Specular maps (which I think I might not know how to use) and UE2
StratDragon
Posts: 3,249
so I was working with a model using specular maps and rendering to UberEnviornment 2, just the one built in light.
No matter what I appeared to do with the glossy color (tired light and dark colors), the specular value or the glossy value it did not look like anything was changing and the surface stayed very matte looking any time I attempted to render.
Is there a formula for setting those values to do something, is there something else I'm missing or is it a bug?
DS4.6.3.50 pro
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I think this is the nature of the UE2. Therefore I do not recommend to use the UE2 as the only light in a scene. Use an additional spot or distant light. You can set this to "specular only" if you do not like the additional brightness and it will still make the specularities visible.
XoechZ is correct UE2 will not give good spec.http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/21611/P615/#657298 Limitations of the render engine not the light.
As far as I understand the concept behind it, the UE2 is not meant to be a "full light" for itself. I works more as a ambient/occlusion light and is therefore meant to be an addition to other (main) lights.
For my daytime outdoor scenes I always use a combination of only 2 lights. One distant light (for the sun) with a slight yellow tint, and one ambient light (for the sky) with a slight blue tint. The distant light is the main light and produces the shadows, brightness, speculars and reflections, and the ambient light softens it up a bit and fills the dark areas with some "bounce light".
The image below is a good example of that method. I always use the Advanced Ambient Light for that, but I think with the UE2 the result would be very similar. This combination rocks :-)
When your using UE2 you need to make sure you have at least 2 other lights in the scene, a standard distant light set to "on" wont work on it's own, so you need to add a spec only light next to it.
food for thought, thanks everyone, I'll give it a try later.
Is there a formula for the lighting e.g.UE2 intensity 12%, Light 1 (distant)100%, Light 2 (distant) 100%?
No, there is no rule or formula with light intensities. It always depends on your scene and what you want to achieve.
I always use about 80% for the distant light and about 30% for the UE2 as a starting point. Then I do some test renders and tweak the settings until it looks as I want it. The final settings will be different in every image :-)
The other method that I do frequently is to render every light individually at 100% intensity and then blend the images together in Photoshop. This is very cool because you do not need to do time consuming test renders in DAZ Studio and in Photoshop you can change the light intensities "on the fly" by simply changing the layer´s opiacity :-)
Hope that helps a bit.
No, there is no rule or formula with light intensities. It always depends on your scene and what you want to achieve.
I always use about 80% for the distant light and about 30% for the UE2 as a starting point. Then I do some test renders and tweak the settings until it looks as I want it. The final settings will be different in every image :-)
The other method that I do frequently is to render every light individually at 100% intensity and then blend the images together in Photoshop. This is very cool because you do not need to do time consuming test renders in DAZ Studio and in Photoshop you can change the light intensities "on the fly" by simply changing the layer´s opiacity :-)
Hope that helps a bit.
actually it does, I never thought of doing that in PS but it makes total sense.
there is a great tutorial about layered renders on page 28 of the Ds Creative- The Magazine for Daz Studio http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/42372/P75/#654008 second issue.
actually it does, I never thought of doing that in PS but it makes total sense.
Yes, it really does. Now think of all the possibilities you have in PS. You can change a light´s color on the fly and non destructive. Also the intensity. And with layer masks you can make a light affect only a part of your scene. Simply erase the light where you do not want to have it. Endless possibilities and options. :-)
I think that many people are simply afraid of giong that way. But I really don´t know why. They prefer spending hours after hours just with tweaking lights and doing test renders, Life can be so easy :-)
Of course there are situations where this method is not very useful. It always depends on the scene. But once you are used to that layer method, you will love it!
yes indeed!
And if you use the indirect lighting method it rocks even more (depending on the overall scene).
But be avare that it increases the render time dramatically.
You are right. I used the UE2 always in "Indirect light with directional shadows" mode. And that really increases render times, especially with proper quality and render settings.
That is why I switched to the Advanced Ambient Light. It does the same job, but much faster.
Hi,
Hm, not really. And it makes a big difference, switching to natural setups. --> max. trace distance = endless.
See the attached pictures. Think, I allready used them in a different thread.
The first is with advanced ambient (think Adam only used normal occlusion)
The second is with 70% indirect lighting.
Andy