaceparm noimpact
surfaceparm nomarks
notc
q3map_nolightmap
skyParms textures/skies/hk1 512 -
}

sun is now q3map_sunExt
q3map_surfacelight is q3map_skyLight


q3map_sunExt 0.75 0.79 1 85 315 60 2 16
(red green blue brightness angle elevation
deviance samples)

q3map_lightmapFilterRadius 0 20 (self other 15-20)

q3map_skyLight 30 3 (the brightness of the replaced q3map_surfacelight)

hmm seems interesting
threewave used in mp_jor1 big hint blocks instead of thin hint brushes.
i suppose they create the hint portals/clusters.
i have to test this...

*addition*

for softer shadows add the key lightmapscale and a vaule of 0.1 or 0.5 in worldspawn (N). But lighting takes longer.

i tested the map above. its really amazing

the most important (additional) compile switches:

-fast speed increment but the light gets darker
-fastgrid the lightgrid is calculated faster
-bounce 3 the whole light is calculated whenever (takes much time for big maps). Very real lights
-fastbounce bounce is faster completed
-samples 3 shadows get softer (increases compile time)
-patchshadows curves and patches throw shadows (increases compile time)
-tresh all will be calculated very exactly (standard 1.0). compile time rises massive

*update*

narc adverted me to do not edit any original shaders like my skyshader above.
I didnt do that. I made a copy in a new shader.
But he is right when he says give it a new name.
So thx narc. I knew that for textures, shaders etc. But i thought for a skyshader i could take the original shader and alter it.

And yeah
ydnar said that "Hint brushes should be in blocks, never thin brushes." I have to change the hint tutorial :P

You can apply the two new sun parameters: angular deviation (width of the sun in degrees) and sampling count (jitters)
for entity lights too.
This allows for decent approximation of penumbra "half-shadow" effects from sunlight with 16+ samples.


For example:

light 500
scale 0.5
_samples 16
_deviance 32 (in world units; a value of 16 or 32+)

So you can dispose entity lights as complement to the sky shader with this sun effect

very good posts gynec im trying to fix up my lighting too as you know ;) for light bleeding through walls _lightmapscale will fix it. put the brush with the leak into a func_group with a _lightmapscale 0.5 key/value.