Second Life Forums Archive

Thistle Decatur

Registered User

Join date: 25 Aug 2006

Posts: 77

09-10-2006 22:55

Can we please have a way to make darkness. An un-light or an anti-light. I'm working on a cave right now and have had to resort to almost-transparent phantom prims and fog.

Nargus Asturias

Registered User

Join date: 16 Sep 2005

Posts: 499

09-11-2006 01:30

Mmm...anti-light...I like =p

_____________________

Nargus Asturias, aka, StreamWarrior
Blue Eastern Water Dragon
Brown-skinned Utahraptor from an Old Time

Haravikk Mistral

Registered User

Join date: 8 Oct 2005

Posts: 2,482

09-11-2006 02:42

IMHO this is what a black light should do, currently if you want true darkness you'd need to buy your own sim and force midnight all the time and use lights outside to put daylight back in.

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Argent Stonecutter

Emergency Mustelid

Join date: 20 Sep 2005

Posts: 20,263

09-11-2006 09:11

You can get pretty close using a blackout box.

Ghoti Nyak

καλλιστι

Join date: 7 Aug 2004

Posts: 2,078

09-11-2006 10:50

If you're in a private sim and can control these... so some assortment of...

1: Blackout box
2: Set sun to always midnight
3: Build below water... especially if its a private sim and you can set the water VERY deep... it gets REALLY dark down there!

The only problem with #3 is you'll get people tleporting in to visit who are wearing Swimmers, and will instantly start to 'swim' to the roof.

-Ghoti

_____________________

"Sometimes I believe that this less material life is our truer life, and that our vain presence on the terraqueous globe is itself the secondary or merely virtual phenomenon." ~ H.P. Lovecraft

Argent Stonecutter

Emergency Mustelid

Join date: 20 Sep 2005

Posts: 20,263

09-11-2006 12:03

I'm not sure why you'd need to be in a private sim to use a blackout box.

From: Ghoti Nyak

The only problem with #3 is you'll get people tleporting in to visit who are wearing Swimmers, and will instantly start to 'swim' to the roof.

This last is why I asked the maker of the swimmer for an API to let builders define "enclosed" underwater volumes. His response was somewhat confusing, but he seemed to think that publishing any information about how his script worked or even how to communicate cooperatively with it would lead to people being "griefed". As if suddenly starting to float to the "surface" while all around you are standing on the floor wasn't more than enough of a problem for his customers.

Cottonteil Muromachi

Abominable

Join date: 2 Mar 2005

Posts: 1,071

09-11-2006 20:50

From: Haravikk Mistral

IMHO this is what a black light should do, currently if you want true darkness you'd need to buy your own sim and force midnight all the time and use lights outside to put daylight back in.

Black light by definition is absence of any light. Meaning 0 effect on the environment.

Whats being suggested is known as 'negative light' and is very common in 3D software lighting to make cheat shadows. So basically, you can set the intensity to a negative number (instead of zero) to cause light subtraction.

Newgate Ludd

Out of Chesse Error

Join date: 8 Apr 2005

Posts: 2,103

09-12-2006 00:47

From: Cottonteil Muromachi

Black light by definition is absence of any light. Meaning 0 effect on the environment.

Whats being suggested is known as 'negative light' and is very common in 3D software lighting to make cheat shadows. So basically, you can set the intensity to a negative number (instead of zero) to cause light subtraction.

Actually "Black light" is a generic name for a light source within the UVA band (320–400 nanometers)

Minerva Montale

Registered User

Join date: 27 Feb 2006

Posts: 18

09-12-2006 01:01

The issue is the need for prims that can be used to make shadow to prevent daylight or other light sources from penetrating spaces but at the same time that would allow local interior light sources to create a more realistic dark effect. Something as simple as a checkbox to make the prim impervious to light like any real object would. This would also help the problem of using light sources inside objects causing all sides of a prim to be lit no matter what side of the object the light was on. This is completely unnatural.

Cottonteil Muromachi

Abominable

Join date: 2 Mar 2005

Posts: 1,071

09-12-2006 01:25

From: Newgate Ludd

Actually "Black light" is a generic name for a light source within the UVA band (320–400 nanometers)

This was in the context of lights within SL. Not about real world UV flourescent lights. Someone else can argue that a black light is a device used by african americans to light their cigarettes if they followed the same logic.

Thistle Decatur

Registered User

Join date: 25 Aug 2006

Posts: 77

09-14-2006 09:06

From: Minerva Montale

The issue is the need for prims that can be used to make shadow to prevent daylight or other light sources from penetrating spaces but at the same time that would allow local interior light sources to create a more realistic dark effect.

Do we have shadows in SL? I can't log on right now and I can't remember, but I don't think we do. It would be great, but imagine all the extra processing you'd need to do to calculate the shadows from all light sources. Next thing, people would be using shadow prims willy-nilly and we'd all be lagged out.

Nargus Asturias

Registered User

Join date: 16 Sep 2005

Posts: 499

09-14-2006 10:20

Um...I think they've removed that 'feature' a few versions ago because they were very buggy and lag. It was per-client config though, not per-object

_____________________

Nargus Asturias, aka, StreamWarrior
Blue Eastern Water Dragon
Brown-skinned Utahraptor from an Old Time

Rowan Carroll

She's So Unusual Shoes

Join date: 4 Mar 2006

Posts: 94

09-15-2006 12:51

The new light feature light goes through all objects, walls, people, prims, ground.. in accordance to it's settings.. radius and intensity and falloff.. the only real "shadows" I see are the foot shadows.. which drive me bonkers when trying to take pics of shoes on my feet.. because they sorta hover 6 inches off the ground..

