Lights! I Need LIGHTS!
Can someone tell me, or direct me to where I can learn how to dramatically change the lighting in my scenes?
The default lighting in DS is nice, but I need specific lighting, in particular I want what I call Frazetta lighting - fairly hard key light from directly above with a slight tilt to the rear, and a soft, faint fill from the front or side, so the shadows don't become blackholes! And sometimes a fairly strong backlight for edge accents.
I've found a few "light sets" on the web, but I need to know how to install and use them!? And of course there are the light icons along the top toolbar, but how to remove the default lights to make better use of these toolbar lights? So many questions - so much confusion!
Any help, or direction to tutorials, on the subject would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks!
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Comments
First...which renderer?
Ah, yes. I'm using Iray (any reason to use another?). FYI, I see the kind of changes I want using the DS Distant Light, but only in the shaded viewport setting. When in the Iray view, I see no effects of the Distant Light at all, even with extreme settings!?
Thanks mjc1016!
Try the Render Settings tab, then Environment, then Environment Dome and select Scene Only...you should now start to see your lights. Once you get them to react to your dial spinning in Scene Only, then start using the other options and you can see how each option has it's pluses and minues.
You might be best off finding one (you only need one) well done paid Iray light set that provides dramatic lighting. Look in the Daz shop here. It can be easier to start with examples, and work from there.
There are no actual lights added to the scene in a default Iray render. Any lighting you see comes from the following:
* Camera headlamp. The lamp is attached to the camera, but can be turned off if you add your own camera (don't use one of the built-in Views, such as Perspective).
* HDR image, which is an environment that provides all-around lighting, plus (if you want it) a background image.
To turn off both, you need to choose Scene Only (as DarkEdgeDesign mentions), plus set Camera Headlamp to Never. Both settings are in the various render panels.
The Distant Light might be able to produce the harsh overhead light you're looking for, but can be hard to control, and the shadows are always very stark and distinct. Unless you work hard to avoid it, they can look unnatural, as the shadows don't readily blend. You may have better luck with point or spotlights. Both take experimentation to learn how to use. With these, you can alter the size of the emitting source, and therefore control the shadow line.
Here's a freebie light set that should get you started...
http://retrodevil.deviantart.com/art/Iray-Studio-Light-Set-FREE-DOWNLOAD-585763158
Not quite Frazetta..but nothing other than some color changes from the basic white, this is Retrodevil's light set, as is...
I would agree that a good light set makes things easier. I don't use Iray (yes, there is a reason why many of us still use 3Delight, even when I have a PC that can do Iray fast). I personally make use of AoA's Advanced Lighting for 3Delight (Distant, Ambient, Spotlight). If there is a similar set for Iray, then you would do well to pick that up.
There are certain lighting principals I learned from a Dreamlight tutorial:
Distant Light: You can get your directional light from this. Aim it by changing the camera view to the light - you can look through it.
Ambient Light: But one Distant Light is not enough. Add 1 or 2 more, one from the side opposite the first and one even come up from below. Turn OFF the shadows on these two and they become ambient lights. Adjust the lighting between the Distant and the Ambient for your effect - less Ambient gives you more dramatic shadows, more ambient creates softer lighting.
Spotlights: This is where you can get rim lighting by pointing the spotlight to the side and slightly to the rear of your subject and then coloring it. Spotlights are fabulous! Experiment with them.
Linear Point Light: You can control how far the light reaches and how much it fades as the distance from it increases.
Point Light: Good for a limited range light.
Emitted Light: Iray does this better than 3Delight. I have seen people try to light an entire scene with emitted light, and the render is often too dark without a few well placed spotlights.
Color: This is where you can really make your render shine.
For example, in the February New User Contest: Lighting, I used warm light (pale yellow linear point light) for the lamp, and cool light (neutral pale blue distant light plus an additional spot light) for the moonlight in "Bishop Takes Queen." I recommend you take a look at the WIP and Entry threads for the great ideas discussed there.
Also, sets and even characters often come with lighting that the PA's have created to best light their products. Load those up and study them - you will learn quite a bit and may even find something that you can use for your other scenes. I also make use of lighting that comes with sky domes, and there are some new products out there for Iray - you get the sky and the matching light that goes with it. This makes a great starting point for your outdoor scenes.
Also consider picking up a Dreamlight tutorial on lighting. They are excellent, by the way and extremely informative. They are expensive, but go on sale a couple of times per year - I grabbed some when they were 85% off.
Excellent breakdown!
I just want to say a quick THANK YOU to everyone for the insight, links and ideas! Super helpful, but now I need to put these thoughts into actions - a lot to consume!
One more question related to this lighting quest - I'm used to importing files from Poser into Bryce (or Photoshop) for assembly there. Every project is different, but this was my norm for the most part. But seems the standard these days is to assemble the whole project within DAZ Studio - is this correct? My old way was far from easy or intuitive, but I managed. Now I can't figure out how to create the landscapes in Bryce and then import into DS and have the perspective and vanishing points match!? But this I have always struggled with!
Anyway, thanks again, all - your words (in this and other threads) are making such a huge difference in my life/art - and that really thrills me! Your input is greatly appreciated!
I would advise that you ask this question in the Bryce and/or Poser forums. You should get your answers there.
To some degree, it's a matter of scale. In Studio the base unit is 1 cm. That makes the 'world' a couple of hundred meters in diameter. In Bryce, the basic scale is something like 8 ft...so the 'world' is something like a half mile to one mile in diameter. Also the cameras are probably using different focal lengths.
So it's just playing around with scale and camera settings.