light_environment Last edited 10 months ago2023-12-27 02:13:39 UTC

light_environment - Point Entity

This entity makes the map's sky emit light. The only practical way of lighting outdoor maps.

Attributes

• Name (targetname) - Property used to identify entities.
• Pitch, Yaw, Roll (angles) - Sets the pitch (up/down), yaw (left/right) and roll (bank) respectively.
• Pitch (pitch) - A negative number will give downward pitch (which is normally what you want).
• Brightness (_light) - The first three 3-digit numbers are the colour (RGB) and the fourth is brightness/light intensity (e.g. 248 244 237 350).

Positioning logic

Use Pitch to shift the sun (or moon) vertically (similar to daytime/hours) and Yaw to shift it horizontally (cardinal direction or obliquity)

0° Pitch: sun at the horizon (like in sunrise/sunset) - huge shadows on floor if at least a minimal amount of -pitch were given
-45° Pitch: sun between horizon and top (like 9 AM or 15 PM)
-90° Pitch: sun at the top (like 12 Noon) - only parallel shadows on floor

0° Yaw: facing RT side of the skybox
90° Yaw: facing BK side of the skybox
180° Yaw: facing LF side of the skybox
270° Yaw: facing FT side of the skybox

Notes

• Sky brushes must have the "SKY" texture on all faces or they won't emit light.
• The key pitch have the same function as the one in angles, although if you add a value (≠0) to pitch it will overwrite the one in angles. Roll has no effect at all.
• For modern compiler, you are not advised to use multiple light_environment in a map. However, you can still use multiple light_environment for multiple colors.
• This entity doesn't spawn a visible source of light in the sky. Therefore, the sun or moon must be part of the skybox as a picture for visual effects.

Related pages

• Tutorial: Environment
• Tutorial: Light
• Tutorial: Dark Outdoor Maps
• VERC: Using Skys in Half-Life
• Vlatitude: Advanced Lighting

Example maps

• VERC Archive: lights1.zip