Introduction

Understanding how to filter lights.

Lighting Filters

Torque Lighting System lighting filters can adjust the intensity and color of lights within an interior zone or the entire mission.

Creating a new filter is similar to creating a light. First create a filter datablock using the Filter Editor, which is part of the Light Editor (select the Light Editor menu option Editor -> Filter Editor), or find an existing datablock to use. Then create a filter object using the Torque Mission Editor's Object Creator (found under Mission Objects -> environment -> sgMissionLightingFilter).

Once created the filter is placed in the zone it's to control, or outside (zone zero) as the default filter. The filter will automatically start filtering light when created (relight the scene to see the affect on static lights). Adjusting the filter's color and intensity controls change the affected lights.

To make it easy to control lights without having to create a filter in every zone lights look for a filter in their own zone first and if not found zone zero is checked, so placing a filter in zone zero creates a "default" filter.

Cinematic Filtering

Filters can also create cinematic effects that simulate the temperature and color balance used in film. Temperature has little to do with heat and is instead similar to intensity. Color balance is achieved when the temperature of the scene lighting matches the temperature of the film. If the lighting temperature is higher the scene is overexposed and appears more blue in tint, if it's lower then the scene is underexposed and appears more red/orange in tint.

The Torque Lighting System simulates this by using the color and intensity of the light and filter as the temperature of the light and film to calculate the color tinting to apply to each light.

Cinematic filtering is enabled in the Filter Editor's Cinematic panel. Once on the color and intensity affect the zone's temperature (equivalent to the film temperature) and the Amount property adjusts how heavy the exposure effect is.