Light blocks

[Sable Phoenix]

Yet another cosmetic suggestion.  I like the little cosmetic light blocks, but there are a couple problems with them.

 

1. The light is floating a significant distance away from the block itself, and the distance is unalterable.  This is weird and annoying if you want to place the light flush to the hull of a craft.  Could we get an option on the block to set the light's distance from it?  Or if that's not possible, at the very least move the light closer so it looks like it's actually in contact with the block that originates it?

 

2. As I mentioned somewhere else, the color of the light itself is unchangeable.  If we want red or green running lights on our iron craft, we can't have them.  We have to work our way all the way up to Avorion to be able to place port and starboard running lights.

[Ohm is Futile]

...so use glow blocks? You can make them tiny and shiny or big or dim as you like using the color palette and scaling.

[Sable Phoenix]

Yes, I've tried that.  Two problems:

 

1. The glow of glow blocks fades rapidly with distance.  If you use small glow blocks to simulate running lights they will become nearly invisible at a moderate zoom length.

 

2. Glow blocks are square.  Now, you could of course take the time to model a sphere using glow blocks, but that's time consuming and you'd still run into the light falloff with distance problem.

 

An additional suggestion that would be nice would be to give us the option to make the lights on light blocks blink, like the ones outside space stations.

[DivineEvil]

The light is floating a significant distance away from the block itself, and the distance is unalterable.  This is weird and annoying if you want to place the light flush to the hull of a craft.  Could we get an option on the block to set the light's distance from it?  Or if that's not possible, at the very least move the light closer so it looks like it's actually in contact with the block that originates it?

Light blocks are weird animals indeed, however such issues can be easily circumvented by placing them deeper in the structure or parallel to the surface of the hull.

As I mentioned somewhere else, the color of the light itself is unchangeable.  If we want red or green running lights on our iron craft, we can't have them.  We have to work our way all the way up to Avorion to be able to place port and starboard running lights.

If you have mentioned it somewhere else, then you should've made your reply there as well. There's no point to make a new thread to address something that was discussed in existing thread 3-4 days before.

As I mentioned somewhere else, the color of the light itself is unchangeable.  If we want red or green running lights on our iron craft, we can't have them.  We have to work our way all the way up to Avorion to be able to place port and starboard running lights.

Why is that such a problem? Light block sprites fade away just as well. With Glow blocks you can modify the color as well as the size and shape.

 

Glow blocks are square.  Now, you could of course take the time to model a sphere using glow blocks, but that's time consuming and you'd still run into the light falloff with distance problem.

Usually making pyramids from four Corner blocks (tetras) is more than enough.

[Sable Phoenix]

As I mentioned somewhere else, the color of the light itself is unchangeable.  If we want red or green running lights on our iron craft, we can't have them.  We have to work our way all the way up to Avorion to be able to place port and starboard running lights.

If you have mentioned it somewhere else, then you should've made your reply there as well. There's no point to make a new thread to address something that was discussed in existing thread 3-4 days before.

 

The thread I mention was specifically talking about coloring thruster exhaust and weapons fire independently of their materials.  I mentioned light blocks in passing as well.  Different subject entirely.

 

As I mentioned somewhere else, the color of the light itself is unchangeable.  If we want red or green running lights on our iron craft, we can't have them.  We have to work our way all the way up to Avorion to be able to place port and starboard running lights.

Why is that such a problem? Light block sprites fade away just as well. With Glow blocks you can modify the color as well as the size and shape.

 

Light block sprites have a much larger and stronger glow around them and do not fade with distance nearly as quickly as the lighting around a glow block.  You cannot get the nice diffuse glow around a pinlight that the light block sprites have by using glow blocks.

[DivineEvil]

Different subject entirely.

Not really. The problem is the same for both. There's also a recent topic around blinking lights, which is perfect alternative to use instead of making a new one.

 

Light block sprites have a much larger and stronger glow around them and do not fade with distance nearly as quickly as the lighting around a glow block.  You cannot get the nice diffuse glow around a pinlight that the light block sprites have by using glow blocks.

I still do not see where the problem originates. In fact, personally I don't see any point to use Light Blocks over Glow Blocks.

[Blaine]

Unlike Light Blocks, Glow Blocks don't look like running lights or pinpoint lights at all, no matter how you place them or how small you scale them, and their lighting characteristics are markedly different.