More Questions
by Morrock · in Constructor · 04/28/2008 (3:37 pm) · 4 replies
Since I'm on my own for artwork until I can convice some friends to join me, I'm continuing to learn constructor, and as is pretty obvious, I know very little about 3d art, efficiency, etc.... I'm starting to get alot better at Constructor, but obviously as I learn more techniques, I have more questions about them, aren't I annoyin'? Heh. Instead of a bunch of different threads, I guess I'll just ask them all in this one.
Is there any way to prevent light from "leaking" through brushes into other areas? Or will this be fixed in the exported version. I also notice that if I have a portaled area lit, any brushes around it, but outside the portaling have some of the light leak onto them, giving them a color of light I usually don't want. Even worse, the "leaking" cuts off right where the portals are, making hallways adjacent to the portaled area have one section in the middle much brighter or a different color than the surrounding. Is there a way to fix this, or will it be resolved in the final export?
What exactly do detail brushes do. I understand they aren't used like structural brushes and what to use them on, and they don't divide any brushes they are on the same plane as...but what exactly is the difference? Do they have less collision surface, more efficient... Or is it just they don't divide identically planar brushes.
I'd like to create a railing for a part of my map. Nothing fancy, just plain railing like you'd see on the edge of a balcony to prevent people from falling off the side. Would it be better to make the railing as several .dts files or create them as brushes.
Is there any way to apply a decal to brushes while in Constructor?
I'm sure I'll have more questions, heh. Thanks in advance for any answers.
Is there any way to prevent light from "leaking" through brushes into other areas? Or will this be fixed in the exported version. I also notice that if I have a portaled area lit, any brushes around it, but outside the portaling have some of the light leak onto them, giving them a color of light I usually don't want. Even worse, the "leaking" cuts off right where the portals are, making hallways adjacent to the portaled area have one section in the middle much brighter or a different color than the surrounding. Is there a way to fix this, or will it be resolved in the final export?
What exactly do detail brushes do. I understand they aren't used like structural brushes and what to use them on, and they don't divide any brushes they are on the same plane as...but what exactly is the difference? Do they have less collision surface, more efficient... Or is it just they don't divide identically planar brushes.
I'd like to create a railing for a part of my map. Nothing fancy, just plain railing like you'd see on the edge of a balcony to prevent people from falling off the side. Would it be better to make the railing as several .dts files or create them as brushes.
Is there any way to apply a decal to brushes while in Constructor?
I'm sure I'll have more questions, heh. Thanks in advance for any answers.
About the author
#2
Haha, now someone tell me! Thanks for the answers.
04/28/2008 (5:45 pm)
Quote:For the most part, you shouldn't be putting lighting in inside of constructor - you should go into the engine, and put lighiting in with the world editor, this gives you much more freedom with lights.
Haha, now someone tell me! Thanks for the answers.
#3
Do not dismiss the baked lightmaps provided by Constructor/Map2Dif; they have their place. For example, if your game design requires you to use multiple instances of your DIFs -- whether in one mission, or across multiple missions -- then placing lights in the DIF would make more sense. My personal take on lighting is to create the more general lighting in the DIF, then place more detailed lighting via the world editor.
05/06/2008 (12:22 pm)
Quote:For the most part, you shouldn't be putting lighting in inside of constructor - you should go into the engine, and put lighiting in with the world editor, this gives you much more freedom with lights.
Do not dismiss the baked lightmaps provided by Constructor/Map2Dif; they have their place. For example, if your game design requires you to use multiple instances of your DIFs -- whether in one mission, or across multiple missions -- then placing lights in the DIF would make more sense. My personal take on lighting is to create the more general lighting in the DIF, then place more detailed lighting via the world editor.
#4
Jaimi any any any plan of adding this? i rememeber some year ago i was working with a BSP editor that let you apply decal simply adding a brush with a face laying on the same plane of another brush's face and flag the face as decal...
Would be nice ;P
05/06/2008 (2:54 pm)
Uhm yeah, the possibility to apply decals into Constructor would be great...Jaimi any any any plan of adding this? i rememeber some year ago i was working with a BSP editor that let you apply decal simply adding a brush with a face laying on the same plane of another brush's face and flag the face as decal...
Would be nice ;P
Associate Jaimi McEntire
King of Flapjacks
This is due to an error in the light mapping code (maybe error is not a good word... just maybe not as robust design). I've been thinking about refactoring the lightmapping code, but it's not a top priority for me, since it can be worked around in most cases.
For the most part, you shouldn't be putting lighting in inside of constructor - you should go into the engine, and put lighiting in with the world editor, this gives you much more freedom with lights. For ambient light, make sure you edit the portal entity itself - there is a flag that says whether ambient light passes the portal or not. Also take a look here for information on how to handle some other portal issues:
tdn.garagegames.com/wiki/Torque/LightingSystem/Ambient_and_Zone_Lighting#Zone_Li...
Detail brushes simplify the model. Every time you put in a brush, this creates extra cuts in the surrounding polygons, and this greatly increases the complexity of the BSP tree. This causes significantly more polygons, slowing down rendering. If you make a brush a detail brush, this doesn't happen - it doesn't cut anything, it's just used as-is.
The best rule of thumb is this:
A brush should be set to be structural if it helps define a zone (and enclosed space for making the engine render better). Otherwise, it should be set to detail. this means that the majority of your brushes should be detail brushes!
If you can get by with brushes (for the straight look), then use a brush. use a *detail* brush. (and don't forget, my cool Stairs plugin can make stairs with railing for you!).
No, sorry, you need to do this in the world editor.
Jaimi
edit: added info about the portal entity and the ambient parameter.