Image-Based Lighting Workflows - Revision history

Datiswous: /* Important Links and Resources */

2026-11-06T22:48:50Z

Important Links and Resources

← Older revision		Revision as of 22:48, 6 November 2026
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	Thank you so much for taking the time to read my tutorial. Below, you will find a list of important links, some repeated from above, some new and some mirror links, just in case.		Thank you so much for taking the time to read my tutorial. Below, you will find a list of important links, some repeated from above, some new and some mirror links, just in case.


			(datiswous: I don't include the links, you can find them at the bottom of the [https://forums.thedarkmod.com/index.php?/topic/19803-tutorial-image-based-lighting-workflows-for-tdm/ original topic] if needed.


			''[Fig. 27] May The Builder bless you with slick and efficient work.''


			[[File:Iblw 27.jpeg\|frameless\|upright=3.0]]

Datiswous: /* Important Links and Resources */

2026-11-06T22:37:49Z

Important Links and Resources

← Older revision		Revision as of 22:37, 6 November 2026
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	I’m aware that you may still be unimpressed with the time-vs-value proposition of the screenshots here provided. Maybe an IEM doesn’t look like it’s worth the effort. Be that as it may, it is just another tool in the toolbox of the industrious level builder. I have omitted several other lighting tricks I supplement my scenes with, purely for the sake of clarity. Keep in mind that in no way has this been a “showcase” of how good an IEM lit scene can look. That, too, I hope to provide once this level’s finished. Speaking of, I should probably stop typing and get back to actually making it. All that builder whistling in the background is getting on my nerves…		I’m aware that you may still be unimpressed with the time-vs-value proposition of the screenshots here provided. Maybe an IEM doesn’t look like it’s worth the effort. Be that as it may, it is just another tool in the toolbox of the industrious level builder. I have omitted several other lighting tricks I supplement my scenes with, purely for the sake of clarity. Keep in mind that in no way has this been a “showcase” of how good an IEM lit scene can look. That, too, I hope to provide once this level’s finished. Speaking of, I should probably stop typing and get back to actually making it. All that builder whistling in the background is getting on my nerves…



	== Important Links and Resources ==		== Important Links and Resources ==

Datiswous: /* Scalability Concerns */

2026-11-06T22:37:16Z

Scalability Concerns

← Older revision		Revision as of 22:37, 6 November 2026
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	This tutorial has dealt with the problem of providing Dark Mod environments with more gradient, realistic looking ambient lighting through a reasonable workflow that can be undertaken by the intermediate mapper. Lighting one corridor for the purposes of show may have been easy, lighting an entire map is a different issue. The question of the scalability of IBL lighting in TDM is one that is currently beyond the scope of this tutorial. Plainly put, nobody’s put it to the test! How could they? I only informed you about the possibility of this approach just now, didn’t I?		This tutorial has dealt with the problem of providing Dark Mod environments with more gradient, realistic looking ambient lighting through a reasonable workflow that can be undertaken by the intermediate mapper. Lighting one corridor for the purposes of show may have been easy, lighting an entire map is a different issue. The question of the scalability of IBL lighting in TDM is one that is currently beyond the scope of this tutorial. Plainly put, nobody’s put it to the test! How could they? I only informed you about the possibility of this approach just now, didn’t I?


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	I’m aware that you may still be unimpressed with the time-vs-value proposition of the screenshots here provided. Maybe an IEM doesn’t look like it’s worth the effort. Be that as it may, it is just another tool in the toolbox of the industrious level builder. I have omitted several other lighting tricks I supplement my scenes with, purely for the sake of clarity. Keep in mind that in no way has this been a “showcase” of how good an IEM lit scene can look. That, too, I hope to provide once this level’s finished. Speaking of, I should probably stop typing and get back to actually making it. All that builder whistling in the background is getting on my nerves…		I’m aware that you may still be unimpressed with the time-vs-value proposition of the screenshots here provided. Maybe an IEM doesn’t look like it’s worth the effort. Be that as it may, it is just another tool in the toolbox of the industrious level builder. I have omitted several other lighting tricks I supplement my scenes with, purely for the sake of clarity. Keep in mind that in no way has this been a “showcase” of how good an IEM lit scene can look. That, too, I hope to provide once this level’s finished. Speaking of, I should probably stop typing and get back to actually making it. All that builder whistling in the background is getting on my nerves…

	== Important Links and Resources ==		== Important Links and Resources ==

Datiswous: /* A Summary of Available Workflows */

2026-11-06T22:34:49Z

A Summary of Available Workflows

← Older revision		Revision as of 22:34, 6 November 2026
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	I understand that, although you’ve read all of the tutorial so far, you may still feel lost in the wealth of information here provided. As previously stated, I wish to engender a spirit of productivity and efficiency, so allow me to tighten up the instructions I have given you and succinctly relay the discrete steps you need to go through in order to use IEMs in the Dark Mod.		I understand that, although you’ve read all of the tutorial so far, you may still feel lost in the wealth of information here provided. As previously stated, I wish to engender a spirit of productivity and efficiency, so allow me to tighten up the instructions I have given you and succinctly relay the discrete steps you need to go through in order to use IEMs in the Dark Mod.


