Streaming light beam

I am trying to recreat the streaming light effect found in HL2.



It isn't very clear in a screenshot, but if you recall that part of the
game there is a lighting effect that gives the illusion of a shaft of
light illuminating the dust in the air.



This is where I am trying to recreate it, currently very badly with
point_spotlights. As you can probably guess from the screen I'm more
interested in getting beams of moonlight than I am the moving dust.
What should I be doing?

Instead of using point_spotlight, use light_environment with a whitish
color instead (to simulate moonlight). I imagine the brightness
should be set at around 100 (yes, moonlight can be quite bright).

And then change the lighting grid from Hammer. I haven't experiment on this myself, but go play around with the setting.

From the first screenshot, Valve used more than one type of lighting
entities to achieve the total effect (notice the general "glow" from
the large windows has a different color than the warm, direct sunlight
casted on the floor).

I'm already using one - what I'm after isn't the effect on the window
or on the floor, but the shaft of light in between. I want visible
moonbeam coming through the broken window panes.

i see , didnt really understand your question when talking in
#snarkpit, but, you should use a prop_something (prolly static) and
then theres a model in the effects folder called vol_light

done.

note: the model will prolly only look good if it fits the window, and if your light_environment has the same color as the model

Thanks, that's what I'm after. Doesn't work but worth trying. :smile:

Also, make your light map scale on the texture that the light will be
cast onto something like 8 or 4. This will make a sharper shadow
and light line.