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Can Someone Explain This

Faeryl WomynFaeryl Womyn Posts: 3,663
in The Commons

I've been seeing mentions of IES Lights or profiles for lights, however, I have no idea what that is. Can someone explain in really simple terms, what that is?

Comments

  • ebergerlyebergerly Posts: 3,255
    edited March 2021

    It's basically a way to simulate the imperfections of real world lights. A light bulb, for example, doesn't give off uniform light all around it. If you turn on a bare light bulb in an otherwise dark room you'll notice how the surrounding walls, etc., are brighter in areas and darker in others. And since our brains are subconsciously aware of this, in order for us to believe the lighting is realistic we generally need to see these variations and imperfections. 

    An IES profile is an industry standard way of mapping the output of a light based on actual manufacturers' measurements. If you have an IES profile image then you can apply that to your renderer to give your 3D light a realistic output. IMO, it makes a HUGE difference. 

    Post edited by ebergerly on
  • plasma_ringplasma_ring Posts: 1,025

    Emission Profile Master is a really easy way to create your own, but you can also download them for free online from sites that specialize in architectural visualization. I haven't used this personally, but it looks like a good resource. 

    If your surface in Daz Studio is emissive, you can load these maps in the dropdown labeled "Emission Profile."

  • ebergerlyebergerly Posts: 3,255
    edited March 2021

    I generally find them on light manufacturers' websites, free to download. Usually it's a big folder full of IES images.  

    Post edited by ebergerly on
  • Faeryl WomynFaeryl Womyn Posts: 3,663

    Thanks guys, will definitely check into this.

  • benniewoodellbenniewoodell Posts: 1,986

    plasma_ring said:

    Emission Profile Master is a really easy way to create your own, but you can also download them for free online from sites that specialize in architectural visualization. I haven't used this personally, but it looks like a good resource. 

    If your surface in Daz Studio is emissive, you can load these maps in the dropdown labeled "Emission Profile."

    I had no idea you can load these into emission profile! Thank you for pointing this out. I've used these in Blender before but didn't know I could in Daz. 

  • ebergerlyebergerly Posts: 3,255

    Just be careful with the emission profiles...it's kinda like a UV mapped image, and if the IES profile doesn't match how the emission object is UV mapped you could get junk. 

  • richardandtracyrichardandtracy Posts: 5,929
    Feels like another bear-trap for the unwary. Should be fun...
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