Light

Lights have both base object properties and also a special "Light Data" tab within the Reference property window. Both of these can adjusted in order to modify specific light sources.

The following shortcuts can also be used whilst selecting a light reference in the Render Window:

• Holding "S" and dragging the mouse will change the scale of a light, that is shrinking or enlarging the area of effect.
• Holding "CTRL + ALT + S" and dragging the mouse will increase/decrease the brightness of the light.
• For shadow lights, holding "ALT + B" and dragging the mouse will adjust the Depth Bias of a shadow light.

Light Base Object Dialog

Dialogue box for Light base objects.

• ID: Unique identifier for this form.
• Model: Displays the model for this object.
  • Edit: Chooses the model for this object.
• Select Sound: Sets the sound file for the object.
• Add Destruction Data: Sets the damage states if an object is destructable.
• Type: Can choose from Omnidirectional (no shadow casting), Shadow Hemisphere, Shadow Omnidirectional and Shadow Spotlight.
• FOV: Field of view for Shadow Spotlight type lights.
• Falloff Exponent: Adjusts the rate at which the light falls off, only applies to spotlights.
• Radius: Maximum light radius of the base object.
• Near Clip: Sets the distance at which the light begins to fade in. NOTE: This may be deprecated.
• Color: The color of the light.
  • Fade: Modifies light brightness of base object (a higher setting is brighter).

• Flicker Effect: (the animation is enabled in the editor while the havok simulation is running)
  

  Pulse function
  • Pulse or Flicker Pulse makes the light pulsate, growing brighter and dimming. Flicker gives the light a flickering effect, such as a candle would emit.
  • Period: Time in seconds for the function to do a complete cycle.
  • Intensity Amplitude: The amount the function can dim below the light's fade intensity.
  • Movement Amplitude: The scale of the position offset for a flicker light (scaled by the ini setting fFlickerMovement).

• Flags
  • Obstacle: If the file specified has movable havok bodies, this sets if it should cut this object from the Navmesh for the purposes of pathing.
  • Random Anim Start: If checked, this object kicks off its idle animation at a random start time. This is so you can put a couple of the same animated activators in a scene and they won't be animating in synch.
  • Portal Strict: Sets this light to light only objects within roombounds it is touching. Necessary for shadow lights.

• This light can be carried: Sets if this is a carryable object such as a torch.
  • Off by default: Sets the light to be off by default. This is usually done on the Reference rather than the base object.
  • Name: Sets the display name.
  • Inventory image: Not used.
  • Message icon: Not used.
  • Weight: Sets item weight.
  • Time: Sets duration in seconds. NOTE: This determines how long temporary lights, such as carried torches, last.
  • Value: Sets item value.

• Script: Selects the script for this object.
  • Script edit button: Opens the script for editing.

Light Reference Object

Dialogue box for Light reference objects.

Extra Tab

• Radius: Maximum light radius of the reference object.

Light Data Tab

• FOV: Manually adjust the FOV for this light source, independent of the base object's FOV setting. Only applicable to spotlights.
• Fade: Modifies light brightness of reference object (a higher setting is brighter).
• End Distance Cap Only applicable for Shadow Spotlight lights. Allows you to define the distance in units in which the light will stop illuminating.
• Shadow Depth Bias: Sets the shadow Depth Bias in order to reduce visual artifacts from shadowing.
• Casts Shadows: Not used.
• Never Fades: Stops the light from being culled at a distance.
• Doesn't light landscape: Stops the light from lighting the landscape.
• Doesn't light water: Stops the light from being reflected in water.

Notes

1. The Fade setting is typically set around 1.00 to 2.50. And while the maximum possible Fade is well over 10000.00, a bright setting of 50.00 is useful for testing and modifying other settings for lights, such as radius and spotlight direction.