Lightmass Seams Help

jocose · Aug 2010

Does anyone have a guess as to why this is happening. The area where that black band appears is where those modular sections are snapped (one mesh ends and another begins). I can't figure out why its happening.

Any help would be appreciated.

BTW I turned off SSAO so that's not it.

Oh, and this doesn't occur in the editor only when I play in the game.

McGreed · Aug 2010

I think its the same that happens to me, it seem to be the baked shadowmaps. You might take a look at my thread and see if any of their suggestions might help you:
http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=75976

ParoXum · Aug 2010

That looks like lightmap mipmapping. Or something similar. Check that you have enough padding between the UV islands for the lightmap.

EMC3D · Aug 2010

If you still haven't sorted it, you could try some of the following,

- Select all the modular floor units, turn off subdivisions in the advanced options. (Will treat all the floor as one mesh when being lit and not modular pieces)

- Try what the other two said

I had an issue like this, it was a mix of not having the option turned off in the subdivisions or not properly UV mapping the lightmap.

Xendance · Aug 2010

You could try using dynamic shadowing (cascaded shadow maps in dominant directional light's properties). It effectively makes those problems disappear.

MRico · Aug 2010

Mr Bear, do you happen to know where the option to turn off the SubDivisions is?

I'm also have an issue similar like this but I can't find it....I'm using the August Version, by the way.

K17020 · Aug 2010

It may also be that the faces on the floor are not aligned properly, try going into surface properties and select all the floor parts and the align planar.

jocose · Aug 2010

I can't find the subdivison option either. I've re-made this test in a new scene and it doesn't seam to happen as badly, but any time I use verts that arn't welded I get issues.

Froyok · Aug 2010

http://eat3d.com/forum/general-discussion/solved-udk-light-problem-successive-meshes

This help you ?

Harbinger · Sep 2010

I think ParoXum hit the nail on the head. Make sure you have some padding between each UV island in your layout:

http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/LightMapUnwrapping.html#Where to place padding

Autocon · Sep 2010

I will quote a post I just made in response to Glynn's post where he is having the same issue as you and why you are both seeing this problem.

In this thread. Hope it helps

http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?p=1206578#post1206578

Autocon wrote:

Hey Glynn, this isnt exactly how Epic dose modular assets for gears/ut3.

For the most part for there floors and for some parts of there walls they use tiling textures on BSP and break up the edges/boring sections with modular assets. When they do use a modular floor asset that butts up against another to tile like you have they dont use flat planes to do it.

When they have modular floor sections its almost always because they want taht floor section to have a lot of depth to it and uses a lot of tris, other wise they would just use BSP as its cheaper in terms of how many assets they are using throughout the level/easier to make changes. (shown in the two bellow pics)

These meshes always have depth even on the outlining edges. Not only that but the edges are tapered outward so when they do tile multiples of these meshs together they dont have flat plane meeting against flat plane because that will give you the black outline errors no matter what you do. Think of it like this, if you look at the top of there modular floor parts the edges would look tapered like you would expect if you were HP baking. (this is what the last pic shows) They intentionally have these insets. It works because the AO is set in the crevasses where you would expect to see it. They also use other meshs to break this up. They mix BSP and modular assets to make up there floors.

Right now you have flat plane meeting up against another flat plane which is what is causing your issue. Epic creates and breaks up there walls through heavy use of multiple static meshes or BSP with static meshes placed on top. They dont have areas where they use the same mesh tiled over again over again to make up a wall or floor. If they do have long corridor areas and use modular meshes to create the walls they break up the tiling/areas where the meshs break with other meshes. For long/flat unbroken up areas like brick walls they use BSP.

Hope the info helps Sorry if its a bit wordy.

First image from UDK showing what level looks like.

Second image from UDK showing how they do there modular setup. Only thing shown is BSP. To do this in UDK hit W.

Last image shows tiling floor chunks, notice how the tiles that meet up against each other are not meeting up flat plane to flat plane, that it what causes the dark lines you are getting. They are inset so the AO fills in the crevasse where one would expect it too.

Lightmass Seams Help

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