Dragon Age Toolset Wiki - User contributions [en]

Lighting

2013-01-19T14:57:37Z

DahliaLynn: /* Lights */

{{Infobox level editor}}

There are many different types of lighting and light combinations that can be placed in the editor.

There are also many tools used to create lighting and generate lighting and even visualize lighting in the editor. The goal with the editor is to give the artist the same experience as he/she would see in the game. This will help them to be able to create the levels and tweak lighting quickly without having to stop to see it in-game.

== Lights ==

Lights for the game are split into two categories based on what they affect: levels and characters. Character lights will affect the player, NPCs, and creatures. The level lights will affect static geometry and designer placeables.

The game supports several different light types, with the purpose of balancing quality vs performance. To understand the use of the light types, one must first know the general lighting equation:

Diffuse = DynamicAmbient + F(DynamicLights, DynamicShadows) + ( LightmapRGB + LightmapShadowMap * F(StaticLights , DynamicShadows) )

Where F is the function which calculates light contribution given the dynamic shadow map.

Light Effect:

* Baked: This is lighting that only affects things in the level layout. The player will not be lit by this. Its contribution to the lighting scene is encoded in the lightmap RGB.
* Dynamic: This only affects the Player Character. The dynamic lights will light all geometry without regard for baked shadow maps. They still however, respect the dynamically generated shadowmap.
* Static: This is lighting that is both baked and dynamic. The most “expensive” of the light types. Static lights are those that don’t move. This provides the opportunity to bake in the shadow contribution of that light into the lightmap. Multiple static lights will mix together in this baked-shadow map. No RGB contribution from the light will go into the lightmap when rendering lightmaps. During run-time, the game will calculate the RGB color of the static light and then only apply it in areas that are uncovered by the baked-shadow map. Characters and placeable props are fully lit by the static lights.
* Animated: Animated lights are those that don’t move about, but do have animation properties on their light intensity. These lights are baked into the shadow map.

Light Type:

* Point: The light originates from a spot. “Light Size” corresponds to the size of the object casting off light. “Num Samples” is the number of shadow render passes – the higher the number the “crisper” the shadows.
* Ambient: This is ever-present light that affects everything. Ambient lights affect an entire level, even when there are multiple rooms. You can only use one ambient light per level.
* Spot: This is directional light. To move the location of the light right click on the icon at the end of the effect. You will then see arrows that allow you to move it around.

Only dynamic lights will affect placeables placed in the design tool. So a designer chest will not be lit properly next to a chest placed in the art tool. That’s a limitation of the engine. Any object that is animated has to be placed in the designer tool (nothing placed in the art tool can ever, ever move).

Lights from different rooms only are applied if they are visible from your current room. Even an ambient light isn’t applied if the room it’s placed in isn’t visible to that room.

== Sunlight ==

When you are working with a terrain or exterior level, you can set the sunlight properties in the [[Level editor]] by clicking on the [[Exportable Area]] Properties button in the toolbar (next to the [[File:IconAddExportableArea.png]]).

Clicking on the Exportable Area Properties button will cause an Area Properties window to pop up. Scrolling down the window you will see a section titled Layout Sunlight. In this section Color controls the color of the sunlight and Color Multiplier controls the brightness.

The direction of the sunlight can be set by either typing values into the Direction field, or by clicking the Set Sunlight button in the Exportable Area Properties window and moving the red arrow surrounded by a blue circle that will appear in the bottom left hand corner of your screen. The arrow is pointing in the sunlight direction.

The default shadows cast by sunlight are pitch black and very dark. If you do not like this default, you can change the color of the shadows by adding an Ambient - Baked light source that has the color you desire for your shadows. The default light color (grey - 0.50, 0.50. 0.50) works well, but you may change it to whatever you like.

