iRadiance mesh lights look too soft

RobertDy

Hi everyone,

I'm really, really new to iray, just having bought a new GPU. Went straight ahead into rendering and bought this set of lights, iRadiance mesh lights for Iray vol. 2: https://www.daz3d.com/iradiance-hdr-mesh-lights-volume-2-for-iray

While I really like the lights, I find that it's too soft. I attached a comparative photo of it vs. DS spotlights (I find the DS lights too 'hard').

I'm not sure what is it I'm doing wrong here since I just loaded the preset from iRadiance, if it helps, I attached the light's properties too.

Environment mode: Scene only
ISO: 100
Exposure: 13
Shutter speed: 32
F/stop: 16

Thanks in advance for any tips, complete newbie here!

JonnyRay

Mesh lights are intended to be soft. They spread their light across a wide area. Think of a photographer using an umbrella reflector to eliminte the harsh shadows.

You have several options.

1. Make sure you're using the full Light Presets in that set not just loading the mesh light panels. @DimensionTheory set that product up to work with combinations of main lights, meshes for fills, and even specific camera settings. You'll definitely want to get familiar with the full presets to get the most out of that product.
2. You could use the mesh panels from that set for "fill" and add a spotlight to create the shadow. This will soften the overall effect without completely losing the stronger highligts from the spotlight.
3. You can also use a spotlight, but change the geometry from "point" to "disc". With it set to point, all light rays originate from a single point in 3D space. This is what causes the very direct light and harsher shadows. This is akin in the real world to an unfiltered, direct flashbulb. With a disc geometry, the light rays originate from an area which is (by default) 10cm across and can be made wider. This is similar to a real world "flood" light which uses a lens on the front of the light to spread the beams.
   1. Side note: When I want to create my own custom lighting for a portrait, I typically work with spotlights with varying configurations in what is known in photography as a 3 light portrait setup. I have an old tutorial on setting such a rig up by hand linked in my signature below. Once you understand the concepts, you can get very efficient at setting this sort of lighting by hand.
4. Finally there are some pure HDRI sets that are intended for quick portrait style renders. My personal favorite is Colm Jackson's PRO-Studio HDR Lighting System. Those HDR lights are my "go to" when I just need a quick render while I'm setting up a character. They have an advantage of having "main" and "fill" lights built into the HDRI image so no other lights are needed. But you are more limited in the angles and lighting options if you're trying for an artistic portrait lighting.

RobertDy

Thanks JonnyRay, your info is very insightful. About the options you wrote about:
1. These lights produce a look too soft when used singly or with Presets. Is there a way to harden the look? I tried scaling the lights down since my understanding is with spotlights, the larger the lights, the softer the shadows, but it didn't work. 
2. I tried using a DS spotlight in combination with these mesh lights, the look is still too soft.
3. Is HDRI needed for interior lighting? I've always had the impression that they're for outdoor scenes.

Cheers!