Best time to set up lighting and Rendering settings

[Ausmax]

Hi everyone,

 

When is the best time to set up lighting and general rendering

settings in a project? Is there any advantage in setting it up before fleshing out a composition eg. before placing sitemaps, vegetation,etc.?

 

The only reason I am thinking along these lines is I am thinking about render

times, testing lighting mood etc. along with saving time on the project.

 

The answer to this question may be obvious but I would still like to hear your thoughts on set up processes.

 

Cheers

[ivanjay]

I am no expert on this subject matter but I find that test renders without proper lighting are a waste of time. The lighting greatly affects your model.

 

I render interior scenes only. I model everything and set up the general lighting in the rooms. I do not worry about small accent and feature lights to keep render times as low as I can. This way, the materials are pretty close to accurately lit.

 

Once that is all done I set up my test render settings and tweak away.

 

Once done tweaking I put in the detail lights (for me it is lighting in equipment as we do foodservice renderings). After that I model and put in the details into my model, food, merchandising, etc. Save that stuff for last as it eats rendering times alive.

[Ausmax]

I am no expert on this subject matter but I find that test renders without proper lighting are a waste of time. The lighting greatly affects your model.

 

I render interior scenes only. I model everything and set up the general lighting in the rooms. I do not worry about small accent and feature lights to keep render times as low as I can. This way, the materials are pretty close to accurately lit.

 

Once that is all done I set up my test render settings and tweak away.

 

Once done tweaking I put in the detail lights (for me it is lighting in equipment as we do foodservice renderings). After that I model and put in the details into my model, food, merchandising, etc. Save that stuff for last as it eats rendering times alive.

 

Thanks for that Ivan,

This should help me cut down on time.

Cheers

[Inxa]

Generally, when my entire modeling is complete, I would give it all a basic white or nearly white material and then light it. Render settings and lighting go hand in hand otherwise t won't work.

 

Then move over to materials. You will have to work on the lights after the material stage, a bit but it would be nearly correct. For tests I use low render settings. Once I am sure of the look and feel I move to a better resolution for a pre-final. Then a high parameter, high resolution render to remove all the noise, artifacts etc.

[Dave Buckley]

i tend to model using blocked out models (boxes etc, with minimal detail) to help find good camera placement and also this then helps me when it comes to deciding on which objects i then need to model in detail based on relative position to the camera.

 

i also use simple standard placeholder materials (flat images) as a guide for which materials are needed where. i also give all glass objects a glass material and place them on a separate layer (and keep this layer turned off for any tests.

 

i then use an 85% white material in my material override slot for testing lighting before going onto developing the materials

 

now that i've found my camera placement and modelled everything to a relevant level of detail and also have my lights setup, i then work on detailed materials and tweak lighting to suit as your lighting will change when you add correct materials, and use my light test for light distribution only and not a final lighting solution, once happy everything is setup i then crank up the render settings as needed

 

slightly different for animations, with animations i follow the above workflow and render out a pre-viz animation of the viewport to help with camera paths/placement and again to help me see which objects need more detail (those that come closer to the camera)

[Ausmax]

Thankyou guys for generously sharing this valuable

information on lighting and setup procedures.

:)Very good, Cheers!

 

Dave, you mentioned camera angles. How much does a camera angle and camera technology contribute to a great Visualisation in a 3d environment?

Edited June 10, 2010 by Ausmax

[Justin Hunt]

composistion can make or break an image. I've seen some really basic models look wonderful with cleaver camera angles, in the same breath detailed, perfectly modeled and shadered scenes look bad with a boring composition.

 

jhv

[Dave Buckley]

composistion can make or break an image. I've seen some really basic models look wonderful with cleaver camera angles, in the same breath detailed, perfectly modeled and shadered scenes look bad with a boring composition.

 

jhv

 

that would have been my answer

[Justin Hunt]

As a little exercise try this

 

Create a simple sphere sitting on top of a box, near an edge of the box. Apply a simple mid grey colour to both.

 

then by just using camera placement and lighting try to create three different moods , 1- Lonely 2- Danger and 3- Romantic.

 

Sounds simple but to really pull it off takes a bit of thought.

 

jhv

[Professor]

As a little exercise try this

 

Create a simple sphere sitting on top of a box, near an edge of the box. Apply a simple mid grey colour to both.

 

then by just using camera placement and lighting try to create three different moods , 1- Lonely 2- Danger and 3- Romantic.

 

Sounds simple but to really pull it off takes a bit of thought.

 

jhv

 

 

Justin, Interesting excersize, I'm curious to see your examples. Could you make some up and post them, please?

[Ausmax]

Justin, Interesting excersize, I'm curious to see your examples. Could you make some up and post them, please?

 

Yes, really good suggestion Justin!

I would also be interested in seeing what you come up with.