== Light probes ==

Light probes are used to generate the appearance of nearby reflective surfaces and the illuminance values for characters. A light probe consists of an imaginary sphere that is textured with a pre-rendered view of its surroundings in every direction; reflective objects will use the texture of the nearest light probe to produce an approximation of what a reflection should look like. Light probes are particularly important where water planes are used.

The following example shows a light probe with the reflection texture rendered onto it (to make the light probe's texture visible you need to have "view models fully lit" turned off and "display light maps" turned on). The water below the light probe is using the probe's texture to determine its reflection.

[[Image:Level editor light probe.png|400px]]

If you make any changes to the level that would make a visible difference to what a light probe "sees" you'll have to re-render the light probes to update the reflection texture. This command is under the menu "Tools -> Render -> Render light probes", or you can click the toolbar button [[Image:IconRenderLightProbe.png]]

Light probes show up as a sphere with arrows pointing in each +/- axis direction. The only editable property that is unique is the High LOD Model Radius.

High LOD Model Radius: This is a setting that will flip all the models within this radius (in meters) of the light probe to high LOD before rendering it. It is only really useful in outdoor levels as indoors everything defaults to high Level Of Detail.

The tool for rendering light probes will render all the light probes within the current level. First what it does is switch the editor lighting to look exactly like it does in the game. Then it renders the light probes. Be patient, this can take a moment or two.

In general, you should render lightmaps first before rendering light probes because otherwise, the probes would not reflect the final in-game lightmapped appearance of the level.

Once the light probes have been rendered they will be packaged up with the level.

== Advanced lighting ==

=== Room-based lights ===

Each light placed in a room-based level is automatically attached to the parent room during export. This ensures that only those lights that are under a room affect the geometry in that room.

To specify lights in other rooms that can affect the selected room, the artist can bring up the Room Properties dialog and add references to additional lights in adjacent rooms.

Lighting is very much a matter of taste, so there isn't necessarily a right way to do it. One rule-of-thumb approach is

* Use one set of lights for characters (only). Use the remaining lights for the level (only).

* For characters, place 3-4 static lights in a circle outside all of the rooms, to ensure that faces are never in darkness. Normally, you only need one set of these lights for the entire level.

* Adjust the ambient light until the level looks roughly right. This can't be done dynamically - you have to go through the slow process of light rendering iteratively, so you might want to start with a very small test level.

* If necessary, add baked lights to flood large areas.

* Add static lights for features (e.g. fires). Once these lights have been rendered, you can fine-tune them in the toolset dynamically.

=== Bloom and Other Effects ===

Bloom is activated the same way any other effect is activated. In order to activate the Bloom effect:

*Interiors:
** Select the interior AREA you want it to be applied to.
** Under the Effect section, modify the Buffer Effect Name text field to “da_bloom”.
* Exteriors:
** Select the exterior area you want to apply the effect to and bring up it's Exportable Area Properties.
** Under the Effect section, modify the Buffer Effect Name text field to “da_bloom”.

If you do not immediately see bloom effects take place, you might have visualization off, be sure to have it on to preview your bloom

== Light mapping ==

If the filename of your level file is <filename>.lvl, then the editor saves a <filename>.erf file in the same directory as <filename.lvl>. This [[ERF]] file contains the last set of lightmaps that the editor obtained from the lightmapper. When you share the LVL file with other artists you should also include the ERF so that the other artists can use your rendered lightmaps without having to render lightmaps themselves.

Under the "options" menu for the level editor are the following three settings. These are what they should be in a default installation:

;Lightmapper Command: $(TOOLSET)\lightmapper\EclipseRay.exe LightMapper.py --terse -cpus=2
;Lightmapper Command Working Folder: $(TOOLSET)\lightmapper\
;Lightmapper Texture Folder: $(TEMP)\DALightmap\

*Note: There appears to be a bug with the 64-bit version of ActiveState Python 2.5 for Windows that prevents the lightmapper from functioning. Install the 32-bit version as described in the [[Installing_the_toolset#Lightmapper|lightmapper section of the installation instructions]]. If you don't have Python installed you'll receive a standard Windows error message indicating that "EclipseRay.exe has stopped working."

