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Lighting: What You See is NOT What You Get

mwokeemwokee Posts: 1,275
edited December 1969 in New Users

I create my scene, set up the lighting, but after I render, the lighting will be nothing close to what was arranged while editing. Highlights will be blown out, darks not dark enough, contrast is wrong, etc.

Is there a button click or some mode where you can see the actual lighting that will be generated when you render?

Or am I doing something wrong?

Thanks

Comments

  • JimmyC_2009JimmyC_2009 Posts: 8,891
    edited December 1969

    No, I'm afraid not, not with a one-click solution.

    The problem is, that the Viewport uses OpenGL to display so that it is much quicker, but less accurate. There are two things that you can do. First, do a Spot Render by pressing Alt+Shift+C or using the tool from the spot render tool from the Toolbar.

    Second, use Window > Panes (Tabs) > Aux Viewport which is much smaller, but will show accurate lighting like the finished render.

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,905
    edited February 2015

    One thing that would help you is to set up a scene with say, four distant lights- one in front, back, and each side. Change the lights to a duller white- say a light gray or light rose- so it's not glaring white. Put each light at about 30% and do a spot render. Then gradually increase the lights, and you'll see what you get. I save mine as scenes because it's quick. Then whenever you have a new scene, go up and hit "Merge" and bring in that other scene with only the lights. Add a spotlight or more distant lights to help out, depending on what you are rendering. But have a good basic set to start with. Four distant lights are a good starting point.

    My Art Studio threads are monster threads (1500 posts each) so hard to pinpoint the exact posts on lighting- but we do a lot regarding lighting. I've even shared the exact coordinates and light information for specific results. It might help to wade through some of that when you get time, and I have a Reference section with good tips and references to posts and lighting has it's own section. I also tested various light sets and show you what you'll get, using the same figure. That is a section I use all the time! Here's the post with the links, go down to lighting:

    http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/52145/#757426

    Post edited by Novica on
  • ChoholeChohole Posts: 33,604
    edited February 2015

    Here are some links to threads in the New Users area made specifically to help New Users with lighting.

    We do educational Contests and the WIP threads are full of tips and tricks

    http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/1201/
    http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/51697/
    http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/28360/
    http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/41832/

    and again this month we are tackling lighting in the NU Contest.

    http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/51697/ Come and join in, learn things and maybe win a prize.

    There are also other threads in this forum regarding lighting (I pulled up 10 pages of threads by searching for "lighting", such as this one

    http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/26342/

    Plus some of our members have done tutorials designed to help New Users get to grips with various aspects of lighting. Szark is really good at this

    http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/23911/
    http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/14536/

    Oh and I forgot to add that there are also pages in the DAZ 3D documentation which deal with lighting in Daz Studio

    http://docs.daz3d.com/doku.php/public/software/dazstudio/4/userguide/lighting/videos/lighting_editor/start

    http://docs.daz3d.com/doku.php/public/software/dazstudio/4/userguide/lighting/videos/lighting_presets/start

    Post edited by Chohole on
  • Serene NightSerene Night Posts: 17,677
    edited February 2015

    In answer to the OP's question:

    Are you lighting an interior or exterior?

    Post edited by Chohole on
  • mwokeemwokee Posts: 1,275
    edited December 1969

    SereneNight said:

    In answer to the OP's question:

    Are you lighting an interior or exterior?

    Both.

    One thing I just discovered... I use calibrating software for my monitor. It has proved to be rock solid for results. However, that was on the OLD computer. What seems to be happening on the NEW computer is the settings get reset frequently. It appears I need to calibrate each time I sit down to work on images.

  • throttlekittythrottlekitty Posts: 173
    edited December 1969

    mwokee said:
    SereneNight said:

    In answer to the OP's question:

    Are you lighting an interior or exterior?

    Both.

    One thing I just discovered... I use calibrating software for my monitor. It has proved to be rock solid for results. However, that was on the OLD computer. What seems to be happening on the NEW computer is the settings get reset frequently. It appears I need to calibrate each time I sit down to work on images.

    It shouldn't be that way. Your OS should be reading from your finished calibrated monitor profile without touching it, and no software should be writing to it.

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