artists and working in the dark

r13 · Jul 2006

This is a comment that was sent to me this morning and seemed to be a good detail for us to remember... especially those of us, myself included, that would probably work in a windowless office if we could. Perhaps its not such a good idea..

"I have seen this at dozens of studios and the games are characteristically undersaturated and dark. The HPE art director, Dave McCoy (when we were still at ATG) said "If I could give the industry one gift it would be to bolt a 60 watt lamp onto the back of every artists chair. Anything so subtle you need all the lights off to see will be missed by 90% of the end users. This of course is from developing for the console space where the living room has a higher ambient light level than the typical PC office in 'game mode'. The studios with better attention to end product lighting review it in an environment and on equipment closest to the end users and they check against good source material to be sure."

So that means all artists need couches and TV's as soon as possible

ebagg · Jul 2006

Good point r13. I've worked in a windowless office for a year now, while it is well lit, natural light is sorely missed. I can't stand working in a pitch black room.

cholden · Jul 2006

This is why all my replies to pimps last year were "your images are too dark!" My office was CRAZY bright with natural light during the day. Now I sit at the end of a spiral windowless cave at Mythic. :P

Jeff Parrott · Jul 2006

It's funny at my old job the environment artists had this huge window. It was the brightest spot in the building. Personally I have a light at my desk and turn it on occasionally to see how things look. That seems to help.

nealb4me · Jul 2006

I thought this was going to be about the detrimental effects on your psyche from sitting in the dark. Personally I would have to agree that I can't stand sitting in total darkness during the day, however I should at least be able to see the screen properly. I have a pretty decent sized window in my office and at a guess I would say that the curtain lets in 30% light or so. A good balance of non-craziness and productivity

Xenobond · Jul 2006

Can I get a window please? It also helps us artists know if there are any serious weather patterns developing so we can:
a) save more often
b) shut-down our pc's
c) go home before the road is all snowed in
d) die first from glass shrapnel in case of nuclear bomb

kat · Jul 2006

I thought this was why the gamma/brishtness slider was 'invented'!

malcolm · Jul 2006

I don't agree with the above comment of adding crappy lighting conditions to artists work area to try and compensate for crappy lighting conditions in the consumer's home. I've found at home and at work that tuning your work to optimal lighting conditions gives much better ranges of intensity in the final render. If you stop using certain values of black and white to compensate for poor lighting conditions you are effectively removing bit depth from your final render.

snemmy · Jul 2006

it's all a clever ploy for game developers to GET OUT INTO THE LIGHT!!

JordanW · Jul 2006

I remember back at my last job we had to sit at our computers with full florecent lighting on around us, that was pretty much the worst thing -ever- i didnt know it was possible for your eyes to actually bleed

They actually required this and if anyone turned the lights off they would soon come back on.

However I do think you need to be aware of the values that you are using to create your textures and ultimatly what the game looks like in the end, but being in bright lighting isnt required for this. I do try to keep at least a little lamp on at my desk because the current office i'm at is so dark, it helps reduce some eye strain.

skankerzero · Jul 2006

Wow, so I'm in the majority.

Put me in a cave anyday.

Lee3dee · Jul 2006

Our LD room has no windows, but we have slightly illuminated the room with alot of christmas lights. So its 50% lighter.
Having a window would be nice, but then i'd be looking outside when its a sunny day, and wishing i was outside instead.

BoBo_the_seal · Jul 2006

hold on a sec...let me turn on my light so that I can read this thread....OH IT BURNS! IT BURNS!!!!!

ElysiumGX · Jul 2006

Stop making dark games. I can't see what I'm doing. K thanx.

