Novica & Forum Members Tips & Product Reviews Pt 10

cismic

Novica said:

@cismic   An interesting approach and results. I haven't tried that and it definitely gives a different edginess to the figures.

@novica it's fun to experiment :-)

Novica

Take a peek at Newman. The most adorable critter! 

Novica

If you're surfing my thread (for the next couple of hours, probably headed out after that)  PM me to chat.

IceDragonArt

I wanted to show off Lavender, I know some people aren't thrilled with the pixie look but I think she is adorable.

Novica

I really love Lavender. She has such a serene quality about her. The pastels are really pretty. Gorgeous render, your lighting is perfect for the pastels. Put her in your gallery (I didn't see her there?) 

L'Adair

IceDragonArt said:

I wanted to show off Lavender, I know some people aren't thrilled with the pixie look but I think she is adorable.

I saw her in your thread, Sonja. She's positively darling.

And I want to show off my latest render, too. Call it counter-balance to Sonja's light and airy cuteness render…

Back Alley Negotiations

There's a companion piece to this over at DA, a close up with a gun-in-your-face view. It's behind a mature content filter as some might find it disturbing in light of recent gun violence in the news. If you're interested, you can find it here.

IceDragonArt

Novica said:

I really love Lavender. She has such a serene quality about her. The pastels are really pretty. Gorgeous render, your lighting is perfect for the pastels. Put her in your gallery (I didn't see her there?) 

Thank you!  Still working on posting her in all the appropriate places lol. 

IceDragonArt

L'Adair said:

IceDragonArt said:

I wanted to show off Lavender, I know some people aren't thrilled with the pixie look but I think she is adorable.

I saw her in your thread, Sonja. She's positively darling.

And I want to show off my latest render, too. Call it counter-balance to Sonja's light and airy cuteness render…

Back Alley Negotiations

There's a companion piece to this over at DA, a close up with a gun-in-your-face view. It's behind a mature content filter as some might find it disturbing in light of recent gun violence in the news. If you're interested, you can find it here.

I love this, it has a great, gritty feel to it (not that the render is grainy, just the whole feel of it), the way the light hits the car in the background really makes this a believable scene.  And I would be staying out of that alley myself lol.

L'Adair

Novica said:

Take a peek at Newman. The most adorable critter! 

Thanks for the link and mention.

Newman is a spoiled rotten brat, who pretty much runs the household. We spent about $300 more when we got new siding on the house several years ago to have a pet door installed.The other animals use it all the time, but Newman only uses it when hubby's at work and I'm holed up in the office. The rest of the time, whether he wants in or out, he waits for one of us to open the front door for him. It's rather funny to watch him go running for the door as I head back to the office, and turn around to see him mosey on back to the cat tree when I walk on past. (Hubby will get up from the sofa in another room and go open the door. Newman has hubby well trained. I suspect he thinks I'm untrainable by now, after nearly nine years. lol)

Novica

@ladair  Fantastic alley scene. And totally agree, that car with the shadows really adds to the realism. I particularly like the camera angle.

Taoz

Been playing a bit with PerspectX' Action NewsCenter (iRay) and how to get the best light on the speaker. So far I've been using Ghost light a lot for many things with apparently good results, but now I'm not so sure how good it really is for close ups, compared to e.g. spotlight. Think I'll experiment more with spotlights for close up's now. Just note that you have to turn up light intensity to very high (I've used 2000 here), at first I thought spotlights didn't work in iRay at all until I realized this.

1 & 2: Default scene using Scene Only setting. Not sure what lights are being used, none are listed on the Scene tab so nothing can be adjusted it seems. Looks fine though except for the speaker which is very dark.

3: Dome and Scene with DS default settings and HDRI, except dome rotated to about 80.00. The newsroom has no front so the light goes straight in this way. Speaker looks fine, but everything else gets too bright.

4: Using a flat ghost (mesh) light in front of the speaker at a 45 degree angle. Light intensity balance between environment and speaker is fine, but skin looks very flat and with a vertical line in the middle of the face and neck. Not good.

