Post Process Volume

Post processing volumes can affect multiple things in a level like bloom, depth of field, colour grading and other effects. These are easy to create and can even drastically change the way we play and see created levels. They are essentially a defined area where the properties of the world’s appearance are altered to give a different result much like a photographer doing post processing on his pictures to make them look better.

To create a post processing volume I first selected the builder brush and used it to create a volume in which for me to change the values and appearance of my level. But I want it to be a post processing volume so I used the blue 3D cube on the right side under the volumes section on the left from the viewport and changed the volume into the post processing volume.

The colour grading is used to change the tone mapping of the level. Swapping the colour gradient causes UDK to use different colours to render the level. After playing around with different colour grading for my level I decided that I would change my level to a post process style called blue horror because it gave my level a very cold, lonely and isolated feel.

After a few plays of the level after the post process was added I realised that it sort of made all the work I done on my lights null and void so I decided to take it out and keep the original lighting because it felt better in the level.

Bink Video

To insert a video into UDK it has to be first converted into a bink file by using RAD video tools. Once the video file has been converted it can then be imported into UDK. To apply the video onto an object you must make a material out of it and simply connect it at the diffuse, and then it’s as simple as dragging and dropping it onto a cube or any shape you desire.

  

I have put my sci-fi corridor fly through into my level as the video because I thought it would be another opportunity to show some other work while people play the level. And I have placed these videos of this on two adjacent walls in the lower sections of my level.

FlipBook Textures

Flip book textures are used to create simple and short animations easily just like a flip book (hence the name). They have the ability to cycle through a series of images spaced out equally on a sheet just like an animation and then will show it on screen. Once the pictures are imported as a correct flip book sheet texture they can be changed into a material and added to any mesh in level depending on the result you want.

I decided to try out the fire flip book texture in my level; I used these as markers to show the ends of my level and as light sources. I did this by adding the material to meshes at the ends of my level in an attempt to keep the players at the center of my level so that the pace of action would stay high.

After play testing the level a few more times after adding these addition in I decided that they were unnecessary and over top and so I replaced them with walls so that the player knows were the boundaries are and keeps them in the center areas were the action will be happening.

Functional lights

Functional lights are used to create lighting set ups that can create flickering lights, create fake shadows, create dynamics lights and many other functions. Using those lights is cheaper than using an emissive map on a mesh to create shadows or creating a certain light pattern.

I have used functional lighting on my point lights to cast flickering light effects on my walls. I used this functional light to try and create a dark sci-fi atmosphere for my level, after a few tests I got the flicker to how I wanted it and applied it to others around my level so it wasn’t a singular flickering light. This did get the tone I was aiming for with my level, but since then I have decided to take the flickering light out, because it’s a death match map it doesn't need the flickering lights for the atmosphere and they became more of a distraction than an aid to design of the level.

Since deciding to take the flickering lights out my level I have been happier with it, because the lights aren't there to annoy in the view port while trying to shoot bots and this helps with the flow of the level.

Lens Flare

Lens flares are a type of particles and are created from a light source by placing a source over the source of light creating the illusion that makes the player think that the light source is creating the lens flare. These are generally used to make more realistic lights and have become more popularly used in games as well as films

I have created a lens flare to apply to my lights in the level, after applying it I decided to create some other in case the design of light needed to be changed.

   

I decided to take out the lens flares as they do not fit in well in my level. I decided on this after the peer review in which People said they would get in the way while shooting enemies, I first tried to decrease the intensity and the range in which they appear but then decided to take them out all together.

Lighting Peer Review and Checklist

Does my functional lighting do the job of directing the player around the level?
Yes, although a large area it is very easy to find your way around.

(Sebastian) The lighting helps in navigation around your level as it is highlighting pickups enabling the player to spot them from further away which speeds up the gameplay on your map.

Does my astatic lighting show locations of pickups in the level?
Yes.

(Sebastian) Yes as different colours are highlighting different things in your level it makes it easier to navigate and locate different places.