== External Tutorials ==
*[http://bg2redux.student.utwente.nl/trac/wiki/TutorialLightmapping Lighting Tutorial with Troubleshooting section] by mikemike37 (aimed at beginners)

[[Category:Level layouts]]

Curve editor

2012-10-15T20:57:04Z

DahliaLynn: /* Curve Editor an EASY step-by-step Intro */

{{Infobox cutscenes}}

When crafting a [[cutscene]] many object properties need to be continuously and smoothly varied over the course of the scene, rather than simply being discrete events or on/off characteristics. The curve editor allows the values of these properties to be changed over time with as much fine control as needed.

To make the curve editor visible, click the curve editor button in the toolbar (button #9 in the toolbar legend below) and select the object or specific keyed tracks containing the curves you'd like to edit.

[[Image:Cutscene toolbar.png]]

== Keys ==

Keys are points added to the position, orientation, and other similar value-based tracks that various objects have.

{{inspector start}}
{{inspector section|General}}
{{inspector row|Tangent | The tangent for this key. The tangent affects how the bezier control points behave. Can be broken, continuous, smooth, or auto. }}
{{inspector row|Time | The point in time the key is located at. }}
{{inspector row|Transition Out| The type of transition that follows from this key to the next key after it. Can be Bexier, Linear, or Step. }}
{{inspector row|Value| The value of the key.}}
{{inspector end}}

== Curve types and tangents ==

When you select a key it appears in the object inspector. You can set the style of the curve here by changing the "transition out" property of the key point, which determines the shape of the curve from the selected point to the point following it. If you select multiple points (either by control-clicking or by dragging a selection box over them) you can modify the type of curve for all of them at once.

The default curve type depends on the curve mode, selected in the toolbar (button #18). When curve mode is enabled the default is a bezier curve, when it's not enabled the default is a stepped curve.

A "step" transition causes the curve to suddenly jump from the old value to the new value at the next key.

[[Image:Curve editor stepped curve.png]]

In the timeline track this is represented with square keys:

[[Image:Cutscene timeline stepped to bezier key.png]]

A "linear" transition causes the curve to change from the old value to the new value at a constant rate:

[[Image:Curve editor linear curve.png]]

In the timeline track this is represented with triangular keys:

[[Image:Cutscene timeline linear to bezier key.png]]

By default when you use bezier curves the behavior of the tangents at each key is set to "auto".

[[Image:Curve editor auto tangent.png]]

In the timeline this is represented with rounded keys:

[[Image:Cutscene timeline bezier to bezier key.png]]

Setting a key's tangent to any other setting will cause the Bezier control points to appear. The details of how you can modify these control points depends on the tangent type.

When you set a bezier key to a non-auto tangent the indicator on the timeline switches to an "inverted" curve, like so:

[[Image:Cutscene timeline bezier to non-auto bezier key.png]]

A "broken" tangent allows you to move the two control points around freely:

[[Image:Curve editor broken tangent.png]]

A "continuous" tangent forces the two control points to be colinear, but they can have different weights:

[[Image:Curve editor continuous tangent.png]]

A "smooth" tangent forces the control points to be colinear and to have the same weight:

[[Image:Curve editor smooth tangent.png]]

== Adding keys ==

The key nodes of the curve are represented by circles. They can be dragged back and forth to change their position in the timeline. They can also be dragged up and down which changes their value.

Another way to change a node’s time or value is to select it and adjust the Time or Value field in the Object Inspector.

New nodes can be added to any curve. Move the timeline marker to the point where the node is to be added, right-click anywhere in the curve editor and select the "Add Key" command appropriate for this curve (eg, "Add FOV Key" for a FOV curve).

== Value Axis ==

The vertical axis on the left of the curve editor indicates the values of the nodes. The scale will depend on the specific unit that the curve values represent. For example, the value scale for an orientation curve is in degrees, and a position curve is in meters.

