InaneGlory's PA Day Sale (today) and Photo Studio - Point and Shoot
InaneGlory
Posts: 294
Photo Studio - Point and Shoot was designed to be simpler to use and less complex than the lights in the original 3 Photo Studios, while still maintaining the distinctive high quality results you'd expect from a set of Photo Studio lights. The original Photo Studios were all designed around the concept of combining different Area Lights into one single, movable, pose-able, figure. A concept that many people found hard to understand at 1st. Photo Studio - Point and Shoot has been designed more like a traditional set of DS lights, with the exception that all the lights are still unique, custom designed Area Lights.
For the beginner, the heart of Photo Studio - Point and Shoot is the 44 pre-made light sets designed around real world professional photo studio lighting designs. All you need to do is drop them in your scene and their ready to go. Each set's thumbnail is an actual render designed to show you how each light set looks when rendered.
For the advanced user, the heart of Photo Studio - Point and Shoot is the 18 uniquely designed custom Area Lights. Each one has been designed to make them easy to use and move/pose using the 'look through' option that is available with all the default DS lights. Each one has also been designed to use the natural falloff feature of the UberAreaLight shader, greatly increasing the realism of the lights in DS.
For me, the biggest advantage of Photo Studio - Point and Shoot is the fact that the DS and LuxRender versions were designed hand in hand and that helped both sets work better in their own render engine while maintaining the same 'feel' in either render engine. As a user one of the things that always confused me the most in rendering in DS (or Poser) is that the 'numbers' aren't really based on anything real or concrete. 100% intensity means what? How many lumen or watts is that? As as photographer that always drove me nuts. On the other hand, LuxRender is steeped in real world numbers but LuxRender render times can off the charts. In the end, designing them together pushed each version to be better than they would have been by itself.
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For some unknown reason Daz decided to heavily compress all the Photo Studio - Point and Shoot promos, so here are the un-compressed original promos, as they should really be seen.
I just love these lights.
Greetings,
Wait...UberAreaLights with 'look through'? Niiice! Is that the 'Light Pointing Helpers'? (Presumably parented cameras?) I hadn't seen that in any of your other sets...
That just bumped it up a goodly few notches on my wishlist, as knowing what the light is pointing at and what surface is going to be illuminated has always been one of my biggest frustrations with the area lights.
-- Morgan
After spending a few minutes really looking over what's included, those fabulous backgrounds and floors and all those lighting options it went into the cart! Can't wait to play with your sets IG!
Even during testing, these lights had already become my favourite light (pre-)sets in DS and Luxrender for portrait renders.
The light pointers (cleverly accomplished by parenting the area lights to 'dummy' spotlights) make positioning the lights as easy as with 'normal' lights. The presets are a great start to learn from. And with the variaty in individual lights, you can make just about any studio light setup you want.
Here a couple of DS renders, using my own individual light setup.... (with the addition of a low intensity 'simple' UE2 light for the ambient lighting...)
And here a 'Luxrender' using one of the presets (90cm Octabox and 90cm Softbox), with the light settings adjusted in the Luxrender GUI
Oh what adorable portraits.
I have to agree glaseye2 these have become my favourite lights as well, so easy to use.
I often used the presets and then moved the lights if needed.
Couple more from me
Love them fantasy renders...
esp, that gnome/dwarf, with its expression, a very crisp and vibrant render.....
Thanks glaseye2
A couple more.
Wow, beautiful renders Glaseye and Scorpio! I'd be hard pressed to pick a favorite out of those.
And yes, the 'light pointers' are actually standard DS spotlights with everything turned off and locked down. It's an idea I've been playing around with since the 1st Photo Studio came out and people were asking for a pose helper. Unfortunately it never really fit into Photo Studio 2 and 3 or the Ring of Light. There is also an unintended bonus to having the Area Lights parented to a dummy light, you can now use the 'delete all lights' feature built into DS and it will delete the dummy light and everything parented to it. Normally this feature never works with Area Lights.
Question for InaneGlory or anyone else familiar with these products: Does Photo Studio Lux include anything that is not included in Point and Shoot? Why might someone consider purchasing both?
I'm having some weird issues with grains. Here's a render of a scene with Point and Shoot lighting (one of the presets, they all do this), compare to a normal scene using ÜberEnvironment. Any ideas as to what's causing this?
Most likely this has to do with the quality settings of the lights (as explained in the documentation).
Setting the lights to a sample rate of >16 (I prefer 32 or higher for the hQ lights, and 24 or higher for softboxes) usually solves this problem (at least for me in the test renders I've done)
You can use the quality settings provided with the set to easily adjust these settings; just remember to expand the lights in the scene tab and select the light itself - not the light pose helper.....
