Help with Lighting please ?

Godless8

Hello!

I'm pretty new to daz and still learning a lot of things, right now I'm trying to tackle lighting.

I bought the Farmyard and I'm trying to light the barn room to look somewhat like the preview image:

http://www.daz3d.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/0/1/01-the-farmyard-daz3d.jpg

with the only difference being that in my case I would like it to be night outside (moonlight shinning in from the windows)

Sadly, after hours of trying, I just can't get it to look like that.

 

Now what I have tried is using the UE2 base, I set that to moonlight, on the inside I added 4 pointlights, I resized them and positioned them just below the scene's light holders. I changed the color of the 4 point lights to be somewhat more yellowish.

 

I tried switching the pointlights for spotlights, but that doesn't really give me what I want, makes it look way too dark.

I also haven't figured out how I can light up an area that the light doesn't hit. normally light bounces of things in the real world, and such, light hits places that it does not directly shine on. I want to figure out how to do that.

 

I added a quick render image of what I get now. ( using 3Delight )

 

 

Can someone please help me with this ? which lights would you use ? and how do I create that light bounce effect so that there is light in areas where the light doesn't directly hit it ?

Thanks!

 

Richard Haseltine

Are you using Iray or 3Delight? UE is for 3delight, so in Iray it won't have the desired effect.

Godless8

I'm using 3Delight :)

Richard Haseltine

In that case if you want light to bounce you have to enable the Bounce option in UE (and it will take a while).

Godless8

Is that indirect lighting ? in that case it's already on.

AndyS

Godless8 said:

Is that indirect lighting ? in that case it's already on.

No. Bounce is a stage higher and needs way longer to render (of cause  )  --> Bounce Light (GI)

Godless8

AndyS said:

Godless8 said:

Is that indirect lighting ? in that case it's already on.

No. Bounce is a stage higher and needs way longer to render (of cause  )  --> Bounce Light (GI)

Oh, really ? Strange, I was reading from here.

http://www.daz3d.com/forums/viewreply/67937/

and as I understood It, I thought that if I used IDL, I would have bounce in there anyways (considering this line: "This mode is what is ADDED to the Occlusion Modes to generate the IDL Mode.")

So I have to choose between only using UE in IDL mode or using UE in Bounce light mode with added lights ?

AndyS

Hm,

 

this is not that easy to explain.

The IDL mode seams to be an artificial imitation of bounced light.
You have to do your own experiments to get a feeling for it. And you should play around with the "max Trace Distance" parameter, too. Only very large numbers (or 0 for infinity) reflect the real light behaviour. Otherwise you have some mystical light lighting your room without any physical source.

AndyS

OK, so now back to your scene:

Godless8 said:

Now what I have tried is using the UE2 base, I set that to moonlight, on the inside I added 4 pointlights, I resized them and positioned them just below the scene's light holders. I changed the color of the 4 point lights to be somewhat more yellowish.

 

I tried switching the pointlights for spotlights, but that doesn't really give me what I want, makes it look way too dark.

Point- or SpotLights are not the best choice in this scene.

You should place UALs (ÜberAreaLights) in place of the bulbs, filling the emitting area completely. That way you get the almost natural light transition into your room.
Additionally you can carefully add a small simple UE2 to give the shadowed areas some mystical light.

 

Andy

Godless8

Okay I tried the UAL's, which took a while to get working lol! it works in an odd way with this scene to me. but oh well I got it working. sort off.

It looks almsot identical now as to how I wanted it to look. the only issue I still have, is that the light prop itself is dark, it's not light up. it is emiting light but not getting light up itself, how can I change this ?

 

thanks for the help so far!

AndyS

I have attached the important surface parameters.
Most important is the "Ambient Strength".

Godless8

AndyS said:

I have attached the important surface parameters.
Most important is the "Ambient Strength".

yup that fixed it! thanks!

AndyS

Do you like to present your successful image?