Candlelight Scene

[ctk111]

Hi

 

I'm about to start lighting a scene with about 30 candles spread out over a large room. I'm not sure on the best way to go about it because I've never used this many lights before. Does anyone have any suggestions or tips?

 

Thanks!

[raterry]

What software and render engine will you/can you use?

[raterry]

nevermind, I just realized the thread you posted this in. My bad.

[kippu]

i would suggest a vray light material to the object....it seems simpler to control....and i remember faintly that it takes lower time to render but i might be wrong too

[Tim Saunders]

I agree as far as the vray light material for the glow effect of the candles. I suggest actual lights for the lighting effects though. How you light your scene would depend on how your lights are layed out though. If they are just lined up straight, I would try something like what I have shown in the attachment. If they are spread out and if you will need to see actual detail of how each candle's light is casted, you may actually need to place a light at each candle. In that case, I suggest vray spheres at each candle. Obviously with that many lights, the render times will slow way down, but you may be able to get away with having super low subdivs since you will have so many lights.

[ctk111]

For the most part they're spread out, but a few might be lined up. So maybe it's a mixture of vray spheres and the way you've both suggested. How much intensity did you have for your spheres? Tim did you post the file because I don't see it.

 

thanks

[Tim Saunders]

I didn't experiment with actual light settings, I jsut posted what I think may work. But I di think, you will want very low subdivs for the sphere lights. Start really low, like 2-3 then increase subdivs as needed.

[ctk111]

Can I get some comments on the flames or anything else you might notice in this view? Is there a way to get multiple colors out of the vray light material? I'd like to get the difference between the inner and outer glow of the flame. I'm still working on the larger interior scene. This is just a close up. Thanks.

[Mechadus]

Ive done scenes sorta like this before... Had a client who wanted her pooldeck completely lit by tiki torches. Because if the size of the scene I was working with, the number of render passes and yadda yadda I would up doing the majority of my lighting with standard MAX omni lights, set to NOT generate GI. I used other lights, set to Diffuse only to cast the GI in areas where it was noticeable, but out of probably 100 torches, I only had maybe 10 generating GI. It looked really decent (mostly because of some crafty texturing by one of my co-workers) and that pass rendered in like 20 mins a frame. Would be happy to bust out a demo-scene if you need the ref.

 

-Nick Kropat

 

Nick@Virtual3dinc.com

Sr 3D artist

Virtual 3D INC

 

http://www.virtual3dinc.com

[ctk111]

I'm back on this project for a few days and have made some updates. I increased the light intensity for all of the lights in my scene and adjusted the exposure settings in p-shop, which helped out a lot. Comments and critiques are appreciated.

[BrianKitts]

I would warm up the color you have set for the candle glow. The current color looks like its comming from an incandescent bulb, a warmer yellowish orange would change the feel of the whole scene.

[ctk111]

I would warm up the color you have set for the candle glow. The current color looks like its comming from an incandescent bulb, a warmer yellowish orange would change the feel of the whole scene.

 

Thanks for pointing this out. I thought it felt a little cold as well. I added a warming filter to it in p-shop.