and throw your CRT monitor out the window in frustration :).

Its been a while since i posted any work, and for those who are interested, no, my mapping career isn't over. far from it.

My last project (the facility on Mustafar) ended up being a dud, so i returned to the temple armed with knowlege of what caused the errors in the original version.

A cookie for whoever can identify what this area looks like (and who can see it).













If I get enough complaints, i'll lighten the pics and re-post them.

It is wwwaaaayyy too dark.

Its fine for me on my LCD.

Looks nice.

Maybe we should start the Massassi LCD fund

You do realize you can set the brightness in the settings menu. If this is MP, a person can get the "upper hand" by jacking about the brightness. So the darkness doesn't become an obstacle. More of just an annoyance.

True. The only issue is that I'm running an LCD monitor, it would take me dropping the brightness to 25% or less to get the same vision problems as a CRT. And personally, i like my brightness at 70%. Still, i'll more than likely increase the ambiant lighting in the map.

I suggest you shouldn't use ambient lighting. Just more light sources.

I'm running on quite a bright LCD and it's wayyyyyy too dark.

Same.

Wow. People. I have an 8 year old CRT monitor - and I can see the shots pretty nicely. I can certainly make out what's going on.

The reason why? It is night time, and when I'm playing a game and it's light, I just close my blinds.

Ooohh, do I see bumpmapping on those floor tiles?

Here's a good website for calibrating your monitor:
http://www.ltlimagery.com/monitor_calibration.html

Instead of arbitrarily deciding if something it too bright/dark, make sure your monitor's brightness is set to some standard.

Those screenshots are far too dark. I see black with a few blue objects in each picture.

QM

It's the perfect darkness for me.

Yeah my monitor is calibrated properly (I think).

as is mine.

It was way too dark with all settings I tried on my Benq TFT.

It looks fine to me.

I agree as well.

Here, I'LL fix the pics.

http://images.mzzt.net/shot01306oz.jpg
http://images.mzzt.net/shot01313ry.jpg
http://images.mzzt.net/shot01322rl.jpg
http://images.mzzt.net/shot01332fb.jpg
http://images.mzzt.net/shot01345ep.jpg
http://images.mzzt.net/shot01361jg.jpg

Looks awesome.

Call me crazy, but I think it looks like the Massassi Temple... IE MotS Sith Catacombs.

Seeing as how I havn't seen my precious [my own computer] for over 3 weeks, I'm hardly qualified to comment on brightness levels...

June 6th, 2005. I'm 19 today, and how do i spend my birthday? Yes, that's right, mapping (I seriously need to get out more). Even though i doubled both the intensity and number of lights, odds are that they're still too dark. Unfortunately, i don't have time to lighten them right now, as i'm going out to celebrate. meanwhile, as Mega ZZter has posted lightened version of the older shots, post your oppinions on those (and the new ones, if you can see them).













*EDIT: Almost forgot, Quib: I tried out that site, but i can't use it: my monitor's settings simply don't go that low without making anything that's supposed to be white look like a dark shadowy grey. For those who are interested, my monitor is a Samsung SyncMaster 712n.

Thanks for brightening the first set of screenshots The_Mega_ZZTer.

The level looks REALLY good; I'm glad I kept revisitng this thread. That being said, the new shots are slightly more viewable, but I still have to brighten the heck out of them if I want to make out detail on the floor. The statues look fantastic, as does the effect from the glowing crystals. I can't make out too much detail on the floor textures, so am not sure if I'm looking at smooth, single color tiles.



Hm, I wonder if maybe your windows settings (for your video card I think) are set really poorly? I have 6 CRT monitors, that all calibrate tolerably using that website (the two I'm on at the moment are a NEC MultiSync XV17+ and a ViewSonic G90f). There are dozens of other similar websites that all produce about the same settings with any given monitor, I had just linked that particular one because it was, simple, straight-forward and wasn't totally drowning in ads.

QM

I can't adjust hrtz or contrast on my laptop's lcd, only brightness. And then, not very much. According to that website, It's quite impossible to properly calibrate my laptop. The pictures are way too dark. I usually build dark myself - when they are too dark for me to see, then they are clearly too dark.

I tried using the website, but everything just looked wrong. I was able to restore my settings, but using the forum color scheme as my guide. :p

First off: The floor tiles are actually brushes, rather than just textures with bumpmapping (as Zell guessed earlier. sorry for taking so long to clarify that). Virtually every surface in the map right now is actually the "rift - marbly" texture that shipped with JA. Eventually, i'll make my own bumped map texture large enough to make each tile seem completely 3-dimensional (as well as physically textured, like a real piece of stone).

Second: Oh, sweet irony. I was finally able to get my monitor working with the calibration site (and my eyes are still adjusting) using the ATi setting sin Catalyst. That being said though, i can still see everything... including the first batch of pictures (though i agree: it does need brightening).



The map is actually set at the main entrance to the "Templar Catacombs" on Chandrilla (Templar is a placeholder for the actual order's title. I can't use Jedi though, as the order is supposed to have existed 75,000 years before the Jedi even got started). The catacombs are the site of one of the last great Jedi masacres 10 years after Episode III. Eventually, I may make an SP featuring parts of this map (expanded to include areas that will be blocked at time of release. The MP version is set after the masacre). It also connects (in a way) to the catacombs featued in JA (if i do the SP, i might end up remaking that area as well).

I'll post a fresh batch of pictures soon (im in the middle of creating the second room right now).

Hey! You have the same b-day as me!

You have packed an unneccesarilly huge amount of useless and unimaginative detail into what is, essentially, a big square room. I am looking at the floor now - what little I can see through the blinding glare of darkness - and am wondering at what mammoth resolution must I play this map to even see those finely etched tiles? I attempted to turn my monitors brightness up, but discovered that the pictures merely became solid gray, leading me to the entirely correct conclusion that they were indeed solid black to begin with - that there was not, in fact, anything to see in them in the first place. Upon closer inspection of the only stretch of wall I could discern, I observed the saw-toothed edge of a solid black surface poking out from beneath a ridge textured in the same drab stone as the rest of the map. I surmised this edge to be unintentional, caused by rounding errors and poor construction. The most prominent feature in the room is the array of statues, which appear in atleast one in three Jedi Academy levels produced to date. The only redeeming feature is the ceiling. I cannot see it, and thus I am free to imagine that it is quite grand.

While I may or may not agree with all that, I would just like to say that i <3 u.

The term "Work in Progress" means nothing to you, does it? As for the brightness, i've already explained that I plan to brighten the pics as soon as i can. As for the resolution, i play at 1280x1024, and i see the "finely etched detail" just fine. As for the Rift statues, their actually placeholders. eventually i'll have to either ask a modler to make a new set or make them myself (the former, most likely). And as for the "saw-toothed edge", the map isn't complete yet. don't prejudge until you see a version that's farther along.

um he offered criticism based on what he could see...

surely that's the point of a WIP thread?

Ho ho ho, detty is being silly and british again.

You cannot simply brighten pictures. The level itself must be brighter. When a picture is solid black, no amount of adjustment can make what isn't there magically appear.
Useless detail is just that: Useless. Spend the polygons somewhere where it matters.
There is no excuse for sparklies.
And, yes, WIP means little. When I see a structure with this much detailing, it is natural to assume the entire map is very nearly complete. After all, a good mapper should have already finished a layout and flow test map, and a complete caulk hull, before they lay down the first visible brush.



That is only natural.



I don't do 'constructive criticism'; I'm just mean.