Too many lights

<span style="color: white;">Hi,
I am not sure if this is right or not, I have always used 4 lights to light props.
www.aleronsdomain.com/4_lights_jpeg.jpg

If I use one light only the front of the prop is lit up, the other sides are dark.
Is there any other way of lighting up the entire prop without using 4 lights, one for each side?
I have already disabled shadows.
</span>

My goodness :eek: , Yea, I would say that's 4 too many lights to light that particular area. The reason your wall light model may appear dark is because you have that light_spot within it. If you want to keep that light_spot within the model, you will also need to select yes next to "disable Self-Shadowing with vertex" in the keyvalues of the model. And if that still doesn't work, you could always give it a lighting origin. Just place an info_lighting point entity, and give it a name. Then go back to your model (the wall light) and under its "lighting Origin" place the name of that info_light you just named. The model will now light up accordingly based on wherever you placed that info_light at in the world. But like I said, only use that if the "Disable Self-Shadowing with vertex" doesn't work.

Hope that helps!

---

Blog: www.playingarchitecture.net
LinkedIn: Eric Lancon
Twitter:@Riven202

<span style="font-family: Verdana;">I don't think you understood me.
Take a look at this picture.
The spotlights are not inside the prop.
The object lights up fine on the front, but the sides do not light up.
I did try both of your suggestions and even with disable self shadows it does not make the sides lighter.
http://www.aleronsdomain.com/help_light.jpg
</span>

Oh, now I see. That first picture was kinda deceiving. Short answer: It really isn't a glitch; that's how the lighting is supposed to work. Now to fix it, instead of adding lights all around it you will need to fill the rest of the room with more general lighting. The sides are dark because the only two lights are the ones in front. You will need to add more lights, but not around the model, just more lights elsewhere in the room, otherwise it will be natural for that wall light model to look like that. It won't be that noticeable compared to everything else in the level.

---

Blog: www.playingarchitecture.net
LinkedIn: Eric Lancon
Twitter:@Riven202

What's so bad about this pic? I'd keep it. Imagine this light in the real world. It would only be bright where the light comes out.

If you have total, 100% blackness on the model (I can't see it on the JPG) it could be that the center (should be marked in the 2D views, not always the middle you excpect!) of the prop is stuck in the wall. Move it out .5 Units (hold alt to move props freely out of grid) if this is the case.

---

Why snark works.