== Legend ==

The legend will show what types each curve is. There is also a checkbox — if the checkbox is cleared the curve will be hidden from view. This is very useful for orientation curves where two or three curves may be overlapping. Hiding one or two or them can allow better access to the curve that needs to be adjusted.

== Curve Editor an EASY step-by-step Intro ==

The following intro should help you familiarize yourself with the way the Curve Editor is used in the Cutscene editor.

*1. Assuming you already know how to [http://social.bioware.com/wiki/datoolset/index.php/Cutscene_tutorial#Adding_an_animation_to_an_actor/ add animations] to your scene, use an actor and insert the following animation:

cs_male.f_mouth_open

*1a. Stretch the animation bar out so you have more time to work with.

*2. Move the animation slightly to the right of the timeline marker, hit "play", and use the viewport to view its effects

You will notice the actor's mouth "Snaps" open to monstrous size.
The object here is to open the actor's mouth slowly and to a natural expression (as if he were about to say something) then close it naturally.

*3. Select the animation, and in the top menu click the [http://social.bioware.com/wiki/datoolset/index.php/Curve_editor/ Curve Editor] button. (#9 in the link)

*4. You should now see a new editor on the bottom. Expand it.

*5. Place your timeline marker slightly *after* the beginning of the animation in the main timeline window
You will see "Weight" on the bottom right side. This is your animation "Intensity"

Note: If you cannot see a red line, middle (mousewheel) click and drag the
editor up and down/ use the mousewheel to expand and contract until you do.

You should be between 0 and 100 on the left.

*6. Right click on your Curve Editor timeline marker and select "Key selection"

This will add a new key

*7. Move the timeline marker to the right and create another key.

You should now see two circles with a red line in between.

*8. Select them both. In the object inspector>transition out select "bezier"

*9. Deselect the two and reselect the first key you made.

*10. Drag the first key down to 0. (Zero weight/intensity)

You will see the mouth now opening more gradually, but still too quickly.

*11. Move the second key to the right to slow down it's opening rate.
(press play to preview the effects)

*12. Now move the second key down to 50 to make the actors mouth open *less*.

*13. Place the timeline marker at the end of the animation
(make sure it is still selected in the main timeline window)

*14. Middle click and drag the curve editor the the left until you see the timeline marker again.

*15. Create two more keys in the same way and move your last key down to zero.

*16. Play around with this to get different results.

Congratulations! :D You can now use the Curve Editor for various
different applications. Have fun experimenting!
[http://social.bioware.com/group/2718/discussion/12094/ Source] (Dahlialynn)

== Curve Types ==

=== Orientation Curves ===

Orientation curves are actually three different curves — one curve each for Yaw, Pitch, and Roll. When an orientation key is created three nodes will appear for it in the curve editor.

=== Position Curves ===

As with orientation curves, a position curve has three component curves - one each for the object's X, Y and Z coordinates.

The speed with which an object moves from point to point can be seen in the slope of the curve between those points. Fast-moving objects have steep slopes, slow-moving ones have shallow slopes.

=== Other curves ===

Some types of objects can have other special curves defined for them.

The following special curves are defined for the following objects:

*Light objects
** Color
*** Red
*** Green
*** Blue
** Radius
** Intensity

*Sound object events:
**SoundParam1
**SoundParam2
**SoundParam3
**SoundParam4
**SoundParam5
(These are custom-defined parameters that can be created for any given sound in [[FMOD]], and if they're defined their names will replace these. If they're not defined, changing the "SoundParam" values has no effect.)