	=== Step One: Take an envshot in game ===		=== Step One: Take an envshot in game ===
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	Give your light the proper texture from the previous step. Place it roughly in the middle of the recipient scene, or near where you took the envshot. Use “reloadDecls” and “reloadImages” in TDM’s console if need be. Presto! Done. You’ve got an irradiance map illuminating your environment.		Give your light the proper texture from the previous step. Place it roughly in the middle of the recipient scene, or near where you took the envshot. Use “reloadDecls” and “reloadImages” in TDM’s console if need be. Presto! Done. You’ve got an irradiance map illuminating your environment.


	== Practical Concerns ==		== Practical Concerns ==

Datiswous: /* Part 5 */

2026-11-06T22:34:07Z

Part 5

Show changes

Datiswous: /* Important Tools */

2026-11-06T22:20:26Z

Important Tools

← Older revision		Revision as of 22:20, 6 November 2026
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			= Part 5 =

	{{Tutorial-lighting}}		{{Tutorial-lighting}}

Datiswous: /* ReNamer */

2026-11-06T22:19:25Z

ReNamer

← Older revision		Revision as of 22:19, 6 November 2026
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	http://www.den4b.com/products/renamer		http://www.den4b.com/products/renamer


	Den4b’s ReNamer is a lightweight, but very flexible tool for non-commercial use under the CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 License. I recommend you download the portable version and I shall provide a mirror, redistribution link, in case the website ever goes down. It is so very easy to learn that I will skip relaying you information you can learn in its tutorial .pdf. Instead, I’ll just provide the three different rules for renaming each workflow’s output for your convenience. I will put them in a “Preset” which can be put in the app through the Presets > Import… option.		Den4b’s ReNamer is a lightweight, but very flexible tool for non-commercial use under the CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 License. I recommend you download the portable version and I shall provide a mirror, redistribution link, in case the website ever goes down. It is so very easy to learn that I will skip relaying you information you can learn in its tutorial .pdf. Instead, I’ll just provide the three different rules for renaming each workflow’s output for your convenience. I will put them in a “Preset” which can be put in the app through the Presets > Import… option.


	[[File:Iblw 24.jpeg\|frameless\|upright=3.0]]		[[File:Iblw 24.jpeg\|frameless\|upright=3.0]]


	''[Fig. 24] ReNamer’s main window. The output from a workflow, cmftStudio in this case, has been drag-and-dropped, to be renamed. The three rules, above, ensure any one of the three workflows described in this tutorial will get converted properly. You may drag more than one cubemap (i.e. more than six images) in at a time and expedite your work further.''		''[Fig. 24] ReNamer’s main window. The output from a workflow, cmftStudio in this case, has been drag-and-dropped, to be renamed. The three rules, above, ensure any one of the three workflows described in this tutorial will get converted properly. You may drag more than one cubemap (i.e. more than six images) in at a time and expedite your work further.''



	== Important Tools ==		== Important Tools ==

Datiswous: /* Unstitching the Cube Cross in Photoshop */

2026-11-06T22:17:23Z

Unstitching the Cube Cross in Photoshop

← Older revision		Revision as of 22:17, 6 November 2026
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			==== Step 1: Rotate the cube cross, use the Shuffler twice ====

			First, rotate the image 90° counter-clockwise. The Cubemap Shuffler requires that the cross point downwards.



			From File > Scripts, run “NVIDIA_CubeMapShuffler”. What it will do is create a new document, cut all six cubemap faces and place them in a horizontal strip format and in seperate layers, named X+, Z-, etc. This isn’t particularly useful.



			Run the Shuffler again. It will create a third document, “InverseT”, that will reverse the process and “stitch” the cubemap faces back into a cross. Notice, however, that each face will be on its own layer. The net effect here, then, is that by running the Shuffler twice, we’ve separated the faces into layers without having to do any manual selection of our own.



			The new cube cross is still pointing down. Let’s reset it to original position, rotate the image 90° clockwise. You’ll work in the “InveseT” document now, as far as the other two, the horizontal strip and the original cubemap cross, you can close them without saving.


			==== Step 2: Rename layers ====

			For easier export, the layers may be renamed to their game-compatible suffixes: forward, back, etc. The list from Cubemapgen will come in handy here again, so refer to that.


