Thread

world light source control (Sdk)

world light source control // Sdk

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=?iso-8859-1?q?eep=b2?=

Feb 17, 1999, 9:55pm
Is there any way to get control over the world light source through the SDK and have it move through day/night cycles? I tire of static light sources in AW...

veto

Feb 18, 1999, 12:29pm
I want control over lighting as well, but for now I believe the new
worldattributes bot (hambot) lets you change the background color and or
backdrop so at least you can try and simulate a day night cycle..(working on
that now myself :) Not that that comes close to controlling light sources
but what can ya do...except wait hehe. Hey doesn't renderware support
multiple, colored light sources? Sounds like a great wish for next release
:)

[View Quote]

rjinswand

Feb 18, 1999, 2:16pm
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Roland has repeatedly said that light sources would slow things down =
immensely (similar to the warning he gave regarding avs in scene). =
However, I really don't see why we couldn't be given control over our =
one light source.

You can simulate having light sources by manipulating the surface =
lighting on objects. Use mostly or all ambient light, and then use high =
values for areas in light and low values for those in shadow. I did the =
CreepyCaves in aardvark using this method.

Unfortunately for having times of day, this would mean several =
versions of each object... a chore to make and extra downloads. :/

Rjinswand

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URL:
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EMAIL;PREF;INTERNET:bcnu at psicorps.com
REV:19990218T161635Z
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=?iso-8859-1?q?eep=b2?=

Feb 18, 1999, 5:07pm
[View Quote] > Roland has repeatedly said that light sources would slow things down =
immensely (similar to the warning he gave regarding avs in scene). Howev=
er, I really don't see why we couldn't be given control over our one ligh=
t source.

You know, I've found Roland often uses that "slowdown" excuse when he doe=
sn't want to actually DO something. I remember asking him over a year ago=
about the 32-bit z-buffering DLLs: "Oh no; they'd slow things down too m=
uch so they're out." Then there was the 256x256 resolution texture DLLs: =
"Nah, way too slow and they'd hog up memory. They're out." Then the avata=
rs in-scene: "Would slow things WAAAAAAY too much." And we can't forget a=
bout uping the cell data amount: "Performance would slow to a crawl." (Al=
l quotes paraphrased.) Yet, gee, most of these things have been implement=
ed in AW and although they DO slow things down a little, surely not to th=
e overexagerated proportions Roland thought. And I have a piece-of-shit A=
MD-K5-PR133AR (99MHz) CPU! On much faster P2's these "slowdowns" are not =
as noticeable. This is why programmers need perspective from other people=
(testers; quality assurance) while thinking about and trying to implemen=
t these things.

Control over at LEAST the STATIC POSITION, INTENSITY, and COLOR of the wo=
rld light source is NOT going to hinder performance one iota. Now a movin=
g (dynamic), dynamically multi-color-changing (gotta simulate sunrise/sun=
set, right?), dynamically intensity (brightness) changing WOULD probably =
make things a bit slower, but would look that much more cooler. And we ca=
n't forget about moonlight and multiple light sources (streetlights, flas=
hlights, lanterns, lighters, fires, torches, vehicle headlights, fireflie=
s, etc, etc, etc=97oh and the light source object! Too bad RW doesn't all=
ow light source declarations in RWX; imagine being a "being of light". he=
h).

veto

Feb 18, 1999, 5:08pm
I guess we should move this thread to worldbuilders since it has left the
realm of sdk :) Don't want Roland to have to tell us what we already know
right? :)

Veto

[View Quote] You can simulate having light sources by manipulating the surface lighting
on objects. Use mostly or all ambient light, and then use high values for
areas in light and low values for those in shadow. I did the CreepyCaves in
aardvark using this method.

Unfortunately for having times of day, this would mean several versions of
each object... a chore to make and extra downloads. :/

Rjinswand

[View Quote]

roland vilett

Feb 18, 1999, 6:16pm
These are two slightly different topics...multiple light sources and being
able to control the single global light source.

Multiple light sources *do* slow things down, but this shouldn't be any big
surprise, since RenderWare has to do extra calculations for each polygon for
each extra light that might be shining on it. That doesn't mean we won't
ever have them...it just makes them a bit less interesting since in general
we'd like to add things that speed AW up, not slow it down. :)

However, being able to control the global light source obviously wouldn't
have any effect on performance, and I agree it would be useful. It's just
something that hasn't made it to the top of the to-do list yet...

-Roland

[View Quote] You can simulate having light sources by manipulating the surface lighting
on objects. Use mostly or all ambient light, and then use high values for
areas in light and low values for those in shadow. I did the CreepyCaves in
aardvark using this method.

Unfortunately for having times of day, this would mean several versions of
each object... a chore to make and extra downloads. :/

Rjinswand

[View Quote]

veto

Feb 18, 1999, 6:24pm
You can sneak it up a few spots I bet hehe. I'll take light source
improvements over collision detection improvements for now :) (not that
that's on top of the list either)

[View Quote]

rolu

Feb 19, 1999, 8:57am
If you want it faster, you should at least have a look at other 3D api's
than RenderWare. :-)

Rolu

[View Quote]

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