Lighting

[wilky9]

I have a scene of a school hallway with numerous pendant lights, windows, and wall uplighting, and looking into a large room with just as many lights. Would you include all of these lights in your render (all of them lighting the scene and casting shadows) or would you fake them in some way? I'd like the render to be as accurate as possible, but I am taking a huge time hit with all of these lights.

Using Lightwave 9, with Fprime 1.2.

ps. does this guy look like he has a goatee to anyone else?

[IC]

I wouldn't have all of them casting shadows. What about using luminous surfaces (I take it you're using radiosity?)

[karl zacharias]

go tee no ...more like a bow tie

[wilky9]

I wouldn't have all of them casting shadows. What about using luminous surfaces (I take it you're using radiosity?)

Yeah, I have luminous surfaces on all of the lights, and I'm using a 2 bounce MC radiosity. I guess what I'm looking for is, "What would you do?" in this situation. I've got 11 lights in the hallway, about 12 more in the room it opens in to, a sunlight through the windows, and a few more for side classrooms, and a couple of display case lights. Are we talking about creative object layering in modeler, and then being selective with which lights exclude which objects? The whole "layer" thing is a part of Lightwave that I could do without.

[IC]

In situations like this I think the layer system comes into it's own. Just give each layer a name and your workflow becomes half as tricky.

 

It's difficult to say what to do without seeing the scene but I tend to never have all lights on in that kind of situation. The shadows might be correct in reality but in CGI it looks daft.

 

In fact if I could get the lighting to look right I wouldn't be at all concerned about which ones were on as long as they 'looked' on (luminous bulb materials.)

[wilky9]

Well all right. I'll try being more efficient with my layering and deciding which lights to use. As always, thanks to everyone for helping!

[IC]

All credit to karl really.

He's a genius.

 

No progress to let us see?

[wilky9]

nothing I want to show right now. Not sure if I'm allowed to anyway, as we are still working out the details of the project. I've had to shelf this project for a few days to finish up some other non-3d work (ugh).

 

yes, maybe I should have asked about the smily-goatee guy in a separate thread?! props to Karl!

[Allen]

The whole "layer" thing is a part of Lightwave that I could do without.

 

I used to think the same thing, but layers give you so much control in lighting that IMO, they're indispensible. They also allow you so control what part of your object casts shadows, or receives same.

 

I also use layers to control HD Instance.

 

Learn to love the layers, man...you'll never regret it.