[sldev] Google Summer of Code 2008 update

[Celierra Darling]

Thanks for the congrats! ^^

On Wed, Apr 30, 2008 at 10:15 PM, Argent Stonecutter
<secret.argent at gmail.com> wrote:
> On 2008-04-30, at 18:49, Dante Tucker wrote:
>
> > My understanding of SSAO is that it would fix the awful things windlight
> has done to indoor areas. Is this correct?
> >
>
>  I don't think so. At least it's unrelated to my proposal to increase
> ambient illumination and reduce directional illumination for objects hidden
> from the *sun*. This proposal would reduce ambient illumination for objects
> hidden from the sky, making them darker. This may actually increase the
> effect of the Windlight lighting changes if they're not careful.
>

It depends on exactly what "awful things" are being referred to, but
whatever-it-is probably is due to direct lighting from the sun/moon
penetrating the walls (as Argent said).  You'd need shadows to get rid
of that.  Those other e-mails show what's going on at LL with shadows,
though. :)

An exception, I think, is the ambient light turning red at sunset -
red ambient light looks odd indoors.  But plain SSAO wouldn't be smart
enough to change the color of indoor ambient lighting vs. outdoor
ambient lighting.

The way I think of it, ambient occlusion brings out details on objects
by darkening crowded areas of the object (i.e. creases, folds, nearby
surfaces...anything which blocks the sky from the vantage point of the
surface).  One'd think this would help out with some Windlight
overexposure or lack-of-detail problems, but that's only if it's due
to too much ambient light - I've only really seen overexposure near
sunset and on surfaces facing near the sun, and that is due to the
intense sun at that time (i.e., direct lighting is the culprit).
Ambient light is brightest mid-day, and that time seems to be okay.

I'm not sure if this is the same pitfall as what Argent was referring
to, but I noticed that bringing out creases could be bad in some cases
if those creases aren't intended to be seen, like in some older furry
avs made of ellipsoids.  In particular, I recall the pictures at
http://jira.secondlife.com/browse/VWR-3537 - though these creases
appear due to direct lighting I think, and the contrast between some
surfaces is huge because those surfaces are oriented very differently
in relation to the sun.  I haven't figured out or proposed any way of
handling this sort of thing, but wei're personally leaning towards
arguing to leave it behind, in favor of accurate lighting and to allow
more-exact building going forward.  (This opinion might change, of
course...)

Hope that helps? :)  Sorry that it wasn't what was expected...

-- 
~Alex and Cel