iRay Lamps

Psyckosama

I'm trying to make iray emissive light sources in my renders. The problem I'm having is everything looks like staring into the sun. There seems to be no way I can find to capture the look of something like a standard frosted dome lamp that can light a room without bleaching out any detail of the light source until it looking like a great glowing orb.

 

 

ebergerly

Not sure what you're referring to. Do you have, say, an image from the web that shows what effect you're going for? Usually when I look directly at a light bulb it looks all blown out, kinda like looking at the sun. Which is why I often add a slight glow effect in post production if my rendered scene includes a light bulb. 

Kitsumo

You could try making a Geometry Shell of the bulb. It'll be an exact copy that's only .01 cm larger than the object. Then you make that emissive enough to light the scene, but set opacity to barely visible (like .000001) so it provides light without being blinding (basically it's a ghost light). Then you can tone down the emissiveness of the original bulb.

Psyckosama

ebergerly said:

Not sure what you're referring to. Do you have, say, an image from the web that shows what effect you're going for? Usually when I look directly at a light bulb it looks all blown out, kinda like looking at the sun. Which is why I often add a slight glow effect in post production if my rendered scene includes a light bulb. 

https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/zdQAAOSwh1pZ~J2l/s-l500.png

Not a perfect example but best I can find on short notice.

I tried taking a picture of my own lamp but came out bright and overexposed.

ebergerly

Yeah, the problem is that if you want to see details you have to do what Kitsumo recommends and tone it down. But the problem is that it will emit less light. 

The problem is that in the real world, frosted glass makes light bounce all over the place and that makes it seem blown out. If you see one of the old bulbs that use clear glass it's just the opposite. You can see the glass detail clearly, but the emitting part is blown out. 

Psyckosama

@Kitsumo

Thank you. It worked perfectly.

I know how to do ghost lights. I'm well acustomed to Geoshells. Never thought to combine them. Might use this trick for more things. I like the effect I get from it. Might figure out more ways tp play with it.

Thanks again.