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Frogboy
Frogboy
Join Date 03/2001
+2415 sdemperor

Battling lighting

August 28, 2009 7:51:51 PM from JoeUser ForumsJoeUser Forums

This week we’ve been messing with lighting in Elemental. Lighting makes the difference between something looking awesome and something looking awful.

Compare:

image

vs.

image

 

Only difference here is lighting.  I suspect lighting will be something we battle with for months to come. We have time since, ahem, the betas are all cloth map…

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Frogboy
Alexender000
Join Date 09/2005
0
Reply #1 August 28, 2009 7:59:20 PM
from Elemental ForumsElemental Forums

What are you talking about both screens are good looking  

 

I do admit the second is better but still

 

Keep up the good work!

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Frogboy
Denryu
Join Date 07/2006
+93
Reply #2 August 28, 2009 8:00:39 PM
from Elemental ForumsElemental Forums

Rubbing the UGLY CLOTH MAP in our faces again, eh?

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Frogboy
Wahngrok
Join Date 01/2004
+14
Reply #3 August 28, 2009 8:17:45 PM
from Elemental ForumsElemental Forums

Only difference here is lighting.

Can't see anything awful in either pic. The first one has a sandy beach so the brighter lighting seems fitting. The second one is a bit darker and fits the mood of the forest (especially with the Ogre).

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Frogboy
SavageBananaMan34
Join Date 04/2006
+5
Reply #4 August 28, 2009 8:24:15 PM
from Elemental ForumsElemental Forums

Which one is the bad one? 

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Frogboy
Martimus
Join Date 04/2003
+4
Reply #5 August 28, 2009 9:09:59 PM
from Elemental ForumsElemental Forums

Both pictures look nice enough to me.

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Frogboy
mormegil
Join Date 03/2001
+74 sdemployee
Reply #6 August 28, 2009 9:59:13 PM
from Elemental ForumsElemental Forums

Lets make it a game, shall cast your vote? 1 or 2. Though the truth is tht these two pictures are quite differant compostions, so its not really a apples to apples comparision.

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Frogboy
Maccilia
Join Date 05/2008
+10
Reply #7 August 28, 2009 10:03:29 PM
from Elemental ForumsElemental Forums

1 no wait 2 or 1 and 2 so 3 3 it is

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Frogboy
jumppoint1
Join Date 05/2004
+2
Reply #8 August 28, 2009 10:16:07 PM
from Elemental ForumsElemental Forums

I like 2 quite a bit, save for the thatch roofs they are too bright.

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Frogboy
Lord Reliant
Join Date 03/2006
+39
Reply #9 August 28, 2009 10:24:15 PM
from Elemental ForumsElemental Forums

I'd like to see the exact same scene with and without lighting changes.

To be honest, I can't tell much of a difference since they both look good.  The second one looks a bit better, but the scene is different and seems to have better graphics generally.

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Frogboy
landisaurus
Join Date 06/2008
+154
Reply #10 August 28, 2009 10:31:44 PM
from Elemental ForumsElemental Forums

Lighting is certainly a tricky subject.   How difficult is it to switch between these lighting settings?

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Frogboy
Denryu
Join Date 07/2006
+93
Reply #11 August 28, 2009 11:50:36 PM
from Elemental ForumsElemental Forums

2 is superior, but they both look fine and eminently playable.

 

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Frogboy
BreadMan017
Join Date 07/2009
+1
Reply #12 August 29, 2009 12:07:00 AM
from Elemental ForumsElemental Forums

I too am confused, both look fine to me unless he is talking about the roofs in #2

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Frogboy
Fetus4188
Join Date 04/2009
+2
Reply #13 August 29, 2009 12:14:53 AM
from Elemental ForumsElemental Forums

While 2 looks great as, say, a picture, I'm not sure it works for a game.  The units and elements you need to see on the game board don't pop.

 

FWIW, I think it would be cool to have lighting vary from clear, bright areas to misty, dark ones dependent on the magics and evilyness that are prominent in them.

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Frogboy
moondoggiee
Join Date 08/2009
+2
Reply #14 August 29, 2009 12:15:28 AM
from Elemental ForumsElemental Forums

The first one has a 'softer' look to it. It looks like a watercolour painting which is quite nice.