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An Anti-Light

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Thistle Decatur Registered User Join date: 25 Aug 2006 Posts: 77	09-10-2006 22:55 Can we please have a way to make darkness. An un-light or an anti-light. I'm working on a cave right now and have had to resort to almost-transparent phantom prims and fog.
Nargus Asturias Registered User Join date: 16 Sep 2005 Posts: 499	09-11-2006 01:30 Mmm...anti-light...I like =p _____________________ Nargus Asturias, aka, StreamWarrior Blue Eastern Water Dragon Brown-skinned Utahraptor from an Old Time
Haravikk Mistral Registered User Join date: 8 Oct 2005 Posts: 2,482	09-11-2006 02:42 IMHO this is what a black light should do, currently if you want true darkness you'd need to buy your own sim and force midnight all the time and use lights outside to put daylight back in. _____________________ Computer (Mac Pro): 2 x Quad Core 3.2ghz Xeon 10gb DDR2 800mhz FB-DIMMS 4 x 750gb, 32mb cache hard-drives (RAID-0/striped) NVidia GeForce 8800GT (512mb)
Argent Stonecutter Emergency Mustelid Join date: 20 Sep 2005 Posts: 20,263	09-11-2006 09:11 You can get pretty close using a blackout box.
Ghoti Nyak καλλιστι Join date: 7 Aug 2004 Posts: 2,078	09-11-2006 10:50 If you're in a private sim and can control these... so some assortment of... 1: Blackout box 2: Set sun to always midnight 3: Build below water... especially if its a private sim and you can set the water VERY deep... it gets REALLY dark down there! The only problem with #3 is you'll get people tleporting in to visit who are wearing Swimmers, and will instantly start to 'swim' to the roof. -Ghoti _____________________ "Sometimes I believe that this less material life is our truer life, and that our vain presence on the terraqueous globe is itself the secondary or merely virtual phenomenon." ~ H.P. Lovecraft
Argent Stonecutter Emergency Mustelid Join date: 20 Sep 2005 Posts: 20,263	09-11-2006 12:03 I'm not sure why you'd need to be in a private sim to use a blackout box. From: Ghoti Nyak The only problem with #3 is you'll get people tleporting in to visit who are wearing Swimmers, and will instantly start to 'swim' to the roof. This last is why I asked the maker of the swimmer for an API to let builders define "enclosed" underwater volumes. His response was somewhat confusing, but he seemed to think that publishing any information about how his script worked or even how to communicate cooperatively with it would lead to people being "griefed". As if suddenly starting to float to the "surface" while all around you are standing on the floor wasn't more than enough of a problem for his customers.
Cottonteil Muromachi Abominable Join date: 2 Mar 2005 Posts: 1,071	09-11-2006 20:50 From: Haravikk Mistral IMHO this is what a black light should do, currently if you want true darkness you'd need to buy your own sim and force midnight all the time and use lights outside to put daylight back in. Black light by definition is absence of any light. Meaning 0 effect on the environment. Whats being suggested is known as 'negative light' and is very common in 3D software lighting to make cheat shadows. So basically, you can set the intensity to a negative number (instead of zero) to cause light subtraction.
Newgate Ludd Out of Chesse Error Join date: 8 Apr 2005 Posts: 2,103	09-12-2006 00:47 From: Cottonteil Muromachi Black light by definition is absence of any light. Meaning 0 effect on the environment. Whats being suggested is known as 'negative light' and is very common in 3D software lighting to make cheat shadows. So basically, you can set the intensity to a negative number (instead of zero) to cause light subtraction. Actually "Black light" is a generic name for a light source within the UVA band (320–400 nanometers)
Minerva Montale Registered User Join date: 27 Feb 2006 Posts: 18	09-12-2006 01:01 The issue is the need for prims that can be used to make shadow to prevent daylight or other light sources from penetrating spaces but at the same time that would allow local interior light sources to create a more realistic dark effect. Something as simple as a checkbox to make the prim impervious to light like any real object would. This would also help the problem of using light sources inside objects causing all sides of a prim to be lit no matter what side of the object the light was on. This is completely unnatural.
Cottonteil Muromachi Abominable Join date: 2 Mar 2005 Posts: 1,071	09-12-2006 01:25 From: Newgate Ludd Actually "Black light" is a generic name for a light source within the UVA band (320–400 nanometers) This was in the context of lights within SL. Not about real world UV flourescent lights. Someone else can argue that a black light is a device used by african americans to light their cigarettes if they followed the same logic.
Thistle Decatur Registered User Join date: 25 Aug 2006 Posts: 77	09-14-2006 09:06 From: Minerva Montale The issue is the need for prims that can be used to make shadow to prevent daylight or other light sources from penetrating spaces but at the same time that would allow local interior light sources to create a more realistic dark effect. Do we have shadows in SL? I can't log on right now and I can't remember, but I don't think we do. It would be great, but imagine all the extra processing you'd need to do to calculate the shadows from all light sources. Next thing, people would be using shadow prims willy-nilly and we'd all be lagged out.
Nargus Asturias Registered User Join date: 16 Sep 2005 Posts: 499	09-14-2006 10:20 Um...I think they've removed that 'feature' a few versions ago because they were very buggy and lag. It was per-client config though, not per-object _____________________ Nargus Asturias, aka, StreamWarrior Blue Eastern Water Dragon Brown-skinned Utahraptor from an Old Time
Rowan Carroll She's So Unusual Shoes Join date: 4 Mar 2006 Posts: 94	09-15-2006 12:51 The new light feature light goes through all objects, walls, people, prims, ground.. in accordance to it's settings.. radius and intensity and falloff.. the only real "shadows" I see are the foot shadows.. which drive me bonkers when trying to take pics of shoes on my feet.. because they sorta hover 6 inches off the ground..