*Animation actions
** Animation weight

*Shake (Orientation) actions
**YawStrength
**PitchStrength
**RollStrength

*Shake (Position) actions
**XStrength
**YStrength
**ZStrength

*Bloom effects
**Brightness
**Contrast
**Glow intensity
**Horizontal blur width
**Vertical blur width

*Depth of Field effects
**Far fade
**Focal radius
**Focus distance
**Max blur
**Near fade
**Weight blur

*HSV matrix effects
**Brightness
**Contrast
**Hue
**Saturation

*Motion blur effects
**Blend

*Simple Depth of Field effects
**Scene blur
**Weight blur
**Focal blend
**Focal length
**Focus
**Fstop
**Max blend

*Sound objects can have up to 5 custom parameters established when they're created in [[FMOD]], all five can be set using the curve editor.

[[Category:Cutscenes]]

Curve editor

2012-09-22T20:56:35Z

DahliaLynn:

{{Infobox cutscenes}}

When crafting a [[cutscene]] many object properties need to be continuously and smoothly varied over the course of the scene, rather than simply being discrete events or on/off characteristics. The curve editor allows the values of these properties to be changed over time with as much fine control as needed.

To make the curve editor visible, click the curve editor button in the toolbar (button #9 in the toolbar legend below) and select the object or specific keyed tracks containing the curves you'd like to edit.

[[Image:Cutscene toolbar.png]]

== Keys ==

Keys are points added to the position, orientation, and other similar value-based tracks that various objects have.

{{inspector start}}
{{inspector section|General}}
{{inspector row|Tangent | The tangent for this key. The tangent affects how the bezier control points behave. Can be broken, continuous, smooth, or auto. }}
{{inspector row|Time | The point in time the key is located at. }}
{{inspector row|Transition Out| The type of transition that follows from this key to the next key after it. Can be Bexier, Linear, or Step. }}
{{inspector row|Value| The value of the key.}}
{{inspector end}}

== Curve types and tangents ==

When you select a key it appears in the object inspector. You can set the style of the curve here by changing the "transition out" property of the key point, which determines the shape of the curve from the selected point to the point following it. If you select multiple points (either by control-clicking or by dragging a selection box over them) you can modify the type of curve for all of them at once.

The default curve type depends on the curve mode, selected in the toolbar (button #18). When curve mode is enabled the default is a bezier curve, when it's not enabled the default is a stepped curve.

A "step" transition causes the curve to suddenly jump from the old value to the new value at the next key.

[[Image:Curve editor stepped curve.png]]

In the timeline track this is represented with square keys:

[[Image:Cutscene timeline stepped to bezier key.png]]

A "linear" transition causes the curve to change from the old value to the new value at a constant rate:

[[Image:Curve editor linear curve.png]]

In the timeline track this is represented with triangular keys:

[[Image:Cutscene timeline linear to bezier key.png]]

By default when you use bezier curves the behavior of the tangents at each key is set to "auto".

[[Image:Curve editor auto tangent.png]]

In the timeline this is represented with rounded keys:

[[Image:Cutscene timeline bezier to bezier key.png]]

Setting a key's tangent to any other setting will cause the Bezier control points to appear. The details of how you can modify these control points depends on the tangent type.

When you set a bezier key to a non-auto tangent the indicator on the timeline switches to an "inverted" curve, like so:

[[Image:Cutscene timeline bezier to non-auto bezier key.png]]

A "broken" tangent allows you to move the two control points around freely:

[[Image:Curve editor broken tangent.png]]

A "continuous" tangent forces the two control points to be colinear, but they can have different weights:

[[Image:Curve editor continuous tangent.png]]

A "smooth" tangent forces the control points to be colinear and to have the same weight:

[[Image:Curve editor smooth tangent.png]]

== Adding keys ==

The key nodes of the curve are represented by circles. They can be dragged back and forth to change their position in the timeline. They can also be dragged up and down which changes their value.

Another way to change a node’s time or value is to select it and adjust the Time or Value field in the Object Inspector.

New nodes can be added to any curve. Move the timeline marker to the point where the node is to be added, right-click anywhere in the curve editor and select the "Add Key" command appropriate for this curve (eg, "Add FOV Key" for a FOV curve).

