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Solved - Spotlights in Iray?

JasmineSkunkJasmineSkunk Posts: 1,902
edited December 2023 in The Commons

How do I create spotlights or other dynamic lighting environments in Daz Studio while using Iray? If I try to add a spotlight I just get everything all black.

Post edited by JasmineSkunk on

Comments

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,570

    With the spot light selected, go to Parameters

    Under "Light" select the value in Luminance and add two more zeroes on the end of the number as a starting point. If it's still too dark, add more. Too bright... well... you got it from here!

    Jay Versluis does some nice tutorial work on these in the Master Class

  • Peter WadePeter Wade Posts: 1,627

    The default brightness for spotlights in Iray is so low they hardly register. In Studio 4.21 I usually have to multiply the luminous flux setting by a few hundred before they are any use. 

  • FSMCDesignsFSMCDesigns Posts: 12,755

    JasmineSkunk said:

    How do I create spotlights or other dynamic lighting environments in Daz Studio while using Iray? If I try to add a spotlight I just get everything all black.

    After you add a spotlight, hit CTRL + L to see everything and continue working in the viewport. I rarely use spotlights, mostly point lights and emissive lights most of the time.

  • Richard HaseltineRichard Haseltine Posts: 100,941

    If everythign is black the spotlight may well be buried in another object - you can seelct it as you would a camera, from the picker button at top-right, and then use the standard view cotrnols to move it around until it is looking at what you want to light.

  • JasmineSkunkJasmineSkunk Posts: 1,902
    Thanks guys! I'll give all this stuff a try! Appreciate you all!
  • Peter WadePeter Wade Posts: 1,627

    Another little tip. If the render only turns black after you add lights you probably have the headlamp set to automatic. The headlamp is a light fixed to the camera and it normally turns on if you don't have any lights in the scene. Adding a spotlight, point light or distant light turns the automatic headlamp off but emissive lights don't. If you are only using emissive lights in your scene then go into the render settings and set Auto Headlamp to "Never" to switch it off. 

  • JasmineSkunkJasmineSkunk Posts: 1,902
    edited December 2023

    Sorry... I still need help. Nothing I try is fixing the issue. If I leave render setting Iray environment loaded "as is"... I just see the whole scene lit and my spotlight is just an added light. If I change the environment to a dark color, it doesn't seem to show the spotlight even in the scene. If I make the environment "off" and have only the spotlight...it is too dark or even just black.. If I set lamp to never or change the environment lighting in the Render tab...it just lights the entire space... Turning the spotlight up in lumens to 10,000 and increasing intensity barely has any effect. But I see the effects of the spotlight in my viewport. Very confusing...I still need help. I don't know what I need to do.

    !1Added Spotlight.jpg
    1920 x 1080 - 493K
    !1EnvironmentDarkjpg.jpg
    1920 x 1080 - 404K
    !1NeverOff.jpg
    1920 x 1080 - 395K
    !001.jpg
    1920 x 1080 - 412K
    Post edited by JasmineSkunk on
  • crosswindcrosswind Posts: 6,984
    edited December 2023

    JasmineSkunk said:

    Sorry... I still need help. Nothing I try is fixing the issue. If I leave render setting Iray environment loaded "as is"... I just see the whole scene lit and my spotlight is just an added light. If I change the environment to a dark color, it doesn't seem to show the spotlight even in the scene. If I make the environment "off" and have only the spotlight...it is too dark or even just black.. If I set lamp to never or change the environment lighting in the Render tab...it just lights the entire space... Turning the spotlight up in lumens to 10,000 and increasing intensity barely has any effect. But I see the effects of the spotlight in my viewport. Very confusing...I still need help. I don't know what I need to do.

    1st, what you're using is just a "point light" rather than a real spotlight. (I presume you wanna have a mesh light by adding this spotlight...). You may see the property "Light Geometry" in screenshot 1 is "Point"... pls set it to Rectangle or Disc. Point option means it's still a Point Light which is a parallel light rather than a directional light source that can lighten target figures / objects.

    2nd, as other said, Luminous Flux (Lumen) value is too low, pls increase it properly. Actually in screenshot 1, the scene is just lit by the light source from the default HDRI map.

    As for the mesh light, pls try to increase the value of Height (Diameter) and Width of the spotlight, then you'll have soft shadows around the figures / objects. (remember to add a floor beforehand smiley)

    Post edited by crosswind on
  • JasmineSkunkJasmineSkunk Posts: 1,902

    crosswind said:

    JasmineSkunk said:

    Sorry... I still need help. Nothing I try is fixing the issue. If I leave render setting Iray environment loaded "as is"... I just see the whole scene lit and my spotlight is just an added light. If I change the environment to a dark color, it doesn't seem to show the spotlight even in the scene. If I make the environment "off" and have only the spotlight...it is too dark or even just black.. If I set lamp to never or change the environment lighting in the Render tab...it just lights the entire space... Turning the spotlight up in lumens to 10,000 and increasing intensity barely has any effect. But I see the effects of the spotlight in my viewport. Very confusing...I still need help. I don't know what I need to do.

