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Hey everyone, Luchi here with another mapping-based tutorial. I think I got at least 5 requests asking how I do the lighting in my maps, so, I'm here to show you how to do all that.

I ask only a little of your patience and a few on-hand scripts to make the most of this tutorial. This tutorial, I promise you, will make your maps seem infinitely better once you get to understand the usage of tints and subtle lighting effects. Even a boring RTP map will look great after you are done reading this tut. ^^
You will need: apart from your map, obviously. I can't live without these 3 scripts.
- Woratana's Multiple Fogs script.
- Ccoa's Weather script ( I'm not sure if it avaliable for Ace, yet ),
and BulletXT's Lighting Script.
TINTS:
Tints for areas used: I use visual examples as well, so at least you know what it looks like.
The first 3 numbers stand for your Red, Green and Blue values. The last number is the amount of grey used.
Since there are quite a couple of images
Forests: -34, -51, -75, 34
Magical forest: -85, -51, -51, 17 Extra notes: Use Woratana's Multiple Fog Script, BulletXT's lighting script and Ccoa's Weather script for maximum effect. I'll add a mini tut at the bottom of this tutorial, under Extras, on how to achieve this effect.
Warm caves: -34, -51, -68, 85
Cool caves: -51, -34, -17, 68
Hot areas: 34, 0, -17, 0
Run down areas: -34, -17, -17, 85 Heh, Laine's old sprite. ^^
Portside towns: Same as above, with less grey.
Main towns: 0, -17, -34, 0 Old screen for an older ARUM project.
Sunset: 0, -34, -68, 34 You can get that sunset parallax from my resource thread. ^^
Nightfall: -102, -85, -34, 85
Warm interiors: -34, -34, -51, 0
Desolate interiors: Same as above, but the blue value is -68.
Bar/taverns: -68, -85, -102, 85 Extra note: Looks great with BulletXT's lighting script, with the TORCH setting.
Near Sepia: -34, -34, -68, 153, this setting still allows a little bit of the maps colour to show through.
Black and white: 0, 0, 0, 255
Cloudy/stormy weather: -85, -51, -34, 119 Extra Note: Looks great with AK47's realistic rain tutorial.
Forests: -34, -51, -75, 34
Magical forest: -85, -51, -51, 17 Extra notes: Use Woratana's Multiple Fog Script, BulletXT's lighting script and Ccoa's Weather script for maximum effect. I'll add a mini tut at the bottom of this tutorial, under Extras, on how to achieve this effect.
Warm caves: -34, -51, -68, 85
Cool caves: -51, -34, -17, 68
Hot areas: 34, 0, -17, 0
Run down areas: -34, -17, -17, 85 Heh, Laine's old sprite. ^^
Portside towns: Same as above, with less grey.
Main towns: 0, -17, -34, 0 Old screen for an older ARUM project.
Sunset: 0, -34, -68, 34 You can get that sunset parallax from my resource thread. ^^
Nightfall: -102, -85, -34, 85
Warm interiors: -34, -34, -51, 0
Desolate interiors: Same as above, but the blue value is -68.
Bar/taverns: -68, -85, -102, 85 Extra note: Looks great with BulletXT's lighting script, with the TORCH setting.
Near Sepia: -34, -34, -68, 153, this setting still allows a little bit of the maps colour to show through.
Black and white: 0, 0, 0, 255
Cloudy/stormy weather: -85, -51, -34, 119 Extra Note: Looks great with AK47's realistic rain tutorial.
Now, many of you would have noticed the subtle light and shadow on most of the above maps. How did I do it, you ask. You willneed Woratana's Multiple Fog script for this little trick to work ( since VX and Ace don't come with Fogs, unfortunately ).
All I used was a simple cloud graphic ( I made my own, because RMXP's one is horrible ) and I'll show you how you can create your cloud graphics as well. All you need is any version of Photoshop ( version 7 or higher ). I'm using version 7. No images, unfortunately. ><
Step 1:
Open up a new document 256x256. Make sure your colours are set to the default black and white.
Step 2:
Go to Filter - Render - Clouds. Hit Ctrl-F twice.
Step 3:
Next, go to Image - Adjustments - Threshhold. A good value here would be between 95-100.
Step 4:
Go to Filter and add a Blur to soften the edges. Save it as a PNG after naming it, and put it in your Pictures folder. The 'Shade' graphic shown in some
of the below examples comes from RMXP.
You're done! ^^
EXTRAS:
This section deals with simple script calls and comments on how to get those gorgeous light effects:
Clouds: Adds light and shadow to your maps.
Just use a script call, and use the image to guide you. Of course, you will need a cloud image for this. This is only general settings. You can adjust it
as you wish. Play around with it.
Magical forest effect: This time I've added Ccoa's weather script to create those magical sparkles. Again, it's only general settings. Play around with them.
As for BulletXT's lighting script, well, the instructions are in the script.

Well, that's all for now. C&C is appreciated, and if there is anything I left out, please inform me, I'll be happy to help you.
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Edit: Man, some of those screens are real old. 0_o
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