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Lightmaps - What they do and How to use them
Difficulty: Intermediate |
| Category: CS:S > Mapping | Author(s): SGT_kick_ur_ass |
Welcome to another one of my mapping tutorials, this tutorial will teach you about how to use Lightmaps.
First of all, what are Lightmaps?
A Lightmap is the light data which is stored on each face of a brush. Lightmaps are used to add some nice shadow effects into the game.
The Lightmap scales are measured by numbers (4,16,64 etc). The lower the number, the better quality, but the bigger the BSP is in the end. The Higher the number, the lower the quality and the smaller the BSP. Lightmap scales also affect Vrad time. The smaller the scale, the longer compiling takes. This is a reason why sometimes adjusting lightmaps help optimize your map.
How to use them
Using Lightmaps is pretty simple, so lets get started. - Open up your map or quickly create a new one.
 - Now, open up the Texture Application(
 ) Tool and select the face where you want to change the lightmap scale.
- Look in the texture application box and you should see in the top right corner, a small box Labeled Lightmap Scale.
That is what we are going to edit. You can mess around with the scale now but you won't notice a difference.
- In order for you to see a difference, you will need to change a setting in the Camera view of Hammer. Right Click where it says "Camera" on the to left corner and from the drop down list Select 3D Lightmap Grid.
 >
Once you've selected 3D Lightmap Grid you should see that your whole map has changed into something like this:
- Now, open up the Texture Application Tool and once again select the face which you want to change.
- You can now mess around with the Lightmap scale. You'll notice that as you change the scale, the look of it changes as well. The Higher the scale is the bigger the grid is. The smaller the scale, the smaller the grid.
Here are some examples of the differences in the Scales:
Scale: 4
Scale: 16
Scale: 64
You should notice that Scale 4 looks the best and Scale 64 looks the worst, it's almost like there is no shadow.
That is it! You can now mess around with it to your liking. Just remember that the lower the scale, the longer it takes for Vrad to compile.
If you have any questions please do not hesitate to ask me! You can post here or PM me for any questions.
-SGT_kick_ur_ass
Example Map
www.halflifestorm.com
Half Life Storm Studio
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| Added: 2 years ago | Tags: lightmaps, lightmap, sgt_kick_ur_ass, lights, mapping, halflifestorm |
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Half Life Storm
The Mappers Corner! |
| Membership: On Request |
| Primary Skills: Compiling, Mapping, Modelling, Motion Graphics, Texturing, UV Mapping |
| Inception: 3 years ago |
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