February, 2020 - DAZ 3D New User Challenge - Lighting and Light Effects

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  • @cloth1975. WoW! I loveit. Um what is she holdng? And the thng looking throug the window with the moon light on it is awsome.

    she's holding a candle holder with a burning cancle. It has a longer handle and she holds it at its end.

     

    This is getting really nitpicky but is the flame on the candle a separate prop?  Can it be adjusted?  If yes, the flame should be up straight even as the candle is being held at an angle.

    Or it could be the camera's angel that is giving me that impression.

     

    The camera is tilted, yes. Still, the flame might be a bit off, but probably not by much. I will check it when I come back home from work. Thanks for the input!

    Best regards.

  • 0996ps0996ps Posts: 182
    cloth1975 said:

    The camera is tilted, yes. Still, the flame might be a bit off, but probably not by much.

    I also couldn't tell what she was holding and i also feel camera angle is way too much tilted. You could try a very soft ghost light inside the room so we can see the inside a little more easily.

  • Version E here, went and swapped out the 40 watt bulbs for 100 watt bulbs, and was able to brighten the room up a notch.

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  • Kismet2012Kismet2012 Posts: 4,252

    Version E here, went and swapped out the 40 watt bulbs for 100 watt bulbs, and was able to brighten the room up a notch.

    Much better.  I am not sure I even saw the guy at the other table in the prior version.

  • edited February 2020

    Hello,

    this is the second iteration of my entry for the beginner's challenge. Instead of tinkering with a ghost light, I replaced the one-torch candle holder with a  three-torch candle holder. It's now way more clearer what the main figure is actually holding. The color of the prior candle holder was just too hard to see as it too much matched the color of the background. This candle holder should be way more clearer. Also, I now have three sources of light, which I can adjust instead of one. Experimenting a bit with it, the main figure is now way more clearer whereas the background behind her is darker.

    What do you think? :-)

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    Post edited by Chohole on
  • This was done using spot and linear point lights. Any comments are welcomed and appreciated.

  • 0996ps0996ps Posts: 182
    edited February 2020

    Some work i have been doing for Gobo Challenge entry. I am having hard time understanding colors and filling enough light in interior to make characters stand out and most of the problem i think is because my monitor settings makes either black spots too dark that i can't see or either it makes whites too bright which in the end makes my perception of colors and light flawed but i think have learned a lot despite all this.

    I am very open to suggestion and evaluation of these renders. These are from yesterday and i am still working more on this scene. The forum wasn't working yesterday.

    What i want to create is a dancefloor filled with gels and gobos or maybe a casual scene with group of people ordering food and drinks from Bar Waiter/Waitress.

    Edit: I totally forgot to reduce size of my pic but its only 100-200 iterations. indecision
    Also this Night Lounge is a 3delight product. I bought too many 3delight products without knowledge of iray, 3delight and rendering systems.

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  • So here is ver.3.   I think this will be the last revision, I am happy with the way it looks now, I ended up adding a spotlight really high up to camera left and pointed it at the roof for the "moonlight".

    marjoemartino: You may want to look into emission profiles for your flashlight. There's a forum thread here and a product here; I'm not very practiced with them, but it really helps differetiate between close, man-made lights and distant and/or natural lights. Your lighting is really even, which makes more sense for sunlight or moonlight than something behind a glass lense. Additionally, the profile can help draw the eye to the source, whereas in your image I find the flashlight easy to overlook.

    @rcbcgreenpanzer: Sorry it took so long to get back to you, I was playing with the light profiles. Thanks for those links, I think the profiles will come in handy for future projects, but I'm not sure I'll be able to get them figured out by the end of the month, Had to wishlist the Emission Profile Master for now.

    I have tried to use them but when I apply any of them to the light it just turns off the light, I have tried just the light in another scene but it still does not work, I think it might be due to the fact that the light lens part of the 22 caliber light is part of one object, and not its own separate part, and according to what I read in the thread the profile needs to be rotated to work. I did try to add a light plane then apply the profile to the plane but it still did not work for me.

    On another note, the way the light looks coming from the flashlight - I own a couple of flashlights that do present in that manner, they are newer L.E.D. flashlights that don't have a lens in front of the light(s), and lights that are around 1.5 million candle watts do the same at the range used in this image, having  said that I do think being able to define the path that the light is moving would be a great addition to the picture because even those other lights do pick up the dust in the air and show the lights path.  I will try some other ways to get it to show, like adding a smoke plane in the light path.

