There is many options in our handbook for lighting, but it is never enough. The thing about lighting in minecraft, is that it is omnidirectional. I think we could introduce a block or item that can be placed down like a minecraft head, and point the light in a tighter spread. This would double the range of a typical torch and ad more dynamic lighting.
Perhaps this could introduce a new block, perhaps a Spot Light, A Strobe, or something with better focus. What do you think?
I like it in principle but I am afraid it will be shut down for not following the game's theme. That said, furnaces are currently monodirectional (I think?) when active. Have to double check on that one.
Something like this does fit the theme of Minecraft, and even with PC's that can't handle advanced lighting or shaders like what exists in RTX features of bedrock edition there ought to be a more basic setting that still allows for dynamic lighting, surely the average PC gamers use nowadays has enough power to do dynamic lighting of any block or entity within a 4 chunk radius or less. Many modern games already use a form of dynamic lighting which is important for shadows of characters, not just drop shadows, but more realistic ones that are entirely dependent on where the light source is coming from, water reflections and more, even some older games did reflections, such as Quake 3, if you didn't choose the Vertex option.
Think of the possibilities with directional lighting in Minecraft without having to use any mods, shadow puppetry would be doable, spotlights would work a lot better, and you could take advantage of a sundial build. Stuff like this shouldn't be limited to RTX in bedrock edition, and Nvidia has no patent on shaders, anyone can use them.
I like it in principle but I am afraid it will be shut down for not following the game's theme. That said, furnaces are currently monodirectional (I think?) when active. Have to double check on that one.
The Wiki doesn't indicate if this has since been changed with the new lighting engine in 1.14, which supports directional lighting, just a reference to a 1.4.2 snapshot where they first tried to implement this:
However, all this does is allow light to pass through blocks from a specific side, not control how it propagates after leaving a source (i.e. no narrow beams of light; the last link above shows normal light propagation, just only from the front of the furnace and through the gap between a half-slab and blocks around it). This would be quite difficult to code and/or require far more data to describe the light map (e.g. besides a light level from 0-15, which only needs one byte per block for sky light and block light combined, you'd need an attenuation value for each direction, moreso, for it to decrease less than 1 level per block (e.g. double range torch/spotlight) would require more than 16 levels/4 bits (e.g. normal torch = 28,26,24...4,2,0; double range = 28,27,26...2,1,0; where 28 is equivalent to 14, 27 is equivalent to 13.5, and so on).
All in all, just way too much, unless you want to double or triple or worse memory and resource usage - note that 1.4.2 was in 2012 and 1.14 was released in 2019 - it took 7 years for them to get even the current system optimized enough to be practical (it also helps that the average player's system specs and the game's system requirements are much higher now so it has more to work with and is expected to require better hardware).
The Wiki doesn't indicate if this has since been changed with the new lighting engine in 1.14, which supports directional lighting, just a reference to a 1.4.2 snapshot where they first tried to implement this:
However, all this does is allow light to pass through blocks from a specific side, not control how it propagates after leaving a source (i.e. no narrow beams of light; the last link above shows normal light propagation, just only from the front of the furnace and through the gap between a half-slab and blocks around it). This would be quite difficult to code and/or require far more data to describe the light map (e.g. besides a light level from 0-15, which only needs one byte per block for sky light and block light combined, you'd need an attenuation value for each direction, moreso, for it to decrease less than 1 level per block (e.g. double range torch/spotlight) would require more than 16 levels/4 bits (e.g. normal torch = 28,26,24...4,2,0; double range = 28,27,26...2,1,0; where 28 is equivalent to 14, 27 is equivalent to 13.5, and so on).
All in all, just way too much, unless you want to double or triple or worse memory and resource usage - note that 1.4.2 was in 2012 and 1.14 was released in 2019 - it took 7 years for them to get even the current system optimized enough to be practical (it also helps that the average player's system specs and the game's system requirements are much higher now so it has more to work with and is expected to require better hardware).
This is why we have graphical settings, I don't know about the original poster here, but I for one am not advocating for a forced upgrade in lighting on the lowest setting, I have even suggested that people should be given the option to have the setting, meaning it can be turned on or off, dynamic lighting off would use the current lighting system, for people who have weaker spec'd machines, or just want ultra large and consistent frame rates for the purposes of having a competitive edge.
Some people do have dedicated graphics cards that far exceed the recommend system requirements however, some people have specs that are on par or just a hair under the recommended specs for RTX shaders in bedrock edition. Java edition users without the use of mods don't have the option for advanced lighting, so what option is left for them? it is a feature that could be implemented into the game the same way it is done in other games, if your PC is too old or underpowered to run it smoothly, or your PC just doesn't have enough memory you can just disable it, like you already do with fancy graphics which affects the textures blocks use.
