Distant Lights & HDRI results

xavierator

Dear,

The attached images about the same character have different tones like more colorful, medium or pallid.

How can I get this different tones ?

I just tried to change Distant Light settings but I also get the same results.

Maybe changing some character settings or only using different HDRI sets ?

Thanks, Xavi

Sevrin

If I had to guess, I'd say these were all lit by HDRI.  The third has also had some postwork done, although you can also do some of that in DS tone mapping.

It's good to become familiar with what you can do with image editing in Photoshop, The GIMP, Affinity Photo, etc.  If it's good enough for photo and film production, it's good enough for 3D renders.

xavierator

Thanks for your fast answer

This reference: https://www.daz3d.com/ogre-hd-accessories

Uses this additional reference: https://www.daz3d.com/iradiance-hdri-variety-pack-three

In my test, the first image is the final Daz render only using a Distant Light

The 2nd image is a result of changing 2 parameters in Photoshop.

I would like to get better results.

What do you strongly recommend to get better results in renders or final images, work with HDRI or later in Photoshop ?

Thanks, Xavi

JVRenderer

xavierator said:

Thanks for your fast answer

This reference: https://www.daz3d.com/ogre-hd-accessories

Uses this additional reference: https://www.daz3d.com/iradiance-hdri-variety-pack-three

In my test, the first image is the final Daz render only using a Distant Light

The 2nd image is a result of changing 2 parameters in Photoshop.

I would like to get better results.

What do you strongly recommend to get better results in renders or final images, work with HDRI or later in Photoshop ?

Thanks, Xavi

Distant light is the least used light in DS.  I would not recommend it if you already use a HDRi. Distance light is essentially a point light without shadow control  If works as a 'mini sun' It produces unsightly harsh shadows on your renders.

Try using a spot light or even a regular point light

Faeryl Womyn

I would also add that you can change the color of your lights in several spots to get different effects, however someone else will have to explain that part as I'm still learning it.

xavierator

JVRenderer said:

xavierator said:

Thanks for your fast answer

This reference: https://www.daz3d.com/ogre-hd-accessories

Uses this additional reference: https://www.daz3d.com/iradiance-hdri-variety-pack-three

In my test, the first image is the final Daz render only using a Distant Light

The 2nd image is a result of changing 2 parameters in Photoshop.

I would like to get better results.

What do you strongly recommend to get better results in renders or final images, work with HDRI or later in Photoshop ?

Thanks, Xavi

Distant light is the least used light in DS.  I would not recommend it if you already use a HDRi. Distance light is essentially a point light without shadow control  If works as a 'mini sun' It produces unsightly harsh shadows on your renders.

Try using a spot light or even a regular point light

Ok, I'm not using HDRI (I don't know how to use), and I won't use more distant light then.

Do you recommend any special HDRI reference for general purposes ?

Maybe https://www.daz3d.com/iradiance-hdri-variety-pack-three ?

Thanks

xavierator

And, what is really HDRI ?

An environment with their configured lights ?

Can I use only the configured lights in some HDRI without image environment instead of use manually spot lights in order to work faster ?

I only need to create correctly lit characters with no background landscape.

I just change distant light for some spot light, better than distant light, but too much work, attached image.

Thanks

xavierator

Faeryl Womyn said:

I would also add that you can change the color of your lights in several spots to get different effects, however someone else will have to explain that part as I'm still learning it.

I would like to work faster with HDRI preconfigured lights, but if it's not possible, are you following some tutorial to learn about spot lights ?

Thanks

Anim

xavierator

I like to suggest to search for tutorials in youtube.com

E.g. search for

- daz studio hdri environment
- daz studio mesh lights
- daz studio lighting

You will find a lot of videos about the topic.

If you have the time to read a book, you might like to get:

"Digital Lighting and Rendering" third edition by Jeremy Birn.

Even though being an old book it gives a good introduction to the aspects of lighting and rendering in general (it is not written specifically for DAZ Studio).

Faeryl Womyn

Xavierator, what Anim suggested is what I do, watch video's, read tutorials and if I can't find an answer that way, I ask in the forums.

JVRenderer

xavierator said:

JVRenderer said:

xavierator said:

Thanks for your fast answer

This reference: https://www.daz3d.com/ogre-hd-accessories

Uses this additional reference: https://www.daz3d.com/iradiance-hdri-variety-pack-three

In my test, the first image is the final Daz render only using a Distant Light

The 2nd image is a result of changing 2 parameters in Photoshop.

I would like to get better results.

What do you strongly recommend to get better results in renders or final images, work with HDRI or later in Photoshop ?

Thanks, Xavi

Distant light is the least used light in DS.  I would not recommend it if you already use a HDRi. Distance light is essentially a point light without shadow control  If works as a 'mini sun' It produces unsightly harsh shadows on your renders.

Try using a spot light or even a regular point light

Ok, I'm not using HDRI (I don't know how to use), and I won't use more distant light then.

Do you recommend any special HDRI reference for general purposes ?

Maybe https://www.daz3d.com/iradiance-hdri-variety-pack-three ?

Thanks

I don't have that particular pack, but I do have the Chicago, and the Hawaii pack

https://www.daz3d.com/iradiance-pro-series-16k-hdris--rain-city-chicago

https://www.daz3d.com/iradiance-hdr-resources-hawaii

I haven't use the Hawaii one, but here's a render with the Chicago
DimensionTheory makes very nice Light sets

HDRi is the easiest lighting system you can get for a render, however, you have very limited control over them. You can rotate the dome, and change the intensity (brightness). that's about it.

There is not easy way to get proper lighting the fast way, Even with prepackage lighting from the Daz Studio, you still  need to understand how to use all the available lighting.  Even professionals (photographers) take years to learn proper lighting techniques.

As will rendering a transperant background and bringing to a 2D editor, you still need to be really skilled in those 2D editors (photoshop, gimp) to be able to match your rendered image with your intended background. Sometimes that's even harder than rendering the whole scene with background in 3D.

When i comes to lighting, there are no shortcuts.

 

xavierator

Dear,

Thanks for your answer JVRenderer

Daz3D is an infinite universe of capabilities, but at this moment I "only" need the best possible lighting for a simple characters, I don't need scenaries (I will need soon).

I'm trying to know if HDRi is the better and faster solution or I can work only with default Daz lights like distant or spot.

Maybe I also need to know how Render Environment works ..., I'm making a little formation in Udemy web site.

Thanks, Xavi