  • Olo_OrdinaireOlo_Ordinaire Posts: 742
    edited February 2020

    I see a lot of murky, dark images posted, and I think there is often a struggle with monitor calibration.  I don't mean professional artist color calibration -- just light/dark/contrast settings.

    Here is a simple graphic that may be of value in adjusting monitors -  you should see 11 steps from black to white, with middle-gray in the center:

    I'm not a pro, but I think it's possible that a lot of users have monitors set to standard, store-display settings:  super-high contrast and super-bright backlighting.

    I hope this helps someone...

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  • t0mg_zt0mg_z Posts: 51
    edited February 2020

    Hello everyone, I want to submit my entry ot the Intermediate Level Contest:

    Dancing In The Light

    G8M and G8F with many morphs dialed in + "Wet & Tanned" skin, and using the "Forsaken Corner" product for background. As for the lights, I used a set of two emissives (one of them very obvious at the bottom and the other to the top, with the intention to create a "rim light" and allow to better separate the background from the figures), and  a Red, Green and Blue Point Lights "encased" inside a spher, acting as a makeshift "Gobo" light (The circley light rings you see projected on the main characters).

    I wante to go for a Rave Party / "Stomp" feel with a tint of old school "cool" and put some motion into it. 

    Post processed on PS, just for Tone Mapping and adding a bit of Light Bloom effect.

    Had some second thoughts about not cropping out the emissive at the botton, but I ended up keeping it.

    Hoping to see your comments / criticism! Thanks you!. 

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  • bastian2560bastian2560 Posts: 81
    edited February 2020

    @tOmg. My only comment is WoW. (I wont tickets, havent been to a good rave in a long time and this one looks good.) :)

    Post edited by bastian2560 on
  • @cloth1975. i realy like what you did with the candle holder, the three points of light help bring out her head and uper chest a lot more. i like it.

  • sueyasueya Posts: 832

    Man and Dog in Park

    Version 3 of my image - I replaced the forest HDR with a Park scene from HDR Haven.I think the HDR I used was blurred which gives the impression of DOF. I added in two planes - one for the path in the background and another for the grass in the foreground. You can now see the shadows of the man and dog. The dog is still a bit too glossy, but I wanted to concentrate on improving the scene and lighting first.

     

  • @sueya. Hot dam, that's lookin real good. love the change with your hdr. :).

  • bastian2560bastian2560 Posts: 81
    edited February 2020

    Yeah this render took on a life of it's own.

    Image: See Magic.

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  • Kismet2012Kismet2012 Posts: 4,252
    cloth1975 said:

    Hello,

    this is the second iteration of my entry for the beginner's challenge. Instead of tinkering with a ghost light, I replaced the one-torch candle holder with a  three-torch candle holder. It's now way more clearer what the main figure is actually holding. The color of the prior candle holder was just too hard to see as it too much matched the color of the background. This candle holder should be way more clearer. Also, I now have three sources of light, which I can adjust instead of one. Experimenting a bit with it, the main figure is now way more clearer whereas the background behind her is darker.

    What do you think? :-)

    Much better.  The patio doors behind your  figure are easier to see and gives a clearer picture ( no pun intended ) of the story.  You have managed to get more light in the image but still keep that sense of spookiness and danger to the poor heroine. 

  • Kismet2012Kismet2012 Posts: 4,252

    This was done using spot and linear point lights. Any comments are welcomed and appreciated.

    The forums have been acting up a bit lately.  It looks like your image did not get saved as part of your post.

  • Kismet2012Kismet2012 Posts: 4,252

    Some work i have been doing for Gobo Challenge entry. I am having hard time understanding colors and filling enough light in interior to make characters stand out and most of the problem i think is because my monitor settings makes either black spots too dark that i can't see or either it makes whites too bright which in the end makes my perception of colors and light flawed but i think have learned a lot despite all this.

    I am very open to suggestion and evaluation of these renders. These are from yesterday and i am still working more on this scene. The forum wasn't working yesterday.

    What i want to create is a dancefloor filled with gels and gobos or maybe a casual scene with group of people ordering food and drinks from Bar Waiter/Waitress.

