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Newby 2 questions on lights

SkyDaddyDSkyDaddyD Posts: 19
edited December 1969 in New Users

Hard finding specific info on lights as there is so much returned in the search engines so if you could just point me to the right place to read I would appreciate it.
Question 1 - How do I light lamps in a scene so they don't just sit there all dark looking but look like a real lamp throwing off lf light?
Question 2- I was watching a tutorial on lights and as the distant light was being moved you could see the shadows change in the scene (would save me a great deal of render time if I had an idea on what the shadows were going to look like instead of guessing) - is this a setting somewhere or is it video card related because my distant lights sure don't do that :).
Thanks in advance for the help:
SkyDaddy

Comments

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,905
    edited December 1969

    Not trying to be insulting, just don't know what you know as a newbie (and welcome, btw) Do you know that out in the viewport, where you normally have Perspective View, you can click that and change to the light (let's say Spotlight 1) and your view BECOMES the light- so as you move around in the viewing area, you are moving the light and you will see shadows as it moves. That will give you somewhat of an idea as to the lighting and the shadows.

    Also, be sure you have shadows turned on over in the Parameters tab so when you render, your figure/object will indeed cast them.
    You would go to Spotlight One in the Scene tab, select it, then in Parameters go to Shadows. Choose Raytraced, then move the slider for shadows so you can set the percentage.

  • jaxprogjaxprog Posts: 312
    edited December 1969

    Hi

    1) Add a light to your scene Create Menu>>New Spotlight or Distant or whatever light there is.
    2) Refer to the screen print I have include and you can select the added light from drop list and aim/move the light in a general direction.
    Your distant lights can only rotate where as your spotlights can move and rotate anywhere in the scene.
    3) Then as Novica has described there is a lights tabs and you want to make sure you have a light selected from your scene tab. This is where you can control how bright the light is going to be and determine your shadows.

    You could apply 3 point lighting.
    1) Aim/position/move a distant light as your key light with intensity of 100 say facing your model's front
    2) Aim/position/move a spotlight as your back light with intensity between 20 and 50 facing your model's back
    3) Aim/position/move a spotlight as your fill light with intensity between 20 and 50 facing your model's right or left side.

    But all in all the controls to dictate how the light is to behave is in the lights tab.

    light.JPG
    216 x 174 - 12K
  • prixatprixat Posts: 1,590
    edited December 1969

    Hi SkyDaddy

    Do you have a link to that tutorial?

    I don't get any shadows in the preview, I get transparencies, highlights, even light cones from spotlights but no shadows.
    That's with an nVidia 550ti.

    The easiest way to make a lamp shine would be to put a linear point light in the place of the bulb. Then make the appropriate surfaces transparent or translucent.

    The other way is to choose a material/surface on the lamp and make the material emit light.

  • JaderailJaderail Posts: 0
    edited December 1969

    The distant light tutorial shows WHAT happens when rendered. It was to display to the user that the shadows (once rendered) depend on the angle of the Lighting. It was not a demo of how Shadows work in the Viewport of DAZ Studio. There is no setting to display shadows in the Viewport at this time that I know of.

  • SkyDaddyDSkyDaddyD Posts: 19
    edited December 1969

    Thanks for the replies:
    I figured out the shadows - misunderstood a video tut and I was turning off the lights when I added my own. No light on, no shadows to see DOH.

    Also think uber area lights will do the lamp light if I read it right but haven't had time to test it yet.

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