This is why we have graphical settings, I don't know about the original poster here, but I for one am not advocating for a forced upgrade in lighting on the lowest setting, I have even suggested that people should be given the option to have the setting, meaning it can be turned on or off, dynamic lighting off would use the current lighting system, for people who have weaker spec'd machines, or just want ultra large and consistent frame rates for the purposes of having a competitive edge.
Some people do have dedicated graphics cards that far exceed the recommend system requirements however, some people have specs that are on par or just a hair under the recommended specs for RTX shaders in bedrock edition. Java edition users without the use of mods don't have the option for advanced lighting, so what option is left for them? it is a feature that could be implemented into the game the same way it is done in other games, if your PC is too old or underpowered to run it smoothly, or your PC just doesn't have enough memory you can just disable it, like you already do with fancy graphics which affects the textures blocks use.
Dynamic lighting and lighting with variable light attenuation with distance (i.e. allowing spotlights or beams of light, not as visual effects but as actual world-altering light, as demonstrated here - that clearly shows actual "light", not some visual effect) are entirely different things - the latter is part of the world data itself, just like placing a torch or other light-emitting block changes the world, and is updated by the game's lighting engine, as well as triggering chunk updates - you simply can't just toggle world data on or off (by contrast, all the "smooth lighting" setting does is affect how the game renders light on blocks, with "smooth lighting" interpolating between vertices - the actual world data is not affected at all. At the very least, you'd have to recalculate all lighting data in the world if you toggled it off, and vice-versa, and any special light-emitting blocks would be broken).
The alternative is to use shaders to simulate new types of light propagation (spotlights/beams), but then the light won't actually affect the world, making it useless for other than aesthetics to have torches or other light sources with a greater range as it would be purely visual - the world data needs to be affected in order for light to have all the physics it currently has (mob spawning, crop growth, etc).
I like it in principle but I am afraid it will be shut down for not following the game's theme. That said, furnaces are currently monodirectional (I think?) when active. Have to double check on that one.
I disagree with it "not fitting the games theme"
being able to manipulate shadows with directional lighting would allow for more creative building, and it would still have the blocky aesthetic Mojang wish to retain.
Lighting at the moment as the original poster said is omnidirectional, which means light gradually decreases the further away you are,
but it makes no difference if you put a fence post or trapdoor next to a torch, you won't see stripes or spots of light on a wall nearby, you'd either see light bouncing off the wall or none at all. This all or nothing lighting system makes for a very poor aesthetic, and shows the game hasn't aged well, on top of this, because of the absence of dynamic lighting, holding a torch or lantern doesn't light up a cave system, you still need to place them down for them to work if you want your cave system lit.
And mods have proven that there are more efficient ways to handle realistic lighting than what RTX is offering,
They may not look as nice as SEUS, but they get the job done, the problem with mods is updates tend to break them,
so it would be better if vanilla Minecraft had a better world lighting option.
I feel having directional lighting would, as others have probably pointed out, not really fit Minecraft much. Plus it would be very annoying to have giant shadows everywhere in my opinion.
Another thing, the idea itself is very vague and impractical. What would the crafting recipe for these special lights be, or would it be a creative-only item? Would it be like barriers and be invisible unless you are holding the block, or would it be always visible and an eyesore on an otherwise beautiful build? How would this idea handle with lower end computers that may barely be able to handle Minecraft as it is now?
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
I don't even play Minecraft much anymore yet here I am on the Minecraft forums for some reason...
There is many options in our handbook for lighting, but it is never enough. The thing about lighting in minecraft, is that it is omnidirectional. I think we could introduce a block or item that can be placed down like a minecraft head, and point the light in a tighter spread. This would double the range of a typical torch and ad more dynamic lighting.
Perhaps this could introduce a new block, perhaps a Spot Light, A Strobe, or something with better focus. What do you think?
I like it in principle but I am afraid it will be shut down for not following the game's theme. That said, furnaces are currently monodirectional (I think?) when active. Have to double check on that one.
Something like this does fit the theme of Minecraft, and even with PC's that can't handle advanced lighting or shaders like what exists in RTX features of bedrock edition there ought to be a more basic setting that still allows for dynamic lighting, surely the average PC gamers use nowadays has enough power to do dynamic lighting of any block or entity within a 4 chunk radius or less. Many modern games already use a form of dynamic lighting which is important for shadows of characters, not just drop shadows, but more realistic ones that are entirely dependent on where the light source is coming from, water reflections and more, even some older games did reflections, such as Quake 3, if you didn't choose the Vertex option.
Think of the possibilities with directional lighting in Minecraft without having to use any mods, shadow puppetry would be doable, spotlights would work a lot better, and you could take advantage of a sundial build. Stuff like this shouldn't be limited to RTX in bedrock edition, and Nvidia has no patent on shaders, anyone can use them.