			==== Step 3: Align and trim ====


			With the layers renamed, we need a neat way to stack them and delete all the transparent pixels, returning this 4:3 ratio canvas to a 1:1.


			Ctrl+Alt+A to Select All Layers. With the move tool selected, Align Top and Left Edges. Deselect the layers.



			From the ‘Image’ menu, select ‘Trim…’. A surefire solution that does not invoke the Canvas Size dialogue, Trim can crop all transparent pixels out of the picture. Since all the layers now overlay each other in the top left corner, Trimming will crop the image down to contain just them, in a square. You may check off the Top and Left checkboxes in the Trim Away section of the dialogue but it ought not be necessary.



			This encapsulates the “Unstitch Cubemap” Action. Export through the aforementioned layers to files script.



			== Automating Renaming ==


			A final bump in the road that you may noticed here is that we have to manually rename all six, output files, no matter the workflow we use. Luckily, there are many batch renaming applications on the internet. Here I’ll review the one I’ve chosen to use.


			=== ReNamer ===

			http://www.den4b.com/products/renamer

			Den4b’s ReNamer is a lightweight, but very flexible tool for non-commercial use under the CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 License. I recommend you download the portable version and I shall provide a mirror, redistribution link, in case the website ever goes down. It is so very easy to learn that I will skip relaying you information you can learn in its tutorial .pdf. Instead, I’ll just provide the three different rules for renaming each workflow’s output for your convenience. I will put them in a “Preset” which can be put in the app through the Presets > Import… option.

			[[File:Iblw 24.jpeg\|frameless\|upright=3.0]]

			''[Fig. 24] ReNamer’s main window. The output from a workflow, cmftStudio in this case, has been drag-and-dropped, to be renamed. The three rules, above, ensure any one of the three workflows described in this tutorial will get converted properly. You may drag more than one cubemap (i.e. more than six images) in at a time and expedite your work further.''



			== Important Tools ==

			[https://drive.google.com/open?id=1sAudvN5I5wfS2N1TDL5pjmk72EoeYGqT Cubemap Operations.atn]

			[https://drive.google.com/file/d/1F8RgtiIJjVTHUb1afE6O9WUImSJuzwCJ/view?usp=sharing IEM Renaming Rules.rnp]


			As promised, here are the coveted automation files you’ll need. With Photoshop open, double-clicking the .ATN file will add a “Cubemap Operations” folder to your list of Actions. Four actions are provided, the useful stitch/unstitch cubemap ones, and the not so useful “Set Up Guides” ones. These automate placements of preparatory Guides that I had to use while figuring out the process of stitching and unstitching, you may however find them interesting to play with. As for the .RNP, that is the ReNamer Preset file.


			This concludes the main part of this tutorial. Phew! That was a lot of text now, wasn’t it? Come back to Part 5, where I will give a much needed summarization of all the methods previously explained, clear up some ambiguities I had purposefully left out, and provide yet more resources and mirror links.



	{{Tutorial-lighting}}		{{Tutorial-lighting}}

Datiswous: /* Unstitching the Cube Cross in Photoshop */

2026-11-06T22:06:58Z

Unstitching the Cube Cross in Photoshop

← Older revision		Revision as of 22:06, 6 November 2026
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	[[File:Iblw 22.jpeg\|frameless\|upright=3.0]]		[[File:Iblw 23.jpeg\|frameless\|upright=3.0]]

	''[Fig. 23] The Export Layers to Files dialogue. If yours lacks some of these options, you’ve not installed the improved version properly, or have not removed the old version from its folder.''		''[Fig. 23] The Export Layers to Files dialogue. If yours lacks some of these options, you’ve not installed the improved version properly, or have not removed the old version from its folder.''

Datiswous: /* The cmftStudio Workflow */

2026-11-06T22:00:15Z

The cmftStudio Workflow

← Older revision		Revision as of 22:00, 6 November 2026
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	== The cmftStudio Workflow ==		== The cmftStudio Workflow ==

			[[File:Iblw 21.jpeg\|frameless\|upright=3.0]]

			[Fig. 21] A screenshot of the cmftStudio UI, from the GitHub readme.



			cmftStudio’s UI is somewhat non-standard, as I said before, but is not unintuitive. Take a minute or two to familiarise yourself, click around and get acquainted. When you feel a bit more comfortable, direct your attention to the right part of the UI. That is where all the cubemap filtering options are, the only thing of interest on the left side is that “Spheres” button at the very top. Make sure it is pressed, the default, single sphere model, will not preview your IEM.


			=== Step 1: Load the cube cross into ctmfStudio ===


			On the right-hand side, either click the ‘Edit’ button under the ‘Environment’ tab at the very top, or click on the three thumbnail images under the ‘Preview’ heading. This will open the environment sub-tab [Fig. 21], with Skybox, Radiance, and Irradiance options available to you.



