OK, so after some amazing advice in the past I think I've got a good portion of doing lighting in pixel art sorted.
This room, however, with its annoying coloured spotlights is giving me a massive head-ache.
The scene: This is the 'inner room' to a larger club. The idea was for it be quite dark with some spotlights from a ball which hangs through the ceiling bit. There will probably be some kind of dancer on the red platform. The lights just don't seem to 'blend' with the scene, it is like I've just plopped them on top. NOTE: The ball isn't quite finished. There will be a screen on it or something, too.
(http://www.freewebs.com/markbilly/lights2.png)
The scene with no spotlighting.
(http://www.freewebs.com/markbilly/nolights.png)
Any ideas? Thanks in advance everyone!
Maybe you could try making them brighter closer to the source and fading till the spotlight, where it gets bright again
heres a ref:
(http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/photos/pixomar28.jpg)
But i like how it looks already
EDIT
oh, and the shading of those barrels on the stage is facing the wrong direction, with the light hitting it on the opposite side...
Note that the cones of light are only visible if the air is full of dust/vapor/smoke/etc.
The lighting looks okay, just the right spot's shadows are off; I'm not sure how deep in the room the ball is; the drummer's shadow suggests light coming from the left while the other shadows in the vicinity suggest it's coming from the back.
I agree about the fading - when the whole stream is of the same shade it seems 2D flat instead of 3D. That said I think that the white light that's directed at drummer works well actually, it's the other ones that are the problem.
Quote from: Khris on Mon 01/03/2010 19:25:53
the drummer's shadow suggests light coming from the left while the other shadows in the vicinity suggest it's coming from the back.
oh yeah, well pointed, it does iffy
I find that the green spotlight really directs my attention to the left side of the screen, which would be alright if that's where you want the action to play out, but it doesn't even seem to light up the table, just the blank wall. If you want the character to remain in shadow, perhaps add a bit of detail to the wall (posters maybe) and also turn down the brightness/saturation of the lit spot - I think it's mainly the strong green color that makes it grab attention from the two other lamps.
Other than that it's a really nice background, and the guy on the screen brings up fond memories of Beneath a Steel Sky.
I like the style.
Something that caught my eye is that you seem to have drawn the scene originally with an imaginary white light source and then added your actual lighting in later. Keep in mind that coloured spotlights won't just light up the spot they're pointing at - they'll throw ambient light and reflections off surfaces will spread it out. Adding a hue to the room that's roughly equal to the blending of your lights is a nice way to give a more believable feeling to your background. I did a quick example without worrying too much about contrast or anything just to show what I mean:
(http://img704.imageshack.us/img704/81/lightsj.png)
Actually, this kind of light don't come from balls, but from cannons. I think.
(http://www.freewebs.com/markbilly/room17darknoiseoverlay.png)
Tried adding some detail to two of the light beams, added some dust in the light beams and tried to use an overlay colour like Ben suggested.
Just a bit worried it's getting too dark now.
P.S. also changed the shadows as the ball is above, to the left and behind the drummer...
Obviously I'm not a pixel artist, but I tried to work with the lighting to make the club seem a bit darker (and not quite as smoky as Ben's edit). Still not too happy with the green spot, I just wanted to see how it would look if there was more detail on the lefthand wall.
(http://img641.imageshack.us/img641/1403/clubb.png)
Edit: Ugh, that bloom style effect around the monitor looked much better in Photoshop. Please ignore it. Markbilly, I really like what you did with the detail in the white light beam. I think that's a good approach to make the air seem a lot less hazy than mine and Ben's examples while still indicating the beams.
In terms of a totally different style I really like your edit GarageGothic. I do agree with something needing to be on the left wall too but I just can't think of anything at the moment...
I may try and do a poster for the drummer to put there, but for now I think I'm finished. :)
(http://www.freewebs.com/markbilly/room17darknoiseoverlay2.png)
Anything else glaring?
Looks great. So will the dancer on the platform be in darkness, or are you adding a secondary light source for her? Looking forward to see those dust particles in the beams animated :)
Quote from: GarageGothic on Mon 01/03/2010 22:03:09
Looking forward to see those dust particles in the beams animated :)
I was hoping no-one would say that! :D
Hey! What about making the room more blue like in garage's gothic one? It will make the room a bit darker and make it look like it is night :)
If I were you, I would combine your 'dusty' beams with GarageGothic colour tones. Your light beams are too saturated and too bright at the end. The glowing of the board in GG's pic adds a lot to the atmosphere, too. Otherwise, well done :)
How about something along the lines of this for the left green light.
(http://www.bryvis.com/entertainment/other/agsf/website/markbilly_lights.png)
Yeah it breaks symmetry a bit, but something like that to make it less flat looking. Also changing the source for the blue light to the backside of the ball makes much more sense.
I tried to change the contrast between some of the grays since it was all washed out.
I do like those new light beams in your latest edit. The dust particles look too jpeg, so don't put them in unless you're going to animate them because it would look weird. Perhaps you could make them more subtle.
may I suggest using a particle system? ^_^
that would look rad.
The drummer hit by the spotlight is strangely washed out, for being hit by a spotlight. He needs more contrats and more saturated colours.
Quote from: Calin Leafshade on Tue 02/03/2010 01:40:04
may I suggest using a particle system? ^_^
that would look rad.
Seconded, if you somehow manage to replicate the behaviour of the dust, from a static to dynamic, it would look certainly mind boggling!!
(http://img188.imageshack.us/img188/130/renderb.jpg)
I totally cheated and rendered, then photoshopped. If you need to check angles and stuff, 3d is a great way to cheat. The hardest part though, was matching your camera. While I ruined the look by making it too high rez, I do like to see CG accentuation now and then, where it's obvious they used CG lights to enhance an anime scene.
I think your final image looks great!
OK, another final edit because I really liked Ryan's suggestion. The dust has been toned down, too. I may keep it in for now, see what it looks like in-game.
Andail was right also, so the drummer's colours and saturation has been changed. I think I'll put it to bed, now. I have the main club scene to draw next!
(http://theindiestone.com/community/download/file.php?id=239)
I actually much preferred the specks in the lights from the old[er] version. It gave the room much more atmosphere and mood (for me).
no no no, its good already, go away and finish the game!! ;D
Quote from: Captain Ricco on Fri 05/03/2010 03:04:08
no no no, its good already, go away and finish the game!! ;D
This is what I have decided to go, because, if I don't hurry up I'm going to need a Longevity Gene myself to be able to finish it in a lifetime! :D