The Wiki doesn't indicate if this has since been changed with the new lighting engine in 1.14, which supports directional lighting, just a reference to a 1.4.2 snapshot where they first tried to implement this:
https://minecraft.fandom.com/wiki/Furnace#History
https://www.reddit.com/r/Minecraft/comments/10i137/directional_lighting/
https://imgur.com/a/cFaAn
However, all this does is allow light to pass through blocks from a specific side, not control how it propagates after leaving a source (i.e. no narrow beams of light; the last link above shows normal light propagation, just only from the front of the furnace and through the gap between a half-slab and blocks around it). This would be quite difficult to code and/or require far more data to describe the light map (e.g. besides a light level from 0-15, which only needs one byte per block for sky light and block light combined, you'd need an attenuation value for each direction, moreso, for it to decrease less than 1 level per block (e.g. double range torch/spotlight) would require more than 16 levels/4 bits (e.g. normal torch = 28,26,24...4,2,0; double range = 28,27,26...2,1,0; where 28 is equivalent to 14, 27 is equivalent to 13.5, and so on).
All in all, just way too much, unless you want to double or triple or worse memory and resource usage - note that 1.4.2 was in 2012 and 1.14 was released in 2019 - it took 7 years for them to get even the current system optimized enough to be practical (it also helps that the average player's system specs and the game's system requirements are much higher now so it has more to work with and is expected to require better hardware).
TheMasterCaver's First World - possibly the most caved-out world in Minecraft history - includes world download.
TheMasterCaver's World - my own version of Minecraft largely based on my views of how the game should have evolved since 1.6.4.
Why do I still play in 1.6.4?
This is why we have graphical settings, I don't know about the original poster here, but I for one am not advocating for a forced upgrade in lighting on the lowest setting, I have even suggested that people should be given the option to have the setting, meaning it can be turned on or off, dynamic lighting off would use the current lighting system, for people who have weaker spec'd machines, or just want ultra large and consistent frame rates for the purposes of having a competitive edge.
Some people do have dedicated graphics cards that far exceed the recommend system requirements however, some people have specs that are on par or just a hair under the recommended specs for RTX shaders in bedrock edition. Java edition users without the use of mods don't have the option for advanced lighting, so what option is left for them? it is a feature that could be implemented into the game the same way it is done in other games, if your PC is too old or underpowered to run it smoothly, or your PC just doesn't have enough memory you can just disable it, like you already do with fancy graphics which affects the textures blocks use.
Dynamic lighting and lighting with variable light attenuation with distance (i.e. allowing spotlights or beams of light, not as visual effects but as actual world-altering light, as demonstrated here - that clearly shows actual "light", not some visual effect) are entirely different things - the latter is part of the world data itself, just like placing a torch or other light-emitting block changes the world, and is updated by the game's lighting engine, as well as triggering chunk updates - you simply can't just toggle world data on or off (by contrast, all the "smooth lighting" setting does is affect how the game renders light on blocks, with "smooth lighting" interpolating between vertices - the actual world data is not affected at all. At the very least, you'd have to recalculate all lighting data in the world if you toggled it off, and vice-versa, and any special light-emitting blocks would be broken).
The alternative is to use shaders to simulate new types of light propagation (spotlights/beams), but then the light won't actually affect the world, making it useless for other than aesthetics to have torches or other light sources with a greater range as it would be purely visual - the world data needs to be affected in order for light to have all the physics it currently has (mob spawning, crop growth, etc).
TheMasterCaver's First World - possibly the most caved-out world in Minecraft history - includes world download.
TheMasterCaver's World - my own version of Minecraft largely based on my views of how the game should have evolved since 1.6.4.
Why do I still play in 1.6.4?
I disagree with it "not fitting the games theme"
being able to manipulate shadows with directional lighting would allow for more creative building, and it would still have the blocky aesthetic Mojang wish to retain.
Lighting at the moment as the original poster said is omnidirectional, which means light gradually decreases the further away you are,
but it makes no difference if you put a fence post or trapdoor next to a torch, you won't see stripes or spots of light on a wall nearby, you'd either see light bouncing off the wall or none at all. This all or nothing lighting system makes for a very poor aesthetic, and shows the game hasn't aged well, on top of this, because of the absence of dynamic lighting, holding a torch or lantern doesn't light up a cave system, you still need to place them down for them to work if you want your cave system lit.
And mods have proven that there are more efficient ways to handle realistic lighting than what RTX is offering,
They may not look as nice as SEUS, but they get the job done, the problem with mods is updates tend to break them,
so it would be better if vanilla Minecraft had a better world lighting option.
I feel having directional lighting would, as others have probably pointed out, not really fit Minecraft much. Plus it would be very annoying to have giant shadows everywhere in my opinion.
Another thing, the idea itself is very vague and impractical. What would the crafting recipe for these special lights be, or would it be a creative-only item? Would it be like barriers and be invisible unless you are holding the block, or would it be always visible and an eyesore on an otherwise beautiful build? How would this idea handle with lower end computers that may barely be able to handle Minecraft as it is now?
I don't even play Minecraft much anymore yet here I am on the Minecraft forums for some reason...