Uber 3DL... What am I Doing Wrong?

onimusha

So I really like what the omnifreaker uber environment can do, but figuring out how to get it to work properly has been confounding.

Some renders come out fine.

Other come out covered in what I can only describe as darkened polygons.

Sharing some renders so I can get feedback.

First one is done in 3DL without uber and linear point lights.

Second one is the same render with just uber.

Third and fourth are the same.

Thanks for any advice you can give.

onimusha

Same image, but just using the omnifreaker uber environment with no other lights.

onimusha

Different image in 3DL with linear point lights.

onimusha

Same image with just Omnifreaker Uber. This one came out well... wondering how I can get a look like this consistently.

Richard Haseltine

uberEnvironment works in several modes, with greater fidelity to physics but increasing  demands, so some of the differences may be down to different choices there. Also, there is an option - if AO is enabled - that controls how far the shader looks for occluding geometry; if that is too high then the environemnt may alrgely shadow itself leaving a dark, muddy look.

Sven Dullah

onimusha said:

So I really like what the omnifreaker uber environment can do, but figuring out how to get it to work properly has been confounding.

Some renders come out fine.

Other come out covered in what I can only describe as darkened polygons.

Sharing some renders so I can get feedback.

First one is done in 3DL without uber and linear point lights.

Second one is the same render with just uber.

Third and fourth are the same.

Thanks for any advice you can give.

The grain in your second render is due to using a too small occlusion samples value, in some cases the max 128 may be insuffient and you might have to remove limits and use values like 256 or even 512 for a clean result. The longer the trace depth the more occlusion samples required.

The UE2 is not meant to be used as the main light source, it is supposed to provide some ambient fill light to complement the key/main lights. Also note that the UE2 only outputs diffuse light, no specular light, so ,if relying solely on UE2 when lighting a scene, there will be no specular highlights on props, skin ,hair etc. What you can do is add "specular only" lights to kinda fix that, but it will never be an optimal solution. My tip is: Start your light setup by adding the direct lightsources needed and adjust levels to properly light the scene/subject, lastly add UE2 and carefully increase the light intensity until you're happy;)

Some additional UE2 info here: Using HDRI:s with UberEnvironment 2, the basics

onimusha

These are some great answers. Thanks for the advice! Going to look into your suggestions!