Second Life Forums Archive - Making area very Dark

Gruntos Baxter

Registered User

Join date: 15 Jan 2007

Posts: 20

03-22-2007 09:19

There are lots of post on lighting up areas but I want to do the opposite. I would like to turn down lights in a cave making it very dark and unaffected by the sun position outside.

Any ideas?

I did try a black light LOL!

Talarus Luan

Ancient Archaean Dragon

Join date: 18 Mar 2006

Posts: 4,831

03-22-2007 10:14

Unfortunately, that is very hard to do, if not impossible.

There is no true "shadowing" in SL, so there is no way to distinguish inside lighting from outside lighting. All polygons are lit the same, based on their normals and the current position of the sun. You can approximate it by using darker textures in the cave (or setting the color to darker shades of gray), but avatars will still be fully-lit. It would be nice if the lighting system did subtractive lighting (IE, median gray/color being "no additional ambient", and darker meaning "less ambient than normal"

, but that's not the case.

AJ DaSilva

woz ere

Join date: 15 Jun 2005

Posts: 1,993

03-22-2007 11:39

You can use lots of big, phantom prims or a particle system with a translucent black texture to fake darkness to some extent.

AnnMarie Otoole

Addicted scripter

Join date: 6 Jan 2007

Posts: 162

I did it as follows.

03-22-2007 20:00

Make your cave as the hollowed out inside of cubes or cylinders. Then set the texture of just the inside surface to black. You can have a script to turn the texture back to white to simulate turning on a light in the cavity. Objects in the cavity will have their own "glow" so if you want them to be lost in the dark too, they will need a script that sets their texture color to black.

Magellan Egoyan

Registered User

Join date: 27 Jan 2007

Posts: 16

underwater

03-24-2007 16:37

I've noticed that underwater light behaves differently than above... in fact, I've been trying to figure out how to light underwater areas more effectively. I've been told one can create underwater areas with similar properties, but I haven't yet figured out how... no doubt someone else does

. Still, this might be a useful area to follow up on...

Kenn Nilsson

AeonVox

Join date: 24 May 2005

Posts: 897

03-24-2007 19:31

Methods I've seen for 'dark' areas:

1--Own a sim and make it night all the time
2--Use many semi-transparent phantom prims
3--Use a particle-system emitting large 'black fog' particles that reduce visibility
4--Set textures to black or very dark

And yea...for some reason...black lights don't do so well at 'darkening' rather than lighting. I wish they did

_____________________

--AeonVox--

Computer games don't affect kids; I mean if Pac-Man affected us as kids, we'd all be running around in darkened rooms chasing ghosts, eating magic pills, and listening to repetitive, addictive, electronic music.

Gruntos Baxter

Registered User

Join date: 15 Jan 2007

Posts: 20

03-26-2007 07:18

Many good ideas I will play
thanks

Making area very Dark
Gruntos Baxter Registered User Join date: 15 Jan 2007 Posts: 20	03-22-2007 09:19 There are lots of post on lighting up areas but I want to do the opposite. I would like to turn down lights in a cave making it very dark and unaffected by the sun position outside. Any ideas? I did try a black light LOL!
Talarus Luan Ancient Archaean Dragon Join date: 18 Mar 2006 Posts: 4,831	03-22-2007 10:14 Unfortunately, that is very hard to do, if not impossible. There is no true "shadowing" in SL, so there is no way to distinguish inside lighting from outside lighting. All polygons are lit the same, based on their normals and the current position of the sun. You can approximate it by using darker textures in the cave (or setting the color to darker shades of gray), but avatars will still be fully-lit. It would be nice if the lighting system did subtractive lighting (IE, median gray/color being "no additional ambient", and darker meaning "less ambient than normal", but that's not the case.
AJ DaSilva woz ere Join date: 15 Jun 2005 Posts: 1,993	03-22-2007 11:39 You can use lots of big, phantom prims or a particle system with a translucent black texture to fake darkness to some extent.
AnnMarie Otoole Addicted scripter Join date: 6 Jan 2007 Posts: 162	I did it as follows. 03-22-2007 20:00 Make your cave as the hollowed out inside of cubes or cylinders. Then set the texture of just the inside surface to black. You can have a script to turn the texture back to white to simulate turning on a light in the cavity. Objects in the cavity will have their own "glow" so if you want them to be lost in the dark too, they will need a script that sets their texture color to black.
Magellan Egoyan Registered User Join date: 27 Jan 2007 Posts: 16	underwater 03-24-2007 16:37 I've noticed that underwater light behaves differently than above... in fact, I've been trying to figure out how to light underwater areas more effectively. I've been told one can create underwater areas with similar properties, but I haven't yet figured out how... no doubt someone else does . Still, this might be a useful area to follow up on...
Kenn Nilsson AeonVox Join date: 24 May 2005 Posts: 897	03-24-2007 19:31 Methods I've seen for 'dark' areas: 1--Own a sim and make it night all the time 2--Use many semi-transparent phantom prims 3--Use a particle-system emitting large 'black fog' particles that reduce visibility 4--Set textures to black or very dark And yea...for some reason...black lights don't do so well at 'darkening' rather than lighting. I wish they did _____________________ --AeonVox-- Computer games don't affect kids; I mean if Pac-Man affected us as kids, we'd all be running around in darkened rooms chasing ghosts, eating magic pills, and listening to repetitive, addictive, electronic music.
Gruntos Baxter Registered User Join date: 15 Jan 2007 Posts: 20	03-26-2007 07:18 Many good ideas I will play thanks

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Making area very Dark