5: Using a spotlight pointing straight on at speaker. Skin looks much better, almost as good as with HDRI, and light has no effect on the environment.

6 & 7: Two extra close up spotlight renders, first straight on, second 45% angle.

 

Taoz

Here's another one using ghost light, for a comparison. I've used one big ghost light for the whole scene, no other lights at all. Here the skin and everything looks fine. I guess the difference must have to do with a combination of light reflections and shadows which there must be a lot of here, but very little of in the ghost light close up in the newsroom.

 

 

Novica

I usually use Ghost Lights as a companion to another main light set, such as when I do the Pro-Studio set for the portraits. I like to put them as rim lights and a very weak filler from the front/above, and at an angle. I don't usually do mine as straight on, and if I do it's very weak. I like your last render the best, so far as shadows. Thanks for showing your experiments. 

Taoz

Novica said:

I usually use Ghost Lights as a companion to another main light set, such as when I do the Pro-Studio set for the portraits. I like to put them as rim lights and a very weak filler from the front/above, and at an angle. I don't usually do mine as straight on, and if I do it's very weak. I like your last render the best, so far as shadows. Thanks for showing your experiments. 

I usually use them for indoors scenes where there are no lights included and where you can't use the iRay sun/dome light (can't hide walls and stuff). I was just surprised how bad it turned out in this case, compared to the other light types.  

L'Adair

Taoz said:

Novica said:

I usually use Ghost Lights as a companion to another main light set, such as when I do the Pro-Studio set for the portraits. I like to put them as rim lights and a very weak filler from the front/above, and at an angle. I don't usually do mine as straight on, and if I do it's very weak. I like your last render the best, so far as shadows. Thanks for showing your experiments. 

I usually use them for indoors scenes where there are no lights included and where you can't use the iRay sun/dome light (can't hide walls and stuff). I was just surprised how bad it turned out in this case, compared to the other light types.  

I tend to think of Ghost Lights as ambient light for Iray, not unlike AoA's Ambient Light product for 3Delight. It's possible to use them exclusively to light a scene, but the lighting is flat. I like to set up my lighting—HDRI, spots, or whatever—to get the overall effect I want. Then I add the Ghost Lights to compensate for the camera the way my dilating pupils compensate for me.

Carola O

I have to admit I still haven't figure out how Ghost light works, I bought one of the ghost light products, but have always end up switching to other lights cause I can't seem to figure them out. One day I will try to get into them a bit more :)

Serene Night

I rarely have luck with ghost lighting. I tend to just use other lights instead.

IceDragonArt

I use ghost lights in almost every indoor scene.  They are intended as fillers, not to light the whole scene.  I usually use them to light a dark corner of the room, or to add light to a character face or body that is a bit too shadowed, things like that.  The bigger set intended for big scenes is really nice for giving the whole room a nice subtle light but again, its intended to enhance, not replace.

Novica

@carolao   This is a tutorial I did for a portrait, perhaps it will help. One tip for everyone that is mentioned- once you make the Ghost Lights disappear, it's easy to see where they are if you apply the Surface Selection tool. They'll be outlined in orange.

I mentioned it on the sale thread- they need to rotate the discount qualifying item- Aiko 8 Pro Bundle has been it for many, many days. If I am not getting the extra 10% off purchases, I'm not buying, as there's nothing I need. 

I do like the variety they're offering. Different themes and varying products even within the themes. 

agent unawares

Ghost lights are bad for normal lighting because you don't get specular highlights. So I really would use them only as filler like people suggested (in this case lack of specular highlights can be good), or if I wanted to use premade ghost lights as my main lighting I would "de-ghost" them by making them opaque again.

Carola O

it was using them as a filter and such I was tryign to do, but just couldn't get them figured out as they didn't do what I expected them to do. I look into it once more eventually :)

chris-2599934

Serene Night said:

I report bad folders all the time. They used to be fixed quickly but now they aren’t. Still better  To report it.

The store needs an editor and style guide quite badly. These types of directory errors are preventable if they hire someone with attention to detail who reviews installers before they are dispatched. 

