16-bit vs. 32-bit vs. 32-bit 2X Lightmaps - by LarryG
Angs on 14/10/2012 at 22:05
Quote Posted by sNeaksieGarrett
Thanks for the replies. I read the thread previously but found it hard to follow/understand. Also, having those comparison shots
up close of the light fixture really helps, thanks Angs.:thumb:
Yeah, I can see that it adds what you guys are calling an overbright feature around the light, which to me seems too dramatic, but I guess I don't understand real world light as well as I thought I did. 32-bit lighting seemed more visually pleasing to my eye than did 2X I guess.
I like the gradual increase of light over a wall in bigger rings around the light source, rather than the small overbright disc around the light, at least in the comparison shots on the left. On the close up shots, it actually looks like 2X has the disc whereas the 32-bit does not. :confused:
Don't judge anything based on that purple wallpaper, it makes all lights look terrible and was chosen for exactly that reason :cheeky:. The closeups are so close up, that in the regular 32-bit picture all you can see is the inside of the disc.
With all the real world light talk I meant the fact, that in real life, the more light you shine on something, the brighter it gets. With regular 32-bit lighting you are limited by the lightness of your background texture. If your background is dark, your lights might not look much like lights.
Here's some more comparisons:
Inline Image:
http://i.imgur.com/2XFaR.jpgZylonBane on 14/10/2012 at 22:06
2X should only be used on missions that are designed around it, since the overbrightening effect is intended to simulate VERY BRIGHT light sources, not every little lamp and torch.
Angs on 15/10/2012 at 11:14
Quote Posted by ZylonBane
2X should only be used on missions that are designed around it, since the overbrightening effect is intended to simulate VERY BRIGHT light sources, not every little lamp and torch.
I have to disagree with you on this. The overbrightening just lets the engine use the other half of the available colors to represent things. And even little lamps and torches are too bright to be represented on a computer monitor. Because most of the textures are midtones, without overbrightening you miss a lot of contrast.
Also, it's apparent that the engine has to cut off the lights without overbrightening. I did some analysis on (
http://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=140086&page=4&p=2144160&viewfull=1#post2144160) Sensut's pictures (Picture of reference torch is (
http://i.imgur.com/xiJ7l.jpg) here), and it's obvious that the 32-bit light got a haircut and is the only one that actually has a disc around it:
Inline Image:
http://i.imgur.com/4WyYQ.pngLarryG on 15/10/2012 at 21:00
It doesn't destroy it. It means that you need to do more than just mechanically relight the mission when changing from 16 bit to 32 bit. Poor light design that was hidden by 16 bit will need to be fixed to get the desired effect with 32 bit.
Yandros on 16/10/2012 at 03:27
Somebody needs to make those hexagonal eyeballs spherical. :sweat:
sNeaksieGarrett on 17/10/2012 at 15:21
Quote Posted by LarryG
It doesn't destroy it. It means that you need to do more than just mechanically relight the mission when changing from 16 bit to 32 bit. Poor light design that was hidden by 16 bit will need to be fixed to get the desired effect with 32 bit.
What? It's the same amount of light before, why would we need to add more light? I noticed this problem with an OM I'm modding too.
LarryG on 17/10/2012 at 18:16
Quote Posted by sNeaksieGarrett
What? It's the same amount of light before, why would we need to add more light? I noticed this problem with an OM I'm modding too.
Not necessarily add more light, maybe move lights, maybe decrease lights, maybe just adjust existing lights (radius, quad lit or not, inner radius, light color, ...). I don't know what would be needed to get the lighting ambiance fixed. Gecko was the one that said that "32-bit destroys the shadow-color effect". What I'm saying is that 32-bit modes, by reducing the banding gives finer gradations of shading, and if a sharper delineation of dark to light is needed, the lights need to be adjusted to get that effect instead of relying on the visible steps inherent in 16-bit light modes.
Albert on 17/10/2012 at 18:36
Yeah, I have been filled in on this myself. I too thought it would merely require rebaking/recalculating the lightmap. But this is not the case, I now understand.
Still, we might need to wait a little bit for HD texture packs to come along, if the factor of lightmaps and textures underneath is any evidence. Yes?
ZylonBane on 17/10/2012 at 19:11
Quote Posted by sNeaksieGarrett
What? It's the same amount of light before, why would we need to add more light? I noticed this problem with an OM I'm modding too.
I'm going to presume because of aliasing. A 16-bit lightmap (RGB565) gives 32 luminance levels for red and blue, and 64 levels for green (this mismatch producing the endless rainbow artifacts). A 32-bit lightmap (RGBA8) gives a much smoother 256 luminance levels for all three channels. So depending on where the "steps" of illumination fall in the old 16-bit lightmaps, the new 32-bit lightmaps may appear brighter or darker at certain points.