SHEPEIRO · Jul 2006

it has been a problem with a few games ive bought recently,
i use a large but fairly old TV in a well lit room (massive window, cloth blinds), its a pain in the butt when you have to turn the tvs brightness up so you can see in dark bits of the game. mostly FPSs

b1ll · Jul 2006

i dunno, I cover my window when i work, and do turn the light off, anything that reflect light in my screen is a pain

Ruz · Jul 2006

thats why most games have a flashlight in them these days

SHEPEIRO · Jul 2006

yeah i know but when playing halo, when the light went out you coulnt see a thing, pitch black on my screen (in the day) so i had to turn brightness up, which revealled that the environment was lit (for ages i was running from light source to light source completely missing some doors etc) it just wasnt showwing up on my tv during daylight hours.

when my girl comes home from work the TV has other uses =(

Irritant · Jul 2006

I would think that working in total darkness would be hard to do. I can certainly see how working in dark environments would lead to dark game art, as obviously it would look much brighter to the artist working in the dark.

However, bright lighting, particularly flourescent lighting, can lead to serious eye strain when working on a computer.

Luxury · Jul 2006

Its really bad on the eyes to work in complete dark (or even very dark). They say that you should always have a light on, and preferrably behind the screen. It softens the contrast in brightness between your screen and everything else, and is easier on the eyes. So at the very least, put a small lamp behind your monitor and point it at the wall or down or something. This is why you are starting to see flatscreen TVs with the ambient color lights on the sides.

Steve Schulze · Jul 2006

I'm sitting in the dark at work right now. Perhaps I should rectify this situation.

SHEPEIRO · Jul 2006

yeah protect your eyes, theye are your biggest?bestest tools you have, it scares me a bit, but careerwise id be fucked without them. would rather loose my right arm than my eyes, but im not offering.

michalczyk · Jul 2006

I think gamma setttings are even bigger problem. And the vast differences across monitors with regard to color. Not to mention that most people adjust their monitor settings making impossible to ensure your work will look the way it was intended to.

KDR_11k · Jul 2006

All I can say for sure is that in many a game (especially Ubisoft's) I had to turn up the brightness like mad to see the walls in what was supposedly a well lit environment in the game.

Delaney King · Jul 2006

Please god let no producers see that quote and put lamps everywhere. I work with a sexy crisp big monitor and a peice of shit, low saturation monitor. Keeps me in the middle without having to squint at my work.

gavku · Jul 2006

Our studio is fairly well lit, and most people also have desk lamps.

Josh_Singh · Jul 2006

[ QUOTE ]
hold on a sec...let me turn on my light so that I can read this thread....OH IT BURNS! IT BURNS!!!!!

[/ QUOTE ]
BoBo your so dumb

made me laugh cause I can see you saying it and acting it out. hahahaha

poopinmymouth · Jul 2006

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
hold on a sec...let me turn on my light so that I can read this thread....OH IT BURNS! IT BURNS!!!!!

[/ QUOTE ]
BoBo your so dumb

made me laugh cause I can see you saying it and acting it out. hahahaha

[/ QUOTE ]

Glad I wasn't the only one, hahahahahahah.

[MILES] · Jul 2006

Whatever I'm looking at...my art or a game I am playing...I will adjust my surroundings to make the image look the best it can. As an artist, I value details as much as the gameplay (if not more). Furthermore, I cringe when my wife turns on a light while I'm doing either and says "you'll ruin your eyes."

Eric Chadwick · Jul 2006

I wonder how many studios calibrate their monitors to a standard?

After we figured out the whole gamma mess, monitors looked much brighter than we were used to. So to compensate we turned up the ambient room lighting. Looks great now.

But now I can't work in the dark anymore, too much eye strain. I need some light behind the monitors. Same at home watching a movie, I always turn on some lights to the sides of the set (so they don't reflect on the tube, but illuminate the walls on either side).

Anybody else do this? Guess I'm a geezer.

SHEPEIRO · Jul 2006

i have two neon tubes behind the TV for movie time,

Joshua Stubbles · Jul 2006

I use bounced light at home. I have a flourecent desk lamp that's across the room. I aim it at the wall, and the diffuse light fills the room. No hot spots, but plenty of light.

artists and working in the dark

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