BAT lighting question- lighting floors, etc

[DuskTrooper 314]

OK, I have one major issue in BAT- how can one use a spot/omni to light a floor of a building? I am trying to acheive a nice light effect on a transparent building, but I cannot seem to limit it on one floor. It always seems to bleed through, and it looks quite ugly. Does anyone know how to do this?

[n74704 21]

huh, not sure what could be causing this...maybe a creative use of omnis and neg omnis might do the trick.

[fosterk 4]

Would be nice to know how, as it will help in the lighting on the bridge of the S.S. Foster... I'd personally think that just excluding everthing else then that particular floor, but i guess there is an easier and somewhat quicker way out there.

While im here, I'd like to know if there is a way to prompt you on whether or not you want to close the gmax renderer, like when you close word, or paint, just a simple are you sure you want to do that message, as after a long render, you dont want to accidentally close the finished preview, as I have done many-a-time...

-Kev

[GAT-X105 3]

Date: 10/22/2004 5:00:11 PM
Author:DuskTrooper
OK, I have one major issue in BAT- how can one use a spot/omni to light a floor of a building? I am trying to acheive a nice light effect on a transparent building, but I cannot seem to limit it on one floor. It always seems to bleed through, and it looks quite ugly. Does anyone know how to do this?

quote>
Did you click cast shadows?

[SimGoober 2,351]

Definitely set the check to cast shodows as this basically makes objects solid, so light can't go through them.  I also use the far attenuation settings.  For a typical room, I'll put the light about 3 to 4 meters off the floor, set the far attenuation settings to about 5 (start) and 8 (end), and the Decay to inverse, at about 6.  I tweak the numbers depending on the individual situation, but that's about the general area.  I usually use Omnis for lighting rooms, with a multiplier of about 2.

[DuskTrooper 314]

OH, ok, thanks guys! Ill go try some of these suggestions out!

[deadwoods 542]

Date: 10/22/2004 11:32:24 PM
Author: SimGoober

Definitely set the check to 'cast shodows' as this basically makes objects solid, so light can't go through them. I also use the far attenuation settings. For a typical room, I'll put the light about 3 to 4 meters off the floor, set the far attenuation settings to about 5 (start) and 8 (end), and the Decay to inverse, at about 6. I tweak the numbers depending on the individual situation, but that's about the general area. I usually use Omnis for lighting rooms, with a multiplier of about 2.

quote>

I find it helps to array omni's (instance not copy) within a floor... and spread them out so that the attenuation outlines overlap (using SG's example, 6-7m apart). That way I can tweak one light setting (colour, intensity, attenuation parameters) and the changes apply to all. Plus you can throw some basic objects on the floor to represent furniture and throw shadows to break things up a bit. This is the approach I took for the FLW Rosenbaum.

[RobledoRessainance 36]

I saw a very interesting method in some batter's thread.
Make planes or extruded polygons for each floor, and light them up with the nitelite method (night textures). But the intensity, and the realism for each window should be acheived by applying any texture, but with opacity variations in each piece of glass. That should save exporting time because you're avoiding omnis and spotlights inside the building.

I'm not sure if you prefer using lights, or the method mentioned above.

[daniel322 0]

hi! i installed sim city 4 rush hour and placed some bats in the plugins folder but the lights wont show up at night.. can somebody tell me which one is the update (the file name) from maxis site? (i'm registered in the site)

[mitsos 12,853]

hi i have the same problem with daniel322.can you help me with that?

[SimFox 802]

you need special update file from MAXiS site to enable night lighting on custom content.

[daniel322 0]

Originally posted by: SimFox you need special update file from MAXiS site to enable night lighting on custom content.quote>

hmm.... but i already instaled all the updates i've seen from maxis and the lights still don't work.. can someone tell me where can i find the file on www.simcity.com site? thanks