Coming to this late as I've been away for the weekend, but it surely can't be helpful that instructions on how to package stuff up for the store is now a special course you have to pay up to $35 for, rather than something freely and easily available to everyone that might make use of it.

Serene Night

Observing existing file structure for properly created and packaged content is the best guide I've found.

Novica

Serene Night said:

Observing existing file structure for properly created and packaged content is the best guide I've found.

Agree, plus doing research through Google and YouTube usually covers the topics quite well. Daz also has some documentation, and although it's hit or miss, probably fills in gaps.

Taoz

Well apart from ghost lights I can't figure out which lights to use in a closed environment where you can't use sun/dome/HDRI.

Distant light doesn't seem to work, even if I turn intensity up to 100.000.000 as here I only get a dim light. Further, it seems to work only in certain directions. When it points to the left in the room, there's light, but if I rotate it 90 degrees so it points at the end of the room the light disappears.

Camera light (last picture) actually works reasonably well but has limitations, you can only use one (I assume) and it always points in the direction of the camera view.

Serene Night

Lighting interiors is a challenge, and one thing I think that 3delight did better. It is tough to get a realistic scene with people in an interior without cheating with the lights. It’s easier to get a realistic architectural shot. 

There was a freebie recently released by a forum member which put section planes on the camera allowing for use of hdri indoors which might help. Otherwise I jut cheat.

zombietaggerung

Taoz said:

Well apart from ghost lights I can't figure out which lights to use in a closed environment where you can't use sun/dome/HDRI.

Distant light doesn't seem to work, even if I turn intensity up to 100.000.000 as here I only get a dim light. Further, it seems to work only in certain directions. When it points to the left in the room, there's light, but if I rotate it 90 degrees so it points at the end of the room the light disappears.

Camera light (last picture) actually works reasonably well but has limitations, you can only use one (I assume) and it always points in the direction of the camera view.

Have you tried making the ceiling emissive? Or faking florescent tubes with room length emissive cylinders above the camera height? Or as a last resort, the Iray selection plane?

agent unawares

Taoz said:

Well apart from ghost lights I can't figure out which lights to use in a closed environment where you can't use sun/dome/HDRI.

Distant light doesn't seem to work, even if I turn intensity up to 100.000.000 as here I only get a dim light. Further, it seems to work only in certain directions. When it points to the left in the room, there's light, but if I rotate it 90 degrees so it points at the end of the room the light disappears.

Camera light (last picture) actually works reasonably well but has limitations, you can only use one (I assume) and it always points in the direction of the camera view.

Turn the window panes into really bright emissive to simulate sunlight and also put some rectangular lights up at the ceiling for fluorescents.

EDIT: You can also use sun-sky or a distant light for the outside-in lighting if those windowpanes are the type that can be made transparent. I can't tell and don't have the set.

Taoz

 

Serene Night said:

Lighting interiors is a challenge, and one thing I think that 3delight did better. It is tough to get a realistic scene with people in an interior without cheating with the lights. It’s easier to get a realistic architectural shot. 

There was a freebie recently released by a forum member which put section planes on the camera allowing for use of hdri indoors which might help. Otherwise I jut cheat.

Yes, iRay has a problem here IMO.

I recall that section light thing, will take a look at that, thanks.

Taoz

zombietaggerung said:

Taoz said:

Well apart from ghost lights I can't figure out which lights to use in a closed environment where you can't use sun/dome/HDRI.

Distant light doesn't seem to work, even if I turn intensity up to 100.000.000 as here I only get a dim light. Further, it seems to work only in certain directions. When it points to the left in the room, there's light, but if I rotate it 90 degrees so it points at the end of the room the light disappears.

Camera light (last picture) actually works reasonably well but has limitations, you can only use one (I assume) and it always points in the direction of the camera view.

Have you tried making the ceiling emissive? Or faking florescent tubes with room length emissive cylinders above the camera height? Or as a last resort, the Iray selection plane?

Isn't an emissive ceiling technically the same as ghost light - an emissive plane? And what is that Iray selection plane?