Lighting
From AgeofWiki
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Basic Use Of Tool
This tool changes the lighting of the map. There are a number of preset lightings, each one with a unique combination of color, intensity, angle of incidence, and depth of shadow. Picking a good lighting scheme helps set the mood of your scenario, as well as highlighting certain terrains to make them stand out. A good lighting selection should make your map easy for players to navigate and see objectives, and should be comfortable to look at and not cause glare or eye strain. Lastly, lighting with warm values such as pink or yellow, tends to suggest a warm climate; cooler values such as blue, purple, and gray are more appropriate for cool areas, nighttime, or snow scenes.
Advanced Use Of Tool
Using the Set lighting Trigger effect you can create day and night cycles in your maps. A subtle change in lighting tone can rapidly change the overall tension and mood in a map. For instance, if you want a dense forest to be scary as the player enters it, you could make the lighting change to a darker set as the players' units enter the forest (go to the Triggers section to learn more). Just remember changing the lighting makes the terrain look completely different, so before you make the Triggers, make sure all the lighting settings you plan to use work with your scenario. You can use the Camera follow unit effect to make sure your lighting changes look the way you want to the player, as he is watching his units in that area.
Whenever you change lighting, check the appearance of your map in both high graphics settings and low. Many subtle effects of lighting angle and diffusion are lost at low graphics settings, so their effect may differ for online play.
A general rule for highlighting areas of elaborate eye-candy is to use lighting settings which have the light source parallel to the players' line of sight: i.e. as if the light source were coming from over your shoulder. This way, units and buildings are highlighted on their near surfaces and stand out against the background. Lighting settings illuminating objects from the side or from behind, tend to cast shadows which may obscure eye-candy details. They are better suited for creating a mood of dusk, or dawn, or adding an element of mystery to unknown terrain.
Go to the mapwork page to find out more advanced ways of using this tool.
