Interior lighting advice

[moominjuice]

I've been rendering some small retail units (island type) that sit in large buildings such as airports and shopping malls. The thing is most of these buildings have large extending low ceilings and are usually surrounded by other shops and units and there is usually little or no reference other than the floor and ceiling type.

I've had some success using GI, direct Vray lights to the sides of the model and perhaps even a dome light, but the problem I'm trying to get over is dealing with the lights with a kind of 'infinite' ceiling and floor extending off into the distance.

The direct lights light up the ceiling and floors (exclude doesn't seem to work) and they need to be fairly close to the unit in order to light it properly. If I need to increase or reduce the size of the ceiling or floor objects this has an adverse affect on the GI.

I'd like mask the 'infinite' floor and ceiling using a circular gradient to isolate the unit in a final render but this adds even more headache.

Anyone done anything similar who would care to share some tips or things to try?

 

Steve

[padre.ayuso]

Large spaces are tricky in that if you put more bounces, it takes longer to render, but not necessarily obtain the desired result. If you can, use Photons. I'm not sure if this works with VRay, but using Photos and Final Gather in Mental Ray has produced nothing but great realistic and well lit areas. Don't be shy to use some postwork such as Photoshop to lighten the space afterwards. You will be more than surprised as to the value of these Photons. I have been using them over the last 3 weeks and they do wonders. You can find the tutorial on 3DS Max Version 9 and possibly later versions as well, but for sure on that version. Let me know if that helps. There are also tutorials on the net on how to use these, under Global Illumination.

[hie5]

Large spaces are tricky in that if you put more bounces, it takes longer to render, but not necessarily obtain the desired result. If you can, use Photons. I'm not sure if this works with VRay, but using Photos and Final Gather in Mental Ray has produced nothing but great realistic and well lit areas. Don't be shy to use some postwork such as Photoshop to lighten the space afterwards. You will be more than surprised as to the value of these Photons. I have been using them over the last 3 weeks and they do wonders. You can find the tutorial on 3DS Max Version 9 and possibly later versions as well, but for sure on that version. Let me know if that helps. There are also tutorials on the net on how to use these, under Global Illumination.

Agree. Photoshop touch up is also a tool before production can be considered finished.

 

When rendering, I also try to gauge how much I can actually touch up in photoshop to avoid overspending time in rendering that "perfect set up"