    Edit: I totally forgot to reduce size of my pic but its only 100-200 iterations. indecision
    Also this Night Lounge is a 3delight product. I bought too many 3delight products without knowledge of iray, 3delight and rendering systems.

    I understand the headaches that come with monitors.  My rendering computer has a bright monitor so when I make images darker on it they are too dark on other monitors so I constantly have to remind myself to make the image brighter when rendering.  I then check it on my laptop to see if it is too bright or too dark. 

    From your screen shots the gobos looks good.  I really like the blue swirl.

    You can convert the surfaces on 3DL products to Iray using the Iray Uber Shader that is included with DS if you prefer using iray.  3DL has the advantage of being able to turn the shadows on and off on lights.  This is not an option with Iray.

     

  • Kismet2012Kismet2012 Posts: 4,252
    t0mg said:

    Hello everyone, I want to submit my entry ot the Intermediate Level Contest:

    Dancing In The Light

    G8M and G8F with many morphs dialed in + "Wet & Tanned" skin, and using the "Forsaken Corner" product for background. As for the lights, I used a set of two emissives (one of them very obvious at the bottom and the other to the top, with the intention to create a "rim light" and allow to better separate the background from the figures), and  a Red, Green and Blue Point Lights "encased" inside a spher, acting as a makeshift "Gobo" light (The circley light rings you see projected on the main characters).

    I wante to go for a Rave Party / "Stomp" feel with a tint of old school "cool" and put some motion into it. 

    Post processed on PS, just for Tone Mapping and adding a bit of Light Bloom effect.

    Had some second thoughts about not cropping out the emissive at the botton, but I ended up keeping it.

    Hoping to see your comments / criticism! Thanks you!. 

    Definitely has a Rave feel to me.  Putting point lights inside a sphere.  I will have to remember that one.  It looks very effective. 

    The poses look good.  They certainly look like they are having a good time.

    What are all those little bubbles? 

  • Kismet2012Kismet2012 Posts: 4,252
    edited February 2020
    sueya said:

    Man and Dog in Park

    Version 3 of my image - I replaced the forest HDR with a Park scene from HDR Haven.I think the HDR I used was blurred which gives the impression of DOF. I added in two planes - one for the path in the background and another for the grass in the foreground. You can now see the shadows of the man and dog. The dog is still a bit too glossy, but I wanted to concentrate on improving the scene and lighting first.

     

    This is much better.  They now look like they are in a park.

    You have some nice shadows and highlights on the dog but I do agree the coat is a little too glossy.  A healthy dog should have a shiny coat.  Maybe the problem is it is too smooth.  Even a short coated dog like this one is not perfectly smooth.  Perhaps adding some bump or displacement will help?

    Here is a Google Search of pictures of Weimaraner dogs.  They look to be the closest to the breed of the dog you have in your image.

    Editted to add:  If you can, maybe try adjusting the dogs head so he is looking at his owner's face.  The dog's pose suggests he is ready to respond to a command or signal.  Dog's look for cues from their owners.

    Post edited by Kismet2012 on
  • Kismet2012Kismet2012 Posts: 4,252

    Yeah this render took on a life of it's own.

    Image: See Magic.

    Is it possible to coax a little more light from the bulb?  It might help illuminate the boy's face.

    I love the concept behind this image.

  • Version F here, adding in some emission profiles on the two light serfaces inside.

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  • GordigGordig Posts: 10,060

    Yeah this render took on a life of it's own.

    Image: See Magic.

    Is it possible to coax a little more light from the bulb?  It might help illuminate the boy's face.

    I love the concept behind this image.

    I agree. I think most of the light should come from the bulb, with the window just backlighting him.

  • t0mg_zt0mg_z Posts: 51
    edited February 2020
    t0mg said:

    Hello everyone, I want to submit my entry ot the Intermediate Level Contest:

    Dancing In The Light

    G8M and G8F with many morphs dialed in + "Wet & Tanned" skin, and using the "Forsaken Corner" product for background. As for the lights, I used a set of two emissives (one of them very obvious at the bottom and the other to the top, with the intention to create a "rim light" and allow to better separate the background from the figures), and  a Red, Green and Blue Point Lights "encased" inside a spher, acting as a makeshift "Gobo" light (The circley light rings you see projected on the main characters).

    I wante to go for a Rave Party / "Stomp" feel with a tint of old school "cool" and put some motion into it. 