			Under the Skybox heading, click ‘Browse’ and load your cube cross .tga file into the program.



			If you have saved it in the /env folder with the other cubemap faces, in order to avoid browsing to it every time you want to reach it you may want to just place the cmftStudio.exe in the folder, as the browse path defaults to “Runtime”, where the .exe is. If you’re working inside an FM folder, remember to remove the .exe before your mission releases, lest you end up distributing the software by mistake. Alternatively, just dump all your stuff on your desktop! It’s cool.


			=== Step 2: Filter the cube cross to an IEM ===

			The skybox will now appear in the background of the preview window, but the spheres will still preview the default cmftStudio materials. Do not attempt to filter the skybox with the Radiance filter. In my experiences, this either crashes the program or my display driver.



			Under the Irradiance heading, click ‘Filter skybox with cmft’. Note the resize options available to you. The default gamma processing options provide output comparable to Lys’, which means they are a good standard. Don’t touch them unless you know what you’re doing. Click ‘Process’.



			The filtering shouldn’t take too long. You can disable “IBL Specular” in the right-hand panel and lower the number of preview spheres from the left to see your irradiance map in motion. You can click the ‘Info’ button to magnify the 2D cross texture.


			=== Step 3: Exporting the cube faces ===


			Under the Irradiance heading, click ‘Save’. Choose a directory and a descriptive name, save as a .tga, make sure the ‘Output type’ is “FaceList” and ensure you’re saving without an alpha channel. Click save. Note that you may also export the irradiance map how you imported it, as a horizontal cross, but we don’t need to do this.


			[[File:Iblw 22.jpeg\|frameless\|upright=3.0]]

			''[Fig. 22] The exported irradiance faces in the folder.''


			The files once again need to be renamed, the schema is much the same as with Cubemapgen. After rename, your IEM is ready to be used in-game!



			There is not much to be criticized with this workflow, cmftStudio allows you to save/load “projects” in order to keep your settings and has better, more user-friendly controls for image adjustments. If I had to spitball, I’d say it has less or an equal number of button-presses-per-IEM-made than Cubemapgen, and provides a better result.



			== The Lys Workflow ==


			Here’s a big section title for nothing. I will not describe the process of navigating Lys’ UI and exporting an IEM here, for the sake of brevity. I maintain that you ought not buy the product for just one step, so if you are intent on using Lys for this, I suspect you already own it. Therefore, I need not explain an app you are already familiar with.



			The result of a Lys export is an irradiance map inside a cube cross. In order to split the cross into its constituent parts, we need to go back to Photoshop.


			=== Unstitching the Cube Cross in Photoshop ===

			Unstitching requires several extra tools in addition to base PS. The first is [https://developer.nvidia.com/nvidia-texture-tools-adobe-photoshop Nvidia’s Texture Tools for Photoshop], namely the NVIDIA_CubeMapShuffler script. The second is [https://gist.github.com/davestewart/4529727 an improved script for Export Layers to Files]. This script, by default in older PS versions, has non-optional enumeration suffixes. The improved version removes them and allows for easier final rename.



			Download and install both of these, per the instructions provided in the links.



			Load the irradiance cube cross. Make sure you don’t have any other files open. Recall [Fig. 20], the Action panel. Naturally, to unwrap the cube, run the “Unstitch Cubemap” Action.



			After the action runs its course, you will have a square image with all the cubemap faces in layers, stacked neatly and named properly.


			[[File:Iblw 22.jpeg\|frameless\|upright=3.0]]

			''[Fig. 23] The Export Layers to Files dialogue. If yours lacks some of these options, you’ve not installed the improved version properly, or have not removed the old version from its folder.''


			In order to output these to separate files, go to File > Scripts > Export Layers to Files... Export with the settings depicted above, replacing “tIEM” with the name of your irradiance map.


			You know how .tgas in a folder look by now, so I’ll save you the illustrative image. Suffice it to say that the names on these aren’t quite perfect either. No matter what you do, the Export Layers to Files script will place a hyphen between your “File Name Prefix” string and the name of the layer. At the very least, you don’t need to remember z faces or the like, simply replace the hyphen with an underscore and the IEM is game-ready!


			This is the extent of the Lys workflow, as you can see it is not very complicated, although the unstitching takes an intermediate amount of time due to the Nvidia scripts. Following, I will explain what the “Unstitch Cubemap”Action does for those who want to know, but be aware that I am far more skeptical to its repurposement in another application. The Nvidia Cubemap Shuffler script is what drives the process and that is a Photoshop-specific utility.







	{{Tutorial-lighting}}		{{Tutorial-lighting}}