== Value Axis ==

The vertical axis on the left of the curve editor indicates the values of the nodes. The scale will depend on the specific unit that the curve values represent. For example, the value scale for an orientation curve is in degrees, and a position curve is in meters.

== Legend ==

The legend will show what types each curve is. There is also a checkbox — if the checkbox is cleared the curve will be hidden from view. This is very useful for orientation curves where two or three curves may be overlapping. Hiding one or two or them can allow better access to the curve that needs to be adjusted.

== Curve Editor an EASY step-by-step Intro ==

You will notice the actors mouth "Snaps" open to monstrous size.
The object here is to open the actors mouth slowly and to a natural expression
(as if he were about to say something) then close it naturally.

3. Select the animation, and in the top menu click the Curve Editor button. (#9 in the link)

4. You should now see a new editor on the bottom. Expand it.

5. Place your timeline marker slightly *after* the beginning of the animation
in the main timeline window

You will see "Weight" on the bottom right side. This is your animation "Intensity"

Note: If you cannot see a red line, middle (mousewheel) click and drag the
editor up and down/ use the mousewheel to expand and contract until you do.
You should be between 0 and 100 on the left.

6. Right click on your Curve Editor timeline marker and select "Key selection"

This will add a new key

7. Move the timeline marker to the right and create another key.

You should now see two circles with a red line in between.

8. Select them both. In the object inspector>transition out select "bezier"

9. Deselect the two and reselect the first key you made.

10. Drag the first key down to 0. (Zero weight/intensity)

You will see the mouth now opening more gradually, but still too quickly.

11. Move the second key to the right to slow down it's opening rate.
(press play to preview the effects)

12. Now move the second key down to 50 to make the actors mouth open *less*.

13. Place the timeline marker at the end of the animation
(make sure it is still selected in the main timeline window)

14. Middle click and drag the curve editor the the left until you see the timeline marker again.

15. Create two more keys in the same way and move your last key down to zero.

16. Play around with this to get different results.

Congratulations! :D You can now use the Curve Editor for various
different applications. Have fun experimenting!
[http://social.bioware.com/group/2718/discussion/12094/ Source] (Dahlialynn)

== Curve Types ==

=== Orientation Curves ===

Orientation curves are actually three different curves — one curve each for Yaw, Pitch, and Roll. When an orientation key is created three nodes will appear for it in the curve editor.

=== Position Curves ===

As with orientation curves, a position curve has three component curves - one each for the object's X, Y and Z coordinates.

The speed with which an object moves from point to point can be seen in the slope of the curve between those points. Fast-moving objects have steep slopes, slow-moving ones have shallow slopes.

=== Other curves ===

Some types of objects can have other special curves defined for them.

The following special curves are defined for the following objects:

*Light objects
** Color
*** Red
*** Green
*** Blue
** Radius
** Intensity

*Sound object events:
**SoundParam1
**SoundParam2
**SoundParam3
**SoundParam4
**SoundParam5
(These are custom-defined parameters that can be created for any given sound in [[FMOD]], and if they're defined their names will replace these. If they're not defined, changing the "SoundParam" values has no effect.)

*Animation actions
** Animation weight

*Shake (Orientation) actions
**YawStrength
**PitchStrength
**RollStrength

*Shake (Position) actions
**XStrength
**YStrength
**ZStrength

*Bloom effects
**Brightness
**Contrast
**Glow intensity
**Horizontal blur width
**Vertical blur width

*Depth of Field effects
**Far fade
**Focal radius
**Focus distance
**Max blur
**Near fade
**Weight blur

*HSV matrix effects
**Brightness
**Contrast
**Hue
**Saturation

*Motion blur effects
**Blend

*Simple Depth of Field effects
**Scene blur
**Weight blur
**Focal blend
**Focal length
**Focus
**Fstop
**Max blend

*Sound objects can have up to 5 custom parameters established when they're created in [[FMOD]], all five can be set using the curve editor.

[[Category:Cutscenes]]