(UE2 lights have a similar problem, there you also have to up the sample rate to reduce a grainy look)
and @ scorpio64dragon; that skin on the ninja looks terrific.... !
The two products are completely different (except for the fact that they are both lights sets and both work in DS and LuxRender)
The Photo Studio line has always been about two things: lights and textures. Except Photo Studio Lux, that set was strictly designed to bring my Photo Studio Lights into LuxRender (via Luxus). It's a striped down version of the lights from Photo Studio 3 but without all the textures and without a lot of the presets that come with a normal Photo Studio product. The idea was that if all you wanted was a set of lights that worked in LuxRender you didn't need to pay the full cost for everything else you didn't need. If you where already a Photo Studio user you didn't feel like you were paying for the same thing for a second time and if you had no interest in LuxRender you didn't feel like you were missing out on something. By itself Photo Studio Lux is a great product (at a great price) but coupling it with one of the original Photo Studios really completes the deal.
Photo Studio1-3 and Lux all use the concept of combining different Area Lights into one (mostly invisible) figure complete with a skeleton and bones to help control, adjust and move the lights themselves. It's a concept some people have a hard time visualizing.
On the other hand, Photo Studio - Point and Shoot has been designed more like a standard set of DS lights, plus it's a full Photo Studio line product. Meaning you get the lights, you get all the presets you could, hopefully, ask for to get the most out of the lights and a full set of textures for the (standard) Photo Studio background props (Paper Roll, Backdrop and 3 walled Studio).
Hope that helps you decide. Personally, I like both and would recommend either one but the new set is my newest baby and is my current favorite of the moment. :)
Thanks for the kind words RAMWolff. The backgrounds are my big contribution to the set. All but one of the walls and floors textures are taken directly from photographs I took of the many interesting shops and office buildings in Ely, MN. The paper roll backgrounds are where I get to be more creative, but I try to think ahead about how the lighter and darker colors will frame a figure in the final renders. I look forward to seeing what you do with the set.
cheers!
They are all stunning! Dawn will be so happy! *jabs DAZ* lol
It's a striped down version of the lights from Photo Studio 3 but without all the textures and without a lot of the presets that come with a normal Photo Studio product.
Thank you, that is very helpful. I'm mostly interested an area light set that works in Lux, so I'll certainly try out Point and Shoot. The promo images and others are impressive. Based on your answer, Photo Studio Lux would enable me to play with the PS3 lights, but without the presets and textures. Maybe I'm not needing the other stuff from PS3 as much, since P&S comes with textures and I can get by without presets presuming there is a manual or tutorial available somewhere for the PS Lux lights. Portraiture lighting via presets is good, but I'm also interested in finding area lights that can be adjusted or tweaked to get unusual effects that are hard to achieve with standard DAZ lights or IBL, and that can be used with Lux.
So, do you think the light rigs in PS3/PS Lux might be better suited for certain effects (e.g., tweaking or "bashing") than than the lights included with P&S? Or are these different sets just different ways of getting basically the same lighting results? Interested in your thoughts.
Yes, its most likely the sample rate. But if that doesn't fix your problem you come back and let me know and we'll figure it out for you. What the samples does is control how fine the gradient is that the program uses in areas of shadow (areas in between fully lit and fully dark). Technically there is more to it than that but in the end, when your comparing renders, that's how it looks. Low samples = blotchier shadows, shorter render times. Higher samples = finer, more even shadows but longer render times. In general higher is better but you can quickly come to a point of diminishing (or unnoticeable) returns. As a general rule of thumb I set the main primary (Key) light's sample rate the highest and then set all other lights at 1/2 that.
Thank you, that is very helpful. I'm mostly interested an area light set that works in Lux, so I'll certainly try out Point and Shoot. The promo images and others are impressive. Based on your answer, Photo Studio Lux would enable me to play with the PS3 lights, but without the presets and textures. Maybe I'm not needing the other stuff from PS3 as much, since P&S comes with textures and I can get by without presets presuming there is a manual or tutorial available somewhere for the PS Lux lights. Portraiture lighting via presets is good, but I'm also interested in finding area lights that can be adjusted or tweaked to get unusual effects that are hard to achieve with standard DAZ lights or IBL, and that can be used with Lux.
So, do you think the light rigs in PS3/PS Lux might be better suited for certain effects (e.g., tweaking or "bashing") than than the lights included with P&S? Or are these different sets just different ways of getting basically the same lighting results? Interested in your thoughts.
