End of the Tunnel Effect

Ever wondered how to do the lighting effect at the end of the tunnels in the coast levels? Actually it's really simple - I'll be showing one way to achive the same effect.

The areaportal way
Pros: Saves on FPS
Cons: Can only be used one-way. Looking at it when fully closed outside the tunnel will cause a Hall of Mirrors effect.

Ok, in my example map, I have a basic tunnel with a road in the middle.


First, make a box that covers the entire opening of your tunnel. I suggest making it 1 unit thick. Make this box a func_areaportalwindow


Open up the properties folder. Inside I set these settings:
Rendered Window bright1
Fade Start Distance 512
Fade End Distance 1772
Translucency Limit 0

Next, make a box surrounding the areaportal window. I made mine 3 units thick. Make it a func_illusionary and set these settings:
Name bright1
Disable Shadows Yes
Disable Recieving Shadows Yes

Now, texture the func_illusionary tools/nodraw on all sides. Then texture only the side that is facing the inside of the tunnel with skybox/sky_fake_white. Heres a example:


Almost done, now we need to add a light to the end of the tunnel to add realism to the effect. Add a simple light entity and set the brightness to 255 255 255 500.
Note: For more realism add an env_lightglow at the edge of the func_areaportal.

That should do it, add a info_player_start and check it out.

I hope you enjoyed my first tutorial on the snarkpit. Any and all comments would be welcome. If you have any questions, feel free to pm me.

Thanks for looking.

Sorry. but i didnt know its 207 KB, i guess i forgot to edit this one mate, im sorry

Good God D|K that took forever to get here.

Nice tut, well explained...

This is my result http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/3092/thefallenpath00008ld.jpg

Dude, you could have easily used my pic. You didn't have to prove you could make a crappy one. I believed you.

Try, "Save picture as"

Lol orph, ok, I'll see what I can do to fix that.

@Andrei, good point, I'll add that.

You forgot to mention adding an env_lightglow entity at the end of the tunnel to give it a more realistic look.

I agree with rs6 that further explanation as to why you are setting the properties you are and what changing the values would do would be helpful, but as it stands it does get the job done.

Really? Show me..
http://tinypic.com/kd9v76.jpg

You are talking to the image champ bud.

Opps, I'm sorry Orph, but I need quality more than size. Any lower jpg quality looked bad.

It needs more explanation on why you are doing what you are doing, this way people aren't just copying but learning how to apply to their own situtations. Other than that it explains how to get the job done. Pretty good.