Editing Pstencil

{{Title|pstencil}}
{{Status|RealWorld}}
[[File:H2 X02 Chief.jpg|thumb|300px|A screenshot from the ''Halo 2'' announcement trailer, depicting [[John-117|Master Chief]] in the pstencil lighting environment.]]
'''pstencil''' was a lighting engine worked on by [[Bungie]] during the [[Development of Halo 2|production]] of ''[[Halo 2]]''.{{Ref/Site|Id=Freidin|URL=http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/h/halo/themakers.htm|Site=Xbox.com|Page=Master Chief Bernie Freidin, Bungie Software Design Engineer|D=15|M=05|Y=2007}} As-envisioned, pstencil was intended to provide dynamic [[Wikipedia:Shadow volume|shadow volumes]] and self-shadowing on objects similar to games like ''[[Wikipedia:Doom 3|Doom 3]]'', though ultimately proved too technically expensive to implement, leading to its removal from the game.{{Ref/Site|Id=VICE|URL=https://www.vice.com/en/article/the-complete-untold-history-of-halo-an-oral-history/|Site=VICE|Page=The Complete, Untold, History of Halo|D=22|M=10|Y=2025}} This led to massively downgraded lighting in the final release of ''Halo 2'' compared to that shown in early pre-release trailers and [[:Category:Halo 2 press kit|press screenshots]].

==Overview==
The project was primarily worked on Software Design Engineer Bernie Freidin, alongside engineer [[Adrian Perez]] and Lead Engineer [[Chris Butcher]]. Freidin begin work on implementing stencil shadows into the [[Blam engine|Blam game engine]] shortly after ''[[Halo: Combat Evolved]]'' shipped in [[2001#November|November 2001]],{{Ref/Reuse|Freidin}} with the intent being to build ''Halo 2'' with this lighting in mind. It continued work throughout [[2002]] and was used in the [[Halo 2 announcement trailer|''Halo 2'' announcement trailer]].{{Ref/Reuse|VICE}}

According to Adrian Perez, pstencil's lighting was intended for use with directional light sources, while traditional [[Wikipedia:Lightmap|lightmaps]] provided ambient lighting for a level. This would allow for lighting contributions from weapons fire and grenades to be much more dynamic and striking, something which was tested out on a night variant of the ''Combat Evolved'' map [[Blood Gulch]]. However, this ultimately proved too costly to implement: in a best-case scenario the game would struggle to reach a consistent 30FPS, and to implement it in the entire game would require massive sacrifices in the geometry and lighting fidelity across the board.{{Ref/Site|Id=Gulch|URL=https://halo.bungie.net/News/content.aspx?type=topnews&cid=25650|Site=Bungie.net|Page=One Final Effort|D=27|M=01|Y=2013}} According to [[Jaime Griesemer]], implementing pstencil would have required only having one or two characters on screen at any time, and would still sometimes reduce the framerate to 3FPS.{{Ref/Reuse|VICE}} Griesemer also noted that it is unlikely that a delay to launch ''Halo 2'' on the [[Xbox 360]] would have helped with pstencil's implementation, as the shadows did not work at all in exterior environments.{{Ref/X|32nds|2005725254728184088|Jaime Griesemer|No. These kinds of stencil shadows just didn’t work outside, which is very important to a Halo game!|D=29|M=12|Y=2025}}

According to [[Marcus Lehto]] and Nate Walpole, the pstencil lighting engine was abandoned after shipping the ''Halo 2'' announce trailer.{{Ref/Twitter|game_fabricator|1213662202860720128|Marcus Lehto|D=05|M=01|Y=2020|Quote= Good eye. That was early in development when we were using the now infamous stencil shadow version of our engine. Looked cool, but turned out to be way to expensive for rendering. We ditched that feature after the H2 announce trailer was done.}}{{Ref/Twitter|bentllama|1213665860876935169|Nate Walpole|D=05|M=01|Y=2020|Quote=We ditched a lot after the H2 announce trailer, including sanity. The scars, they teach.}} However, Adrian Perez and [[Martin O'Donnell]] have claimed it to have been used in the [[Halo 2 E3 demo|2003 E3 demo]].{{Ref/Reuse|VICE}}{{Ref/Reuse|Gulch}}

==Gallery==
===''Halo 2'' announce trailer===
Screenshots from the ''Halo 2'' announce trailer with pstencil lighting.
<gallery>
File:H2 X02 Earth.jpg
File:H2 X02 Helmet.jpg
File:H2 X02 Intro.jpg
File:H2 X02 LookUp.jpg
File:H2 X02 Mjolnir.jpg
File:H2 X02 Shadow.jpg
File:Spartan with Battle Rifle2.jpg
File:H2 X02 BR55.jpg
File:H2 X02 BR55s.jpg
</gallery>

===Miscellaneous===
<gallery>
File:H2 BloodGulch pstencil Screenshot.jpg|A screenshot of [[Blood Gulch]] from January 16, 2003, running in the pstencil lighting engine, allowing for dynamic lighting from weapons fire and explosions.{{Ref/Reuse|Gulch}}
File:H2 Warthog (FAV).jpg|Promotional image of a [[Warthog]].
File:H2 Mongoose Front Render.jpg|Promitional image of an [[M270 Mongoose]].
File:H2 Mongoose Rear Render.jpg
File:H2 UNSC Early Render.jpg
File:H2-ODST-Squad.jpg
File:H2-M7SMG-FrontRender.png
File:H2-M7SMG-BackRender.png
</gallery>

==Sources==
{{Ref/Sources}}
{{Navbox/Engines}}
[[Category:Halo 2]]
[[Category:Deleted material]]
[[Category:Game engines]]