Hi everyone, I hope I’m posting this in the correct forum…
I’m trying to make a project, where you basically play a card game on an old wooden table in the dark, only lit by a candle or two. The ambience is supposed to ba a bit gloomy and creepy, like you’re alone in the dark, playing cards. (The cards are 3D objects)
I tried my best at making something but I’m a newbie at lighting, so it’s just rubbish… ^^’
I couldn’t find any useful resources to help me, so I was wondering if anyone had any idea on how to improve.
Here’s what I’m trying to accomplish :
- Candlelit table that feels really dark
- But it shouldn’t make the game hard to read, so I’m guessing some global illumination needs to be implemented
- I have no idea what kind of post-processing options to use
- A candlelight is yellowish, but if possible, I’d like the cards to have as little color shift as possible
- I’m not trying to copy Inscryption, but the feel would be similar in terms of lighting
- I’m getting reflection on the cards themselves when close to the light, so I wonder how I could avoid that
- The whole game is on the table, so the scales are way up (like 5-10 units for a card height for instance)
I’m a coder, so I’m bad at everything graphics-related, but I’m willing to learn ! I might just have trouble if it requires texturing, or particles, but I’m not against it ! ^^
Any advice, help or even link to something is appreciated ! Thanks a lot for reading thus far, and have a great day !
Hi! That seems like a super interesting project!
However, it’s difficult to give feedback / pointers on a visual thing without… seeing the thing 
Would you be ok with sharing a screenshot?
That would indeed be a better way to show what I mean, I’ll try taking a couple !
This is the scene as it is now : (textures and everything aren’t final, obviously, and the flame particle is not how I would like)
Here’s the setup so far :
So far, that’s the absolute best effect I was able to get. A Main and Back directional lights to make sure the whole scene is visible, and a point light on the candle which is basically doing very little, except making it slightly brighter near the candle itself.
I am loosing a bit of the cards colors, since the lights are tinted yellow, and the “gloomy” factor really isn’t there in my opinion… Also the cards material/shader needs work, but that’s easier once I’ve got the light style I want.
There is also a bit too much of a “glow” but I’m guessing I just need to tweak the post processing for that ?
Basically, I think I’m trying to get a more pronounced contrast between light and shadow, and more of a stylised look to the lights ! I’m willing (and even eager) to experiment, but don’t really know how, or where to start…
I’m obviously not expecting a full tutorial, or exact configuration to achieve the effect I’m looking for, but any help is appreciated ! ^^
Thanks !
I think the game Foretales (Foretales on Steam) achieves pretty much what you’re looking for? If so, one thing they did that works really well is to use cookie on lights (essentially black and white maps that mask parts of the light) to make it look like the light is being filtered by foliage, or coming in through a window.
This helps make the outside world exist beyond the frame, and builds up atmosphere as well.
The way to build atmosphere is also to have more visually distinct light sources affecting the scene. I hope you don’t mind this quick mockup! If you’re going for spooky, you’ll want a colder ambient light, so the small area affected by the candle really pops. You could even settle for a greener flame if you don’t want it to feel warm!
On a more technical note, you mentioned you use two Directional lights. This can greatly flatten the look of the scene, given that only one Directional light can cast shadows (the directional light is special that way, it’s supposed to act as the primary light source in the world)
If you want the cards not to be too affected by the lighting and retain their original color, you can plug your baseColor texture into the emissive channel of the material, and make the base color some sort of black / dark color. The darker the base color, the less it will react to the scene light.
(If you don’t lower the luminosity of the base color while also boosting the emissive, you may end up with a burned/ overexposed look. It’s a bit of a balancing act!)
I hope those few pointers help… Good luck!
That’s… amazing ! Thanks so much for the help !
The mockup is really helping visualize what you’re talking about ! Adding some kind of lightning/storm effect to the “window” could also help “spookify” the scene, if it isn’t too much…
I never heard about Cookies for lights, it’s a pretty cool feature !
Quick question though, From what you’re saying, I’m guessing the cookie is used on the lone directional light, with a grey on the whole texture, except for the windowpane effect ? Or would it be a different light source ?
And finally, I actually tried using the emissive to keep the color, but didn’t think of darkening the base color, so the overexposed look was definitely there… ^^’
Thanks for that piece of advice too !