The second one looks darker and unfortunately duller. The darker lighting means the soft quality of the coloring causes things to 'fade' out and attention drawn to the wrong things. Example, the roundish trees with the whitish tops. The whitish/greyish tops now stands out more than its olive green color making me think of mushrooms rather trees.

I think thats also the reason why the roofs now looks too bright? The whites now stands out more in the darker lighting giving me the impression of it 'glowing'.

While i really like the soft coloring, i guess once lighting comes in, the color pallete needs to be changed slightly to give it some livelier colors and more contrast so that the details don't get lost in the shadows.

Just my 2 cents.

 

 

 

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Frogboy
ZehDon
Join Date 04/2009
+115
Reply #15 August 29, 2009 12:27:04 AM
from Demigod ForumsDemigod Forums

As long as this doesn't look like yet another "Dark and Gritty" game, and reading what I have about Elemental that doesn't seem the case, I'll be happy. As we have the ability to be evil, so to speak, a complimentary lighting system - sort of like the way Black and White works - might be the way to go?

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Frogboy
pseudomelon
Join Date 04/2009
+24
Reply #16 August 29, 2009 12:52:48 AM
from Demigod ForumsDemigod Forums

Why is it so pretty? Damn you, Stardock, you tease!

Also, I can't tell the difference between the two pictures. iruncultured?

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Frogboy
CapnWinky
Join Date 09/2008
+13
Reply #17 August 29, 2009 2:45:59 AM
from Elemental ForumsElemental Forums

I vote 2nd. In my mind, it looks alot better! Cool looking troll too!

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Frogboy
Kuloth
Join Date 03/2006
+12
Reply #18 August 29, 2009 3:04:05 AM
from Elemental ForumsElemental Forums

In all honesty neither particularly grabs me. I've never been a fan of the "artistic" look over the "realistic" look, especially these days, but it doesn't matter much as graphics are about 5% of the reason I buy a game. It's also pretty clear that this is an experimental stage of the engine (the lighting effects remind me of playing around with direct3d myself years ago) and I'll be quite interested to see how much improved the final product is.

I loved Vanguard's attempt to go for the "realistic" look but understand the technical cost was gigantic (the unstable and inefficient engine ultimately sank the game in my opinion) compared to the cartoony "stylised" look everyone else goes for

 

cheers,

Kul

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Frogboy
LDiCesare
Join Date 04/2003
+19
Reply #19 August 29, 2009 3:29:35 AM
from Elemental ForumsElemental Forums

When lighting turns trees into water or vice versa, something's definitely wrong.

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Frogboy
Mazuo
Join Date 07/2007
+17
Reply #20 August 29, 2009 3:57:37 AM
from Elemental ForumsElemental Forums
I'm not too keen on the blurriness of the first pic, but I'd have to see the second screenshot during the day to make a fair comparison.
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Frogboy
TheGreatTurtle
Join Date 07/2008
+3
Reply #21 August 29, 2009 5:34:59 AM
from Elemental ForumsElemental Forums

I vote 2nd although thats possibly because i'm baised against deserts.

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Frogboy
DarkW01F
Join Date 05/2009
+4
Reply #22 August 29, 2009 9:00:12 AM
from Demigod ForumsDemigod Forums

whats with the trees? they look like turds on sticks.

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Frogboy
RisingLegend
Join Date 06/2007
+14
Reply #23 August 29, 2009 9:58:38 AM
from Elemental ForumsElemental Forums

I like the first one because of the person wading in the water, does mean we can take our royal families to the beach?   But both look good to me in a lighting aspect

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Frogboy
Hadberz
Join Date 04/2003
+4
Reply #24 August 29, 2009 10:55:21 AM
from Stardock ForumsStardock Forums

1 looks best to me. 2 is way too dark, unless that is a nighttime screenshot.

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Frogboy
Megajames75
Join Date 07/2007
+2
Reply #25 August 29, 2009 10:58:40 AM
from Elemental ForumsElemental Forums

I cannot imagine that elemental will have a day and night cycle (which would be amzing!), but would it not be possible to have different lighting on different parts of the map? Then are Dark forest could be dark, and their would be even more differce between each area, or maybe differnt ligting for the different factions. You could do some really cool thing with differnt lighting. Thanks for showing us.

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