Question about lights.

kyleforge_53ba91a483

Hi all, I was wondering in Daz 4.9 if I should be using the built in iray lights like spotlights etc, or a primitive plane with the iray emissive surface. I've rendered a couple of figures with each and can't really tell much of a difference so I'm not sure which is the best and why.

kaotkbliss

I actually use both at the same time :)

like for a streetlamp, I will make the bulb emmissive and cast light, then I also add a spotlight at the bulbs location for additional light. This lets me light up a scene a lot easier and brighter without washing out any detail of the emmissive object.

SpottedKitty

There's also one other option; the Iray spot and point lights have extra parameters to let you add a sort of "ghost" geometry to them, which act a bit like an active Emissive shader applied to a real mesh object. It's intended to soften the light, so it isn't all coming from a tiny point, and you have options of a rectangle, a sphere, a disc, or a cylinder.

evilded777

Spotlights and PointLights are your friends.

Emissive Surfaces are nice, but... they are not as simple and straightforward as some would have you believe.

As to what you SHOULD be doing.. that is what works best for you.