[solved] My torch is ugly, help!

[tinyboss]

First of all, I'm just getting started with Leadwerks. So thanks in advance for any help, and please don't think there's anything too basic to mention. ;-)

 

I'm working on a dungeon environment, and I'm trying to make a torch. I made a cone, gave it a wood texture, and added a particle emitter and point light. Okay, so it's a torch, but it's really, I mean really, ugly:

 

 

Here are my questions:

1. I hate how the torch itself looks, all shiny like that. At first it was just totally dark, since I had the point light on top. Then I moved the light in front hoping to light up the torch, but it just has this hard shiny glare on it. Can I tell Leadwerks to render the wooden cone at full ambient lighting?
    
   
2. I don't like the light itself, either. I hate the way it casts those shiny highlights on the walls. I wish I could more or less have the effect of an ambient light, in a globe around the torch. Is something like that possible?
    
   
3. I've messed with the color of the point light, but I can never tell that it makes any difference. Is it just very subtle, or am I doing something wrong?
   

Thanks very much!

[Dan22]

1. You can get rid of the shine completely by clicking the point light > Appearance > Specular Brightness

 

Specular is basically what brings the shining part of your light so turning that down will get rid of the shine if you do not want it.

 

Example:

 

 

2. To make the way the shine on the wall actually looks realistic you need to make a specular map and normal map for your textures so they do not look flat and actually look realistic

 

Tutorial on making Specular and Normal Maps

 

 

 

If you do not have Photoshop, Try Gimp

 

And for the globe around the torch, if you are using a point light it comes already with a globe around which you can change the size of by clicking on the light > light > range

 

Example:

 

 

3. For changing the colour of the light, click the light > Appearance > Click the box next to "Diffuse" and select the colour you want.

 

Example:

 

[tinyboss]

Dan22, thanks for the quick and extremely helpful answer! Turns out I was changing the specular, not diffuse, color. Turning off specular and changing the diffuse color really improved things. I actually do have a normal map, but I got it from "generate normal map" in the Leadwerks editor. I'll look into using Gimp to make a better one.

 

Is there any way to have an object be "self lit"?

 

Thanks again!

[Dan22]

Yes you can change the brightness of an object by clicking on the object > Appearance > Brightness and change the brightness there.

 

Example:

 

 

Have to go now, glad I could help!

[Imchasinyou]

If it were me, and Im no expert by any means, Id probably use a grey steel for the torch. Experiment some with different textures. I actually buy a lot of assets so I have several some where in my library.

In the material editor, you can adjust the shine with the color selectors for the diffuse and specular?. again, experiment with this. Its a real time adjustment so you can see it as you do it. Search on Google or other browser for "steel texture" save one to your desktop and then import it to the project files. Right clicking the texture will allow you to generate a "normal map" which you can adjust for its depth which will create the actual bumpiness of the texture. Ill be happy to make a short video if you think it will help some. . . .

[tinyboss]

Thanks again guys, it's looking better now!

 

 

I still have no luck making the torch object itself be self-lit. I can change the brightness, and in the editor I see the object getting brighter. But when I run the scene, there's no effect whatsoever. I tried it on a wall and on the floor too, and the behavior is the same.

[Rick]

Maybe try playing around with the material of that torch. Open it in the material editor and you have colors and stuff there that you can also play with.

[tinyboss]

Thanks, Rick, the material was where I needed to look. I changed it to use "emmision.shader" and BOOM self-lit torch!

[Imchasinyou]

If you attach the flicker script and play with that a bit, it will give the torch a more realistic feel as the light then kind of flickers a bit with the fire.

[tinyboss]

Imchasinyou, I applied the flicker script and tweaked the settings, and it does indeed look great. Thanks for the tip! I can see a lot of potential here for one-man-friendly development.

[Imchasinyou]

Just passing along the little i know. Glad to help out in any way.

[Josh]

KICKSTARTER!