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Best and most worthwhile Iray tuts?

anise_leinen_390fa63a2banise_leinen_390fa63a2b Posts: 107
edited September 2017 in Technical Help (nuts n bolts)

Hey all,

So I basically understood lighting, and then... Iray came along... and now I'm finally using Daz... and *&(*)&#%&(^(*^???? Pretty much. ;) I do well with tutorial learning, but there are so many tuts out there and there's no way to evaluate them without going through them. Until I figure out that Time-Turner thing, there are only so many hours in a day, plus work, going back to school, etc etc etc! So here's the question: where are the best and most complete Iray tuts? Which ones are the best use of time? Which ones are most complete? Which ones cover different lighting situations including interior, outdoor, day, night, etc? These can be either free or paid.I try to support fellow artists whenever possible.

If it helps, I have a photography background (which SEEMS like it should be more help than it's been so far) and a good real-world understanding of natural light. Our famly business is in landscaping and design, which means that I know about the way that flowers and plants will appear at different times of day/night, different cloud cover conditions, different parts of the country, different seasons, rain/snow/fog/smoke, and so on. So it's a question of how to translate reality into the digital world. I really want to recreate rain gardens and moonlight gardens. :) But basically, I need to learn ALL about the Iray lighting system, and some tuts are MUCH better than others for this purpose. Thanks in advance for ideas from all the smart people here!!

Post edited by anise_leinen_390fa63a2b on

Comments

  • agent unawaresagent unawares Posts: 3,513
    edited September 2017

    Most worthwhile Iray lighting tutorial: Open render settings. Go to Environment. Change your environment map to an HDR that you like. Voila.

    This is absolutely the best (and fastest) way to get outdoors-style lighting.

    Post edited by agent unawares on
  • anise_leinen_390fa63a2banise_leinen_390fa63a2b Posts: 107

    Thanks, but I'm looking for something more complete than that... ;) I definitely want to understand interior lighting.

  • agent unawaresagent unawares Posts: 3,513

    FWIW Iray lights model real-world lights. For this reason "Iray lighting" is more or less the same as "photography lighting" and I think this is why there aren't a whole lot of obviously standout Iray dedicated tutorials. Since you have a photography background you shouldn't have much trouble; the tone mapping (in render settings) works just like a camera and light brightness and temperature can be looked up easily to match real bulbs.

  • anise_leinen_390fa63a2banise_leinen_390fa63a2b Posts: 107
    edited October 2017
    agent unawares said:

    FWIW Iray lights model real-world lights. For this reason "Iray lighting" is more or less the same as "photography lighting" and I think this is why there aren't a whole lot of obviously standout Iray dedicated tutorials. Since you have a photography background you shouldn't have much trouble; the tone mapping (in render settings) works just like a camera and light brightness and temperature can be looked up easily to match real bulbs.

    I appreciate the advice, but it constantly feels to me like having training in photography SHOULD be more helpful than it is with Iray, and it never quite is. (I have never been a professional photographer by any means either-- I just took a yearlong program several years ago.) It might be different for others who have better luck with directly translating what they know. But personally anyway, knowing something about how real world lighting works means that I can at least get SOMETHING out of the renders... but it never feels like I know enough, and it just seems like there has to be some resource with a lot more tips and tricks and guidance. What do you think of a product like this? https://www.daz3d.com/daz-studio-iray-advanced-lighting

     

    Post edited by anise_leinen_390fa63a2b on
  • agent unawaresagent unawares Posts: 3,513

    People like Dreamlight a lot. I've never bought any of their stuff because the product blurbs make it all look like fairly basic overviews. For example, you can definitely find writeups on emissive surfaces, spotlights, and combining layers in Photoshop for free separately.

    This is what appears to be an "intro page" for this course, if you want to check out their style.

  • agent unawaresagent unawares Posts: 3,513

    Here are a couple "regular" lighting tutorials. All of these translate almost exactly to Iray.

    https://expertphotography.com/capture-great-photos-low-light/

    https://digital-photography-school.com/6-portrait-lighting-patterns-every-photographer-should-know/

    https://i2.wp.com/digital-photography-school.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/portrait_lighting_setups.jpg?ssl=1

    And a bonus, the lumens of typical household light bulbs. https://www.lumens.com/how-tos-and-advice/what-are-lumens.html

    And a tutorial where a photographer talks about his DIY setup including lumens and temperature of his lights. https://www.diyphotography.net/take-classic-three-light-studio-portrait-hardware-store-led-light-bulbs/

    Just match the setups with Iray spotlights and tone mapping and you're good to go. You can change spotlight geometry for different reflections in the catch lights and softer shadows (the bigger the light, the softer the shadows).

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