guide on the lightings

holy heck i need to update this

Intro

oh so you wanna learn how to do some immaculate lighting? yeah me either

I'm doing this because a lot of people asked, apparently.

So here you go I guess.

Addons

For simple renders, I use advanced light entities

https://steamcommunity.com/workshop/filedetails/?id=493751477

and for larger projects or scenebuilds, I use soft lamps

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=636153716

Commands

In your library, Right Click Gmod > Properties > General > Set launch options > paste in these commands
+mat_slopescaledepthbias_normal 0.3
+mat_depthbias_shadowmap 0.003
+mat_slopescaledepthbias_shadowmap 2
+r_projectedtexture_filter 0.1
+r_flashlightdepthres 8192

These commands should give you better looking shadows.
Though, be careful with flashlightdepthres as if you go too high, Gmod will crash depending on how good your computer is.

I recommend going for 2048 or 4096.

Here are some other commands I use

mat_disable_bloom 1
mat_specular 0
mat_picmip -10

the "Good" stuff

alright now were going on the meat now.
(get ready for some ♥♥♥♥ explaining)

Oh yeah can't do much lighting without a subject so...
heres my subject





















oh yeah you can probably follow along through the guide

okay so the lighting is seperated into three parts

You can change the texture of the light to either effects/flashlight/soft or effects/flashlight/hard

Key Light

Key light, according to google,
The key light is the first and usually most important light that a photographer, cinematographer, lighting cameraman, or other scene composer will use in a lighting setup. The purpose of the key light is to highlight the form and dimension of the subject.

Oh yeah, btw you should set the NearZ to the right amount for more shadows to appear.
also keep the light's FOV below 110 or else the shadow will break

because GMod shadows are just really bad, you could try messing with the FOV and FarZ to give your shadows a softer look

Fill Lights

A fill light may be used to reduce the contrast of a scene to match the dynamic range of the recording media and record the same amount of detail typically seen by eye in average lighting and considered normal.
Pretty much just fills in the shadows.

For fills, turn off the shadows and you can set the FOV any amount of the this light.
(also put color on em man, you bland lasagna)

Rim Light

The technique that puts light around the edges of a subject. It's something that can be achieved outdoors when the sun is low in the sky, and in the studio, it's often just a case of moving the lights behind the subject instead of in front.
It just looks cool lol.

Personally, I just set these lights to the max.

So just put these all together and you get this.
looks like ass but its what i got


Go mess around with them colors, it look cool.

Thats it?

thats it.
go nuts.

oh and I just wanna say thanks to Bla for pretty much being my main inspiration.
speaking of bla

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1672569410
thinking about it, i feel like i just copied this guide. huh.


merry christmas

[chrillek]

how do i turn off shadows? (for fill lights)

[Beret]

this give's me an erection ngl

[Sheila]

Ahh understandable

[its male]

so that you dont have to keep opening console everytime you load gmod

saves you time

[Sheila]

quick question why do we need to put it in our properties were we just put the game command in gmod in game

[evil witch from Tesco]

incredibly useful guide B]

[Müfit]

thanks man

[Sheila]

im having trouble putting commands in the properties

[АНДРЕЙ]

А

[Dr. Jayden]

Instructions unclear i ended up fucking a lamp post.