Shadows Are In The Wrong Direction...

Happy2008_9b6c046ec4

Hi All,

Newbie question, but I can't seem to figure this out.  It seems that compared to other programs like C4D or even Poser that the lighing section is rather convoluted.  I have figured out how to point the lights and move them, turn off the headlamp and bacially light the scene, but when I go to render, two things happed.  One, the lighting is not even close to the preview in terms of intensity and the shadows are going in the wrong direction from my lighting.    I used a linear point light and a distant light and lit them from camera right so the the shadows should fall to the left, but they are going right.  The same direction that I'm lighting from!  I went to the render settings and started playing with the envirnment intensity, I noticed that I could kind of create a ratio bewteen that setiing and what I was doing on my lights to get things to approximate the lighting from preview to render, but It seems to need a ton of light to get to do anything and when I have the envirnment intensity down really low that there aren't any shadows at all.

Obviously, these things get worked out, there is some wonderful lighting that I've seen from people using this program, but I am having a tough time and I have a ton or work to do, so I need to figure this out.  Any help of any kind would be appreciated.  Thanks you kindly...

 

 

Richard Haseltine

I think you are rendering in Iray and still have the default HDR lighting the scene, which is swamping the other lights. In the Editor tab of Render Setting,s under Environment make sure the Environment Mode is Scene Only, then in the Tone Mapping section you will probably need to adjust the exposure (turn ISO up, for example) to see the lights.

fastbike1

@Happy2008_9b6c046ec4

In Iray you really don't need a distant light since the HDR or Sun-Sky setting will give you similar, but better results.

In the same way, a linear point light doesn't work nearly as well as an Iray Spotlight which has the advantage of geometry (softer shadows, more control).

Happy2008_9b6c046ec4

Thanks Guys,

I'll try both of your suggestions.  Cheers...

 

Happy2008_9b6c046ec4

Hi Guys,

That did the trick.   I really appreciate your input.  I couldn't find the sun-sky setting, but I did use spotlights. 

Great suggestions!  Thanks again!

 

 

fastbike1

@Happy2008_9b6c046ec4 "I couldn't find the sun-sky setting"

Render Settings>Environment>Environment Mode>Sun-Sky Only