    Post processed on PS, just for Tone Mapping and adding a bit of Light Bloom effect.

    Had some second thoughts about not cropping out the emissive at the botton, but I ended up keeping it.

    Hoping to see your comments / criticism! Thanks you!. 

    Definitely has a Rave feel to me.  Putting point lights inside a sphere.  I will have to remember that one.  It looks very effective. 

    The poses look good.  They certainly look like they are having a good time.

    What are all those little bubbles? 

    Thank you for your comments!. The bubbly thing are drops from Sickleyield's Rigged Water product; I wanted them to be dancing on a wet surface, but I'm not yet convinced on the drop look; might try somthing else later, not sure yet.

    As for the Sphere lights, this is how it looks like:

    It's using a simple black and white strip pattern texture put on the "Cutout Opacity" property of the ball's surface:

    You can use the "Horizontal Tiles" property to fine tune the circle diameter; also, I found out that putting the "encased" light as a point light gives the sharpest result; if I put "light geometry" as "sphere", i don't get the circles at all; I guess it's because of the way the light propagates through the fake "gratings"; I can get softer borders on the circles if I keep the light diameter within 0.1 - 0.5; any value above that and the effect almost dissapear. Keeping it at point makes the super sharp cicles you see above. I ended up liking the effect of this Quick & Dirty fake gobo lights. Of course, you can try with a different pattern and get more interesting effects. Will def. keep exploring this technique in the future.

     

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  • t0mg_zt0mg_z Posts: 51
    Gordig said:

    Yeah this render took on a life of it's own.

    Image: See Magic.

    Is it possible to coax a little more light from the bulb?  It might help illuminate the boy's face.

    I love the concept behind this image.

    I agree. I think most of the light should come from the bulb, with the window just backlighting him.

    Yes yes! crank those emissives up @bastian2560 , don't be shy:)

  • bastian2560bastian2560 Posts: 81
    edited February 2020

    .

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  • GordigGordig Posts: 10,060
    edited February 2020

    .

    The room is more brightly lit, but the bulb itself doesn't seem to be giving off any more light.

    Post edited by Chohole on
  • Hi. Reallife has gotten a bit hectic will comment on my last render later. thanks.

  • Hi all,

     

    So I made this and thought I would enter it into the feb beginner challenge. I'm super new to all of this so pleaase give me feedback on how I can make my renders more lifelike. This was done using an HDRI thingy. I'm still getting the hang of perspective.

     

     

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  • 0996ps0996ps Posts: 182
    edited February 2020

    Hi all,

     

    So I made this and thought I would enter it into the feb beginner challenge. I'm super new to all of this so pleaase give me feedback on how I can make my renders more lifelike. This was done using an HDRI thingy. I'm still getting the hang of perspective.


    I am not sure if you are using IRAY or 3Delight but i commented based on IRAY so if you are using 3Delight you can ignore my comment.
    This is what i think and i am also new so its upto you to take my advice or ignore it since i am also a newbie.

    ​Daz studio uses render technology called Iray which traces Ray of lights to mimic real life lighting. Additionally Daz studio has camera which also mimic real life DSLR cameras with a range of different settings. For a lifelike render one has to work and have a control over both lighting and cameras to get a photorealistic render. HDRI image which is utilized as a dome can be used to light a scene but HDRI alone can not help you get good results in some cases.

    The HDRI you are using does not look good enough. You should pick some 16k HDRI which wont pixelate on close ups. Render seems nice enough except models are placed perspectively wrong by a little(rotate bike counter clockwise by 5-10 degree) and i also feel like instead of guy sneaking on girl it should be him getting caught sneaking for that you need to move guy to the left side of bike not so far in the back.

    HDRI Haven has lots of free 16k HDRI's and there are 203 Urban Theme HDRI's.
    Found this Road HDRI  after a light seraching as an example.

    HDRI's are good for creating scene but people often ignore the external lights which can be used to make the subjects stand out and there is one very basic lighting method called 3 Point Light System. Using 3 point light systems method you can place some Linear Spotlight and Linear Point lights to light up faces of people a little.

    and Lastly Camera, couple days ago i discovered FOV settings for camera and it really does a wonderful job to create a focus on subject, you should look into that too when you have a final scene ready to render.

    Post edited by 0996ps on
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