I've run into a minor issue with my gel. Instead of the [sort of] realistic-looking gel that many maps use, I get this cartoonish rendering:

If it's any help, I've chosen Blobulator as my render option, and that still makes them cartoonish.

Also concerning lights, I have a panel against a wall that is supposed to turn 180 degrees. The default side is correctly lit. However when the panel rotates, the other side is completely dark. How can I make it lighter?

It looks like your video settings are shockingly low. Does your map have lighting? And cubemaps? And your cubemaps are built, yes?

It can't be my video settings, because I see the gel correctly on other maps. My map does have lighting. I also have cubemaps, but now that you mention it, I don't have them in this particular room. I don't know what you mean by "built" though. I can upload my vmf if you need.

Putting cubemaps in your map is not enough. You need to type "buildcubemaps" in the console in order for the cubemaps to collect visual data and actually do anything. Try putting a cubemap in this room, and then running that command and seeing if this problem persists.

Ah you were right. I just needed to put cubemaps in each room. Thanks!