How could I improve on the lighting in my level?
Add lights to the entrances of the doors to ensure the player knows there is a door there.

(Sebastian) Each item that you can interact with in either navigational purposes or pickup purposes share the same colour which might confuse the player I would suggest making one of these different colours to avoid the confusion in gameplay.

Once i did this peer review i changed colours of my level to be unified and have different colours for different breadcrumbs, because originally it was random colours around the map.

Why i did this?

I did this because sebastion made some good points and it made sense that having different colours wouldnt help navigation as i wanted so a uniform colour set helped out alot.

Adding Lighting to my Map

I first began to work on my level’s lightning in terms of its navigation, so I selected key areas around the map and lit them with brightly coloured lights to show players where to go. I tried to do this in the places I thought it would affect the flow of gameplay the most

Why did I do this?

I did this because in previous peer reviews it came up that navigation was an issue and players resorted to sticking to the middle level of my map despite there being 3 levels so I wanted to make people more inclined to explore.

How to improve this?

The way I improved this navigation was to colour coordinate the entrances and exits on each level so the player knows exactly where the paths will lead when traversing the map.

I then went on to provide lights to show off the pickups/breadcrumbs in my level, this is also a key part to the navigation.

Why did I do this?

I did this because sometimes in the less lit areas of the map players didn’t notice pickups and weapons because the bright lights used for the navigation took the attention away.

How to improve this?

I improved this issue by diming the navigation lights down to find a nice balance where they are bright enough to see but not bright enough to steal attention away from exploration, also I colour coordinated so that all the pickups/breadcrumbs were all coloured green which is usually a neutral colour.

Directional Light

I didn’t really edit the directional light because the whole of my level is inside/ underground, so I didn’t want any natural light in the map.

Why did I do this?

I did this because the map is underground so there wouldn’t be any natural light, plus I wanted my level to have a feeling of confinement and for the lights to really stand out in the dark to further increase flow in the level

How to improve this?

A way I could improve this would be to either have section in the roof where bits of natural light could shine through to give an extra layer of lighting, or to possibly have a way to get to the surface above the level and have the natural directional light at work up there.

This is the same for the sky box texture and the rays/shadows cast by the sun/Moon, due to my map being underground I didn’t need to consider these as they aren’t a factor that affects my map.

Enemy Presentation

I then went on to add the last of my lights into the level and these were the lights that showed spawn placements in the middle section of the map,

Why I did this?

I did this because the middle section of my map had the greatest number of spawns and they were in corners with no light so this made it hard when being attacked by enemies so I decided to add lights to show the locations in the corners.

How to improve this?

I made the lights dim just so they showed location but not enough to draw focus from the middle sections map were most of the fighting will take place and also so that the eye won’t be taken away from the navigational lights

 Creating Light maps

When it came to creating light maps to increase the lighting detail on my map and the block out pieces I needed to make sure that the UV’s were not overlapping in anyway and the best way to do this was to make the grid power of 2 to match UDK and the Automatic map the UV’s which was fine because the objects were basic in shape.

Why I did this?

The reason for making light maps was to stop misshapen shadows appearing on my object when baking the lights this was cause by bad light maps being used on the objects.

How to improve this?

Well I improved this by spacing out the UV’s on the objects and then baked the lights again, but I didn’t originally know this so when I first seen this issue I didn’t know what to do, so I searched the internet for a solution to the problem that’s when I found this website http://www.worldofleveldesign.com/categories/udk/udk-lightmaps-03-how-to-fix-light-shadow-lightmap-bleeds-and-seams.php

When I first started I didn’t use the production lighting to bake my lights in UDK

Why I did this?

I did this because at the beginning I wanted the lights working before I got them looking nice and not using light mass and production lighting increase the speed at which it bakes the lighting.

How I improved this?

Once I was happy with how the lights worked I then went on to bake the lights in a higher setting and played around with the colours as I spoke about in my navigation section.