In this lesson we will learn:
How to modify entity properties.
How to use each of the five light types.
Make a good sized cube, and add a deathmatch start somewhere inside your cube. We are going to place a light in each corner, and some fog in the center.
Select the Corona entity from your Template Options Page. Place it in one of the corners of your room and create your brush(by hitting enter). Now click on the Entities Dialog Button(
). From the drop down list
box select Corona1. Since GWE does not use graphical representations of each entity,
you will need to rely on the color highlighting to figure out which entity is selected. Once you select Corona1,
you will notice that it's entity icon(if you have Entities set to be viewable, which you should) will turn blue.
We do not need to edit any of the corona's properties as the defaults will do. Feel free however to experiment
with the radius options to modify the appearance of your corona.Corona's are pretty simple and basic, we probably aren't going to want to create colored corona's at this time, so let's move on to more complex lighting. Select a Light entity and place a different corner of your room. Now click on the Entities Dialog Button, and select Light1 form the drop down listbox. Double click on the Color item. Choose the color that you wish to use and press Okay. Next select the Light item. Modifying this item adjusts the brightness of your light. I used a value of 500 for this example, you I encourage you to experiment with this setting. Notice that the lighting reflects realistically off the walls.
The next type of lighting that we are going to use is dynamic lighting. Place a Dynamic Light in another of your corners. Go into your Entities Dialog box, and select DynamicLight1. Double click on the Color item, and select a different color(this way it is easy for you to differintiate what the different light effects do). Next select the MaxRadius item. I increased this value to 500, but I encourage you to experiment. Just keep in mind the larger your MaxRadius, the larger your light will stretch, and the larger the MinRadius the larger the core of the light will be. A little experimentation will make this all clear. If you wish to modify the RadiusSpeed item. The higher this value is set to, the slower your light is going to move. The default is 2.0, I set mine to 3.0, but as with the others, I encourage you to experiment with this setting.
The fourth type of light that we are going to place is a spotlight. A spotlight is a light that shines in only one direction, and at only one angle. For example, the previous styles of light that we have been using emmited light on all sides. A spotlight emits light in the shape of a cone. You may edit the values and angle in which this cone is facing by editing it's properites. So go ahead and drop a Spotlight entity in the final corner, and add it to your world. Enter into the Entity Dialog menu, and select Spotlight1. Set the color and light values the same as you would for any other light(I suggest using a different color than you have for any of the other lights though, to make it easier to differentiate between your lights in this example). Spotlights have a variety of options that you need to set, and if you do not set them, you will not be able to see the spotlight at all. Depending on which corner that you place the spotlight in, these values will be different. The values that I present to you are used for the southwestern corner of my map(from the top view).
Select the Angles item. This item allows you to adjust the X, Y, and Z angle that your spotlight is facing. These values are numbers between 0 and 359(like a compass). 0 being north, 90 being east, 180 being south, and 270 being west. After changing these values and closing the Entity Dialog box, you will notice a representation of the angle of your spotlight will appear in your editing views. Use this representation to determine the proper angle.
Lastly select the Arc item. This is the size of your Arc angle. Basically this is the size(circumference) of the end of your cone. A larger value will create a larger light at the end. After setting this item, and closing it's dialog box, you will notice that your entity icon has changed to reflect the size of the spotlight. Modify both this and the Angles item until you are happy with your spotlight placement.
The last item that we are going to place is a foglight. Foglights are of course used to simulate fog, they are however actual lights, and are edite in the same way. Place a foglight in the center of your room, and edit it's entity properties(Foglight1). Edit the color and the light properties the same as you have for every other light. You now need to edit the Radius property. Radius of course reflects the size of your fog area. For this example I set mine to 500. Keep in mind that fog is viewed much the same way as it is in real life(thus when you are in the center of the fog, you will not be able to see it. In order to simulate real-looking fog you would have to place several foglights. For this example however, that is a mute point.
Compile and test your level. This should give you an accurate idea of what each style of lighting can be used for.