I think I'm one of the only people other than Firescythe who actually uses Aether. It is a bit of a pain in the ass to use, but totally worth it in the long run. Be aware that if you actually want high-res lightmaps you'll have to spend a LONG time manually unwrapping lightmap uvs, since tool sucks so badly at it that once you upres the lightmaps you get to see every bad lightmap seam. That being said, if you're willing to put in the work you get great results from it. It also helps to know how to use 3ds Max's lighting system effectively.
The basic steps are to:
1. Absolutely 100% finish the bsp, because once you begin using Aether any bsp changes will destroy any progress you've made.
2. Light the map in 3ds max, exactly the way you want it, down to the shadow types, the soft exterior lighting, hologram lights, everything.
3. A bunch of technical voodoo that's covered in Firescythe's tutorial
4. ???
5. Profit
But seriously, if you do decide you want to use Aether, either contact Firescythe or myself and assistance will be had.
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