Bending a Linear Light

[rad_thundercat]

I run into a lot of situations where being able to bend a linear light would be a HUGE help. -Mostly when trying to put cove lighting in a curved soffit.

 

Right now, I setup a bunch of short linear lights and rotate them around the curves, but the results are not up to par with the rest.

 

I've tried using the LightMesh script, but it's a bit of a pain and I was hoping there is a better method out there.

 

So how do you guys deal with abnormal cove lighting?

 

EDIT: forgot to mention -*without* using final gather I'm looking for an alternative to depending on FG and glowing materials for this effect.

Edited April 13, 2010 by rad_thundercat
clarification

[TSuess]

I am searching for an answer to the EXACT SAME QUESTION!! It's very tedious to place 25 linear lights around a curved soffit. and the reults are usually poo-poo.

[kippu]

is this in Mental ray ?

can you not use a self illuminated object?

[TSuess]

Yes that is an option. However, I've found the photometirc lighting to be much easier to control. They seem to distribute the light more evenly. I get hot spots when using Self - Illuminating materials. Yes in MR.

[kippu]

http://forums.cgarchitect.com/36451-effective-cove-lighting.html

 

some searches found me this , i am not proficient with mental ray so i wont know if that helps , justin will know about it

[rad_thundercat]

is this in Mental ray ?

can you not use a self illuminated object?

 

Thanks for the tip, but I want to do with without FG. I've found using ambient occlusion on an omni gives me great "indirect illumination" results at a fraction of the rendering time compared to final gather.

[aaronrumple]

Vray's mesh based light is perfect for this. Doesn't help the MR users tho...