Light Effects through Windows & Doors

[ret]

I am in the middle of the Strange Aeons Pathfinder adventure path so a lot of the maps are building based. I'm loving the new lighting system. It has been awesome and has really helped set the tone as I add in some thematic light colors.

I've watched the videos on the guides on the wiki and saw that Doug just masked off the buildings entirely, but I am curious how you all are using the new lighting with buildings that have windows and doors.

Are you using lights?
If so, are you masking off the building?
If you are masking, how are you lighting the room?
If you aren't masking, how are you dealing with the shadows created by walls (particularly when the shadow ends still within the room?
What other techniques are you using to get the lighting how you want?


I'm always interested in best practice, so I'm really interested in learning what is working best for everyone.

[WinterSoldier7]

Haven't tried it out yet, though very excited to, but I would like to know the best practises here, too.

There will, no doubt, be instances in maps where a window allows the light in to a darkened room.

[Mytherus]

I recently obtained a pile of very well done maps via patreon. Unfortunately most have shadows drawn on them, which is fine except if you use them in a vtt that has ambiant lighting and dynamic lighting.

My solution...its a game. Set up los and lighting to the best of your ability to make it look good. When in game just say to your players "hey the shadows were drawn on the map...i did rhe best i could"

Thats that. As DMs at times we can only do what we can do with the time we have....it is what it is.

[ret]

I recently obtained a pile of very well done maps via patreon. Unfortunately most have shadows drawn on them, which is fine except if you use them in a vtt that has ambiant lighting and dynamic lighting.

My solution...its a game. Set up los and lighting to the best of your ability to make it look good. When in game just say to your players "hey the shadows were drawn on the map...i did rhe best i could"

Thats that. As DMs at times we can only do what we can do with the time we have....it is what it is.

Totally fair take. I'm very process minded, and best practice is important to me, thus the thread. What I've done so far works, I just want to know that I'm not going about it wrong. As they say, there's a hundred ways to skin a cat. What I've never heard though is that most of those ways are sub-optimal. If there's a better way to be doing something, I want to do it.

[LordEntrails]

I feel like an infant when it comes to FGU lighting. So I don't know what any best practices are yet. The big thing I try to keep in mind is performance. The more LOS segments and light elements I use, the more performance is going to be impacted. And I also keep in mind that many of my players have sub-optimal computers. So even though some really cool things are certainly possible, I'm not interested in such if it's going to adversely impact play experience. And that is something that is going to change based upon the uniqueness of every "table".

So far I'm not masking. I'm letting the lights and occluders do all the work. I try to avoid overlap, and am still playing with the lights so that when they do overlap they don't clip due to RGB limits/limitations.

And when I skin a cat, I make sure it is dead first, otherwise it scratches the heck out of my arms!

[Griogre]

I've watched the videos on the guides on the wiki and saw that Doug just masked off the buildings entirely, but I am curious how you all are using the new lighting with buildings that have windows and doors.

Are you using lights?
If so, are you masking off the building?
If you are masking, how are you lighting the room?
If you aren't masking, how are you dealing with the shadows created by walls (particularly when the shadow ends still within the room?
What other techniques are you using to get the lighting how you want?



It's probably best to use masks on buildings if you are going to use ambient lighting to avoid the shadow problem. To get "Sunlight" to shine into a masked building put a light outside the window at the angle you want the light to shine in.

I've attached pictures in the first its in play mode with a masked building using ambient lighting. In the second one I'm showing the light layer and have a light I added to shine in through the south window. The west windows are getting light coming in from the outside touches by the stairs. In the third image notice how you can't see light cast into the building at all because I have turned back on all the interior lighting for this human. The implication here is you only want to bother with shining light into the building in rooms that have little or no lighting.

One last thing. Since you are mimicking Sunlight with those exterior lights you don't want to mix them with your interior lights - if you are ever going to use that map in darkness you want to put all those lights together into a folder or layer so you can cut them all off at once - and then switch off ambient lighting.

[ret]

I feel like an infant when it comes to FGU lighting. So I don't know what any best practices are yet. The big thing I try to keep in mind is performance. The more LOS segments and light elements I use, the more performance is going to be impacted. And I also keep in mind that many of my players have sub-optimal computers. So even though some really cool things are certainly possible, I'm not interested in such if it's going to adversely impact play experience. And that is something that is going to change based upon the uniqueness of every "table".

So far I'm not masking. I'm letting the lights and occluders do all the work. I try to avoid overlap, and am still playing with the lights so that when they do overlap they don't clip due to RGB limits/limitations.

And when I skin a cat, I make sure it is dead first, otherwise it scratches the heck out of my arms!
That's a helpful little reminder. I am on a pretty good gaming computer with a mix of current/last gen hardware so I don't have any issues, but some of my players are on their work laptops. I tended to go heavy with Line of Sight and effects (Playing Strange Aeons, so if anyone is familiar with that, you know lots of mist and pouring rain).

I will say that compared to Roll20, FGU is phenomenal. I don't know why, but line of sight on Roll20 was absolutely CRIPPLING - even as just a player on my computer. We had to disable it, which is obviously frustrating because that's what we were paying for. That's neither here nor there of course, and I'm so glad I made the switch to FGU.

It's probably best to use masks on buildings if you are going to use ambient lighting to avoid the shadow problem. To get "Sunlight" to shine into a masked building put a light outside the window at the angle you want the light to shine in.

I've attached pictures in the first its in play mode with a masked building using ambient lighting. In the second one I'm showing the light layer and have a light I added to shine in through the south window. The west windows are getting light coming in from the outside touches by the stairs. In the third image notice how you can't see light cast into the building at all because I have turned back on all the interior lighting for this human. The implication here is you only want to bother with shining light into the building in rooms that have little or no lighting.

One last thing. Since you are mimicking Sunlight with those exterior lights you don't want to mix them with your interior lights - if you are ever going to use that map in darkness you want to put all those lights together into a folder or layer so you can cut them all off at once - and then switch off ambient lighting.
I had thought about this. It's obviously never going to be perfect, but there are three quirks: 1, This produces a ray of light, rather than radiant light; 2, the need to select and change the light each time you change from morning to day to dusk; 3, adding these lights seems to increase the light slightly where there is no mask, even with dim light (I even matched the color code of the ambient light to create the window light).

The more I think about it, maybe it's best to just use ambient lights without a mask (unless the room is like an unlit broom closet or something), and disable shadows, then use room lighting to set rooms apart like if they have a fireplace, or a candle on the table. The room lighting really starts to stand out at dusk, and really shines in moonlight.