I ran into a small problem here. When i was experimenting with landscape meshes and lighting To my surprise I have found out that the bigger i scale landscape mesh, the less contrast between light and shadow I have.

I have 2 questions.

1: why does this happen? can someone explain it to me because it doesn't add up in my head.

2: is there a way to get the same good contrast with a large mesh as in a smaller one?


These are a few examples of a smaller mesh with good contrast. The size is 400 units



As you see here light and shadow in the terrain are clearly defined and visible.

This one is the same terrain scaled up to 5000 units (don't ask me why its so huge, i have my reasons. And besides, huge terrains look epic! )


same lighting, jacked up size to 4000, contrast as you can see, almost none.

it almost looks like a single color dark blob.

any suggestions?

I've noticed something like this before, it has something to do with normals. I'm not sure if you actually have to go into vertexdata and mess with the normals, or if theres an easier way to apply it to the whole object at once. Did you try looking through the appearance commands in the help files?

dude, the best thing i found in the help files is the set object emissive

and set object emissive power. Can make some AWESOME lighting effects! but it has no effect on a big terrain no matter how high you jack it up.

check this out!



(i have no idea what happened to this pic to the left)

Maybe you should use the smaller terrain and make everything else smaller.

^ What Image All said.

Or, reposition your light 0 each loop. And, scale your light range up when you scale your terrain. Think of it as a light with a limited range and a set position. If you make a terrain 5000 units in size (small, IMO), then the default light won't reach that far.

My light is attached to a sun, therefore it is repositioned each loop already

the light range doesn't work with directional lights. My light is pointed at a certain direction.

The reason i want a large mesh is because I want a rough 3d model of an island (I am planning to split it into separate detailed areas but i want most of the island to be visible from any area.

I also want the player to feel small

big areas look epic.

Have you tried the "set normalization on" command?

Maybe you should use the smaller terrain and make everything else smaller.

YO! WAIT! THANKS! I CAN'T BELIEVE I NEVER THOUGHT OF THAT!

ill have to rescale all of my objects


IS it possible to do something like

x#

for x#=1-50(all my object numbers i want to scale)

scale object x# .000001

next

Have you tried the "set normalization on" command?

That works even better!, Thanks Bob.

I read on it in the manual but didn't understand, what is normalization?

This is better because e if i make everything smaller, i will have to work with very small numbers. I dont't like small numbers.

This command recalculates normals of your object according to the way you scale it so that it reflects light always the same way whatever it size is.
Anyway, I think it works this way. The important point is that it works!

General rule of thumb is smaller is better for games.

why?

the smaller something is, the bigger can you make other things without losing performance.

It has its advantages

Hey, Is there a way to increase the dark/ light contrast without using specular lighting? (as amazing as it looks, i think it takes up some performance)