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IS there a way to do "bounceboard" iray lighting?

FrankTheTankFrankTheTank Posts: 1,131
in Technical Help (nuts n bolts)

I can't light a scene properly. Its an outdoor scene, using an HDRI. There is plenty of "natural light". The problem is that its a fast moving action sequence, where 2 people are chasing each other, the camera is in front the the lead person being chased and there is too much shadow in front. I don't want to rotate the dome as I'm using the background and need things where they are.

If I add a distant light in front it blows everything out.

If I turn the headlamp on for fill, it works fine until the camera gets close to the figure and then it blows everything out.

I think the solution, would be a white plane parented to the camera that would bounce just enough light into the front of the figures.

Or a 2nd solution, would be to just tone down the headllamp but I don't see how to do that. It seems its either on or off. I don't see a setting for intensity on the headlamp.

Any ideas?

Comments

  • KhoryKhory Posts: 3,854

    Or you could add a proper light and parent it to the camera. Load a light using the little spot light icon and then go to the light and go down to where it says light and select that. Then change the shape of the light geometry. You can change the height/width so that is larger and will cast little shadow. You may need to increase the lumen to get the brightness you want. Be sure to look through the light to see where it is aiming after you parent it to the camera.

  • FrankTheTankFrankTheTank Posts: 1,131

    Yes, I'll try that, I was thinking about trying an emissive plane as well. I just need some really soft fill, and I've had a hard time acheiving that.

  • SpottedKittySpottedKitty Posts: 7,232
    DominicTesla said:
    If I add a distant light in front it blows everything out.

    Distant lights tend to do that. Have you tried a Spot light instead? Parent it to the camera, add a geometry setting to soften the shadows, and be prepared to try lots of test renders, tweaking the parented light's Luminous Flux value until it looks right.

    As for the too-bright headlight, remember it's a camera function, not an actual light. Select the camera, go to the Parameters tab, click on Headlamp, and there's your Intensity control. You'll probably have better results using a Spot light with geometry, though; headlights can't have geometry, so you can't soften the shadows. An emissive plane would also work, but that would probably slow down your renders.

  • ToborTobor Posts: 2,300
    edited April 2016
    DominicTesla said:

    Or a 2nd solution, would be to just tone down the headllamp but I don't see how to do that. It seems its either on or off. I don't see a setting for intensity on the headlamp.

    Headlamps have intensity as well as X, Y, and Z offset, so there's quite a bit of control. Look under Headlamp in the Camera properties panel. That said, the headlamp can be quite stark, and is not te best choice for soft fill. As noted elsewhere, you can parent a light to the camera, so it'll move with the camera (and is therefore animatable). Enlarge the emitter size to soften the lighting.

    There's really no point using bounce cards for a task like this, as that just complicates the ray tracing and could make for longer renders. A reflector is what you might do in a real shoot, but in a real shoot, you don't have 6x6-foot softbox lights that you can screw onto the side of your Panavision camera. D|S and Iray allow for that, so you might as well use the feature. Direct lighting is more controllable. (For a 2-meter square softbox, choose Rectangle for the emitter geometry, and change the height and width to 200 and 200.)

    You can parent the light with any offset you want. It doesn't have to be right next (or even in directly in front) of the camera. If the light is forward of the camera, and you see a big black thing in frame, that's the rear side of the emitter. Hide it by turning off the Render Emitter option for that light.

    You will still have a problem with burning out if the camera -- and therefore the light -- get really close to the subject. This is Iray mimicing reality. Think of how you might handle the same problem in a real shoot.

    Post edited by Tobor on
  • FrankTheTankFrankTheTank Posts: 1,131
    Tobor said:
    DominicTesla said:

    Or a 2nd solution, would be to just tone down the headllamp but I don't see how to do that. It seems its either on or off. I don't see a setting for intensity on the headlamp.

    Headlamps have intensity as well as X, Y, and Z offset, so there's quite a bit of control. Look under Headlamp in the Camera properties panel. That said, the headlamp can be quite stark, and is not te best choice for soft fill. As noted elsewhere, you can parent a light to the camera, so it'll move with the camera (and is therefore animatable). Enlarge the emitter size to soften the lighting.

    There's really no point using bounce cards for a task like this, as that just complicates the ray tracing and could make for longer renders. A reflector is what you might do in a real shoot, but in a real shoot, you don't have 6x6-foot softbox lights that you can screw onto the side of your Panavision camera. D|S and Iray allow for that, so you might as well use the feature. Direct lighting is more controllable. (For a 2-meter square softbox, choose Rectangle for the emitter geometry, and change the height and width to 200 and 200.)

    You can parent the light with any offset you want. It doesn't have to be right next (or even in directly in front) of the camera. If the light is forward of the camera, and you see a big black thing in frame, that's the rear side of the emitter. Hide it by turning off the Render Emitter option for that light.

    You will still have a problem with burning out if the camera -- and therefore the light -- get really close to the subject. This is Iray mimicing reality. Think of how you might handle the same problem in a real shoot.

    Really great advice, thank you. So maybe what I should do is actually parent the light to the front figure to maintain a steady distance, hide the emitter and that way the variable distance between the figure and the camera don't come into play.

  • JimbowJimbow Posts: 557

    Maybe try this:

    http://second-circle.deviantart.com/art/Freebie-Iray-Ringlight-for-Daz-Studio-556716130

  • FrankTheTankFrankTheTank Posts: 1,131

    Thanks to all of you, I put together a good lighting scene. Always great advice on these forums.

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