Depends on what kind of effects your looking to make. If by tweaking you mean adjusting or modifying any Photo Studio set has been designed with that in mind. If 'bashing' means kit bashing or building your own, both would do but Point and Shoot is probably better as you can start with one light and build up from there. Beyond that, the Area Light based Gel Light in PS3/Lux is probably the coolest, funkiest (least used or understood) Photo Studio light there is (but it's works and look significantly different in DS vs LuxRender).
User Guide is included with the product (in the Read Me folder)
or you can find the Point and Shoot guide here:
http://db.tt/RPibSm2e
Photo Studio Lux:
http://db.tt/2OFxFxrs
Photo Studio:
http://db.tt/0gecyJRx
Photo Studio 2 and 3:
http://db.tt/8Inng3rL
Ring of Light:
http://db.tt/YvGtYLRt
Ring of Light Lux:
http://db.tt/lbhlnDq5
Thank you, that is very helpful. I'm mostly interested an area light set that works in Lux, so I'll certainly try out Point and Shoot. The promo images and others are impressive. Based on your answer, Photo Studio Lux would enable me to play with the PS3 lights, but without the presets and textures. Maybe I'm not needing the other stuff from PS3 as much, since P&S comes with textures and I can get by without presets presuming there is a manual or tutorial available somewhere for the PS Lux lights. Portraiture lighting via presets is good, but I'm also interested in finding area lights that can be adjusted or tweaked to get unusual effects that are hard to achieve with standard DAZ lights or IBL, and that can be used with Lux.
So, do you think the light rigs in PS3/PS Lux might be better suited for certain effects (e.g., tweaking or "bashing") than than the lights included with P&S? Or are these different sets just different ways of getting basically the same lighting results? Interested in your thoughts.
Depends on what kind of effects your looking to make. If by tweaking you mean adjusting or modifying any Photo Studio set has been designed with that in mind. If 'bashing' means kit bashing or building your own, both would do but Point and Shoot is probably better as you can start with one light and build up from there. Beyond that, the Area Light based Gel Light in PS3/Lux is probably the coolest, funkiest (least used or understood) Photo Studio light there is (but it's works and look significantly different in DS vs LuxRender).
User Guide is included with the product (in the Read Me folder)
or you can find the Point and Shoot guide here:
http://db.tt/RPibSm2e
Photo Studio Lux:
http://db.tt/2OFxFxrs
Photo Studio:
http://db.tt/0gecyJRx
Photo Studio 2 and 3:
http://db.tt/8Inng3rL
Ring of Light:
http://db.tt/YvGtYLRt
Ring of Light Lux:
http://db.tt/lbhlnDq5
Thanks for the links. Will try them both. :)
Very easy to use, and I love the backdrops that come with it. Well done IG and DG!
Here's a render with one of the lighting sets and a paper roll backdrop. I adjusted the position slightly, and intensities and shadows using the utilities included. Skin and make-up is from the new FWart Caoimhe.
Ok, that makes sense. Now for the probably stupid question: Where do I adjust it? If I select at light and look in the parameters tab, there's not settings for the lights. I'm sure I'm missing something obvious :red:
Select the Area Light and you will find the setting in the surfaces tab.
Seems odd and not the first place you look
IG, I've been fiddling with this light set for around a day (ok I'll be conservative and say 10 -12 hours) and I really do like it. I liked 3, but I think I like the results I can get with this set a lot more.
I have to admit, I haven't read your guides, but I get a lot of enjoyment from figuring things out myself and when it comes to lighting I like to think I have a fairly good understanding on how to set up lighting - both from photography and having focused on lighting when studying 3ds Max.
From a technical point I really do like how you parented the custom lights to a default spot for easy aiming - though I did come up with my own way to aim the set 3 lights.
DG, I also really like the new backgrounds. Stunning. I've always preferred the paper roll so I should probably try the new walls and floors too.
I'll post up an example or two when I figure out how. ;)
Thanks, found the samples setting. I had looked at surfaces, but didn't realize that I had to expand the hidden "helper" object to find the actual light :)
Thanks for the nice words Richard. I always have the best time coming up with the right combination of useful and cool for the backgrounds. I look forward to seeing what you do with them.
Dang guys! Scorpio, Glaseye, CJ, you knock me out with your fabulous renders. I hope everyone has also submitted them to the render thread. I'd love to see you win some prizes.
Well, I said I'd post something eventually so...
This was just one of the presets but I re-aimed them, due to the low pose, and fiddled with intensities.
The figure is a blend of David 5 and Justin. The skin is from one of the D5 characters.
And another.
This one doesn't use presets. Can anyone guess how it's lit?
I don't normally do this type of scene. but I was playing with the light set and this popped out -