Interior lighting - light casting !?

[gabmass]

I have read on posts here that using Vray Sun / Dome and HDRI is an overkill for interior scenes and using vray plane light for window panels is suggested instead. I did run a test on an interior.

 

in this one i used vray panel light at window panels

View Screen Capture

 

 

in the other one, I used vray sun. (almost same render time as vray plane light)

View Screen Capture

 

I didnt use any HDRI, it might add up to the render time in that case.

 

 

in vray sun we have Light Casting on the floor, while there is no such thing for Vray Plane Light of window panels.

is there any solution to cast light on the floor just like the way sun does with a plane light?

Edited September 25, 2013 by gabmass

[CliveG]

is there any solution to cast light on the floor just like the way sun does with a plane light?

 

Why?

 

Or put another way, why not just use the Vray sun / sky?

 

This is a fairly subjective question, but for mine, I'd say that if there is sufficient access to exterior light as there is in the scene you posted then use a realistic exterior lighting source. This could be the HDRI / Dome or quicker rendering (probably) Vray Sun / Sky. This would give your scene greater realism and control.

 

However if your scene has limited access to exterior light then I'd be inclined to look at quicker computing alternatives, but as soon as you want an exterior light "effect" I'd be opting for an exterior lighting solution.

 

I do 90% interior work and yet would use exterior lighting almost every time. If there is a large amount of exterior light in the scene, even if you don't see the exterior directly, it can still really make the scene by using a Dome / HDRI, you'll get a quality of light that's hard to match.

 

But I think this is a very subjective thing... you'll get a lot of different opinions.

[Tommy L]

The Vray plane in the window is not intended as a direct light so cannot be compared with VraySun. Its a fill light, intended to boost global illumination or compensate for light falloff in a non-linear workflow. Not as necessary if you have a good handle on your gamma, but can still be a useful tool for faking environmental light and/or rim light effects on objects in front of windows.

[AJLynn]

If you're trying to make this a realistic presentation of sunlight through a window, go with the sun and sky. The plane/area light substitution is for a quicker render when you just need some light, but it would be overkill to put resources into making it very realistic. You mentioned in another thread that you're working on lighting design - in that case I'd definitely go with the more realistic option.

[gabmass]

If there is a large amount of exterior light in the scene, even if you don't see the exterior directly, it can still really make the scene by using a Dome / HDRI, you'll get a quality of light that's hard to match.

 

thanks a lot. is there any guide for how to set up a Dome and HDRI lighting for interior ?

[Nicolai Bongard]

There is no need to look for a tutorial specifically for interiors, as it is the same as exterior, you just adjust your camera settings to compensate.

[matthewgriswold]

Try out Peter Guthrie's blog. This is a pretty common approach, combining V-Ray Sun and HDRI.

http://www.peterguthrie.net/blog/2010/04/vraysun-and-hdri-sky-tutorial/

[RyderSK]

Try out Peter Guthrie's blog. This is a pretty common approach, combining V-Ray Sun and HDRI.

http://www.peterguthrie.net/blog/2010/04/vraysun-and-hdri-sky-tutorial/

 

He doesn't use it though anymore. This is very old article. DomeLight + Sun is basicly too much sampling, and HDRi in Domelight alone can give you direct shadows, you just need proper HDRi or tweak any by yourself (gamma for tweaking diffuse/sharp light, saturation for color cast, blur for shadow fallof, etc..)

 

I am writting article which I hope to publish next week. While it will concern mostly my current Corona renderer workflow, the lighting setups are render-agnostic and will describe everythin about HDRi possible.

 

HDRi is a magical subject, there is so much bro-science around it. (Hard to match lightning, Photoreal by nature, best for everything, everytime..)

[matthewgriswold]

Oh, whoops. Sorry about the misinformation. It's honestly been so long since I've been able to use V-Ray on a daily basis, my techniques are a bit dated.

 

Juraj-Looking forward to the post.

 

***edit: Here's a link to his more up-to-date workflow.

http://www.peterguthrie.net/blog/2012/02/hdri-lighting-workflow/

Edited September 28, 2013 by matthewgriswold

[Nic H]

bro science lol

95% of stff u read on the inetrnet to do with arch vis stuff is bullshit

[CliveG]

I am writing an article which I hope to publish next week.

 

Where is it being published Juraj?

 

I need to read this, as I probably buy into as much of the bro-science out there as everyone else who is trying to improve their work quality.

[Francisco Penaloza]

VRay plane lights and VRay sun work in different ways, VRay sun as it name said it is designed to react as a direct/ parallel light,( like the sun) by default values it will create hard shadows, if you want softer shadows you need to increase the size, if you are working at real world scale a value of 6 will give you softer shadows.

Area lights or in this case VRay plane lights work in a different way, the softness of the shadows depends of the size of the light so by the time you make it the size of a windows you already will have soft shadows, now by your image it look like you have shadows OFF!! I don't see any shadows, or your GI setup is so rough that it it omitting all shadows.

 

If you are doing an interior and you want to have that straight light shadows coming from the windows you should use VRay sun. if you want softer shadows you can increase the sun size or use a sphere light big enough to create a decent lighting.

 

As a beginner I would recommend to use VRay sun/Sky.

 

in some tutorials you'll see people using VRay lights as "portal lights" this is because the sun/Sky light is not enough to illuminate your interior, so you place this VRay Light on the windows to help your GI.

 

HDRI used as lighting source it is recommended to create a not even colored light, since all our CG images usually are in the middle of nowhere and surrounded of nothing we don't have much color variation from our lighting, so using HDR images as light create the effect that we are surrounded of something or in a real place that's the whole purpose, it is more effective or more physically correct, the answer is no, it just give you that extra color that make you image look more real, because of imperfections on the light.

It is a simple setup?

yes because you only are using one light

it is the only solution for interior lighting?

no, because depending of your interior setup outside light won't be enough to lit your interior.

On the internet you'll find different people doing different stuff, are they right or wrong, it is up to you, ArchViz is more an art than a science, so you can approach a scene in different ways depending of what you want to express or what the client want, your approach will depend of time, quality and artistic point of view.

 

Check peter guthrie website and follow his tutorial, master it. Then go to evermotion and follow this tutorial, then go everywhere and try different approach, then is up to you decide what to do depending of your specific scene.