    1st, what you're using is just a "point light" rather than a real spotlight. (I presume you wanna have a mesh light by adding this spotlight...). You may see the property "Light Geometry" in screenshot 1 is "Point"... pls set it to Rectangle or Disc. Point option means it's still a Point Light which is a parallel light rather than a directional light source that can lighten target figures / objects.

    2nd, as other said, Luminous Flux (Lumen) value is too low, pls increase it properly. Actually in screenshot 1, the scene is just lit by the light source from the default HDRI map.

    As for the mesh light, pls try to increase the value of Height (Diameter) and Width of the spotlight, then you'll have soft shadows around the figures / objects. (remember to add a floor beforehand smiley)

    Thanks, crosswind! I'll give this a try! smiley

  • prixatprixat Posts: 1,588

    I think of these values as a rough starting point for Luminosity.

    1500 - table lamp on a bedside table
    10000 - ceiling light in that same bedroom
    100000 - spotlight just beginning to be visible in daylight.

    ...you will probably have to go much higher than 100K, in bright outdoor scenes.

  • JasmineSkunkJasmineSkunk Posts: 1,902

    prixat said:

    I think of these values as a rough starting point for Luminosity.

    1500 - table lamp on a bedside table
    10000 - ceiling light in that same bedroom
    100000 - spotlight just beginning to be visible in daylight.

    ...you will probably have to go much higher than 100K, in bright outdoor scenes.

    Thanks, prixat! I appreciate this very much! smiley

  • JasmineSkunkJasmineSkunk Posts: 1,902

    Finally got it ! Thanks for the help, everyone! heart

  • Richard HaseltineRichard Haseltine Posts: 100,941
    edited December 2023

    crosswind said:

    JasmineSkunk said:

    Sorry... I still need help. Nothing I try is fixing the issue. If I leave render setting Iray environment loaded "as is"... I just see the whole scene lit and my spotlight is just an added light. If I change the environment to a dark color, it doesn't seem to show the spotlight even in the scene. If I make the environment "off" and have only the spotlight...it is too dark or even just black.. If I set lamp to never or change the environment lighting in the Render tab...it just lights the entire space... Turning the spotlight up in lumens to 10,000 and increasing intensity barely has any effect. But I see the effects of the spotlight in my viewport. Very confusing...I still need help. I don't know what I need to do.

    1st, what you're using is just a "point light" rather than a real spotlight. (I presume you wanna have a mesh light by adding this spotlight...). You may see the property "Light Geometry" in screenshot 1 is "Point"... pls set it to Rectangle or Disc. Point option means it's still a Point Light which is a parallel light rather than a directional light source that can lighten target figures / objects.

    A point-geometry light radiates for a single point, in all directions for a point light or in a cone for a spot light, if it has a finite shape it radiates from the area. Neither is producing parallel rays.

    2nd, as other said, Luminous Flux (Lumen) value is too low, pls increase it properly. Actually in screenshot 1, the scene is just lit by the light source from the default HDRI map.

    As for the mesh light, pls try to increase the value of Height (Diameter) and Width of the spotlight, then you'll have soft shadows around the figures / objects. (remember to add a floor beforehand smiley)

    Post edited by Richard Haseltine on
  • JasmineSkunkJasmineSkunk Posts: 1,902

    Richard Haseltine said:

    crosswind said:

    JasmineSkunk said:

    Sorry... I still need help. Nothing I try is fixing the issue. If I leave render setting Iray environment loaded "as is"... I just see the whole scene lit and my spotlight is just an added light. If I change the environment to a dark color, it doesn't seem to show the spotlight even in the scene. If I make the environment "off" and have only the spotlight...it is too dark or even just black.. If I set lamp to never or change the environment lighting in the Render tab...it just lights the entire space... Turning the spotlight up in lumens to 10,000 and increasing intensity barely has any effect. But I see the effects of the spotlight in my viewport. Very confusing...I still need help. I don't know what I need to do.

    1st, what you're using is just a "point light" rather than a real spotlight. (I presume you wanna have a mesh light by adding this spotlight...). You may see the property "Light Geometry" in screenshot 1 is "Point"... pls set it to Rectangle or Disc. Point option means it's still a Point Light which is a parallel light rather than a directional light source that can lighten target figures / objects.

    A point-geometry light radiates for a single point, in all directions for a point light or in a cone for a spot light, if it has a finite shape it radiates from the area. Neither is producing parallel rays.

    That's what I thought it should be. Thanks for the clarification, Richard. smiley

  • crosswindcrosswind Posts: 6,984

    Thanks ！Sorry，my bad ～ I confuse it with Distant Light from time to time，ho～

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