Eye Reflection Lighting Question

DarkRepast

Hello!

So I can consistently get a fantastic eye reflection providing my model doesn't have their head tilted. Once that happens, it's insane the trial and error I have to go through. I know that every character is somewhat different but I'm wondering if folks have any suggestions for how to predictably get good eye reflection when it comes to moving the head around. Is there a trick I'm missing that could help me predict where a light has to go to get a reflection?

Any thoughts would be awesome.

 

Thanks!

Sevrin

It's like you say, every character is different, and so is every scene.   There are some eye products that some people have gotten reliable results with, and at least they would provide some consistency, but I don't think there's a magic formula, unless you want every one of your renders to look the same.

Hylas

Assuming you're working with G8 and IRAY, by default the eyes of most characters (including the base G8M/G8F) don't have built-in reflections. Which means the eyes will realistically refelect the actual environment.

But it's possible to apply a reflection map to your G8 eyes! If you do that the reflection in your characters eyes is always the same, no matter what's going on around them.

Select the surface Cornea, set Refraction Weight to 0 (default is 1), and drop your reflection map in Cutout Opacity.

You can find some reflection maps in Runtime/Textures/Raiya/Jeane/
RyJeane_eyerefl01_1008.jpg
RyJeane_eyerefl02_1008.jpg
RyJeane_eyerefl03_1008.jpg

They are sub-ideal because they're made for G3, which had differently constructed eyes. But it's something to get you started! Make your own reflection maps in Photoshop.

Some characters come with reflection maps. Of the ones I own, Twylite, Aniyah, and Syph came with reflection maps. Search the characters you own, perhaps some of them have reflection maps, too. They can usually be applied to all characters, male and female.

DarkRepast

Hylas said:

Assuming you're working with G8 and IRAY, by default the eyes of most characters (including the base G8M/G8F) don't have built-in reflections. Which means the eyes will realistically refelect the actual environment.

But it's possible to apply a reflection map to your G8 eyes! If you do that the reflection in your characters eyes is always the same, no matter what's going on around them.

Select the surface Cornea, set Refraction Weight to 0 (default is 1), and drop your reflection map in Cutout Opacity.

You can find some reflection maps in Runtime/Textures/Raiya/Jeane/
RyJeane_eyerefl01_1008.jpg
RyJeane_eyerefl02_1008.jpg
RyJeane_eyerefl03_1008.jpg

They are sub-ideal because they're made for G3, which had differently constructed eyes. But it's something to get you started! Make your own reflection maps in Photoshop.

Some characters come with reflection maps. Of the ones I own, Twylite, Aniyah, and Syph came with reflection maps. Search the characters you own, perhaps some of them have reflection maps, too. They can usually be applied to all characters, male and female.

Thanks! That's a pretty clever idea. I hadn't thought of that. I appreciate it. 

I've made them in Photoshop and they come out very realistic. I've taken some tutorials on it and come up with good looking results. However, I find that reflecting the scene looks better to me all around...which isn't to say it's better or worse, it's more of a preference.

DarkRepast

Sevrin said:

It's like you say, every character is different, and so is every scene.   There are some eye products that some people have gotten reliable results with, and at least they would provide some consistency, but I don't think there's a magic formula, unless you want every one of your renders to look the same.

Yeah, I get that there's no magic formula. I was just hoping for something more elegant than what I've been doing. One of my methods is to create 3 different lights and position them above, at the middle, and below a figure and moving them around until I get a reflection. 

 

Sevrin

DarkRepast said:

Sevrin said:

It's like you say, every character is different, and so is every scene.   There are some eye products that some people have gotten reliable results with, and at least they would provide some consistency, but I don't think there's a magic formula, unless you want every one of your renders to look the same.

Yeah, I get that there's no magic formula. I was just hoping for something more elegant than what I've been doing. One of my methods is to create 3 different lights and position them above, at the middle, and below a figure and moving them around until I get a reflection. 

 

Yeah, that's pretty much the deal.  There are also products that emulate ring lights, etc.  The thing is, a ring light makes sense for a fashion shoot, but doesn't for a bedroom scene.  You can get nice effects using candles with emissive flames or windows.  If you're using an HDRI, sometimes it's easier to get nice reflections.  Generally, the more the light looks like it should be there, the better the result will be.

Platnumk

Load your character and keep it in the default pose,  Load a Spotlight at the default location,  Set the Spotlights Geometry to Circle

Position the Spotlight as follows Y Translate = 170 : X Translate = 0 : Z Translate = 200,  Depending on what generation of figure you are using you may need to adj the Y Pos slightly,  The center of the spotlight should now be right above the nose & right in the middle of both eyebrowse.

Now Parent the Spotlight to the Haed of your character (Y pos will auto adjust,  this is normal),  Next set the Spotlight to Specular Only.

Now apply your pose to your character, you now have what is known as a basic Catch-Light that will move with your character.

To adjust the postition of the light in the eyes you the Spotlights Rotation Controls.

If you want Catch-Light to look like a star for instance then before posing your character place a plane in front of the Spotlight with an Opacity Map with a star shaped cutout then Parent the plane to the Spotlight.