7 replies to this topic

[Verlin Klassen]

I am not satisfied with the results I am getting with my Ray Traced mode renderings. I have spent a lot of time adjusting north direction, day of year, and time of day to get maximum light on my houses, but would like to be able to eliminate shadows in areas that I want illuminated. Is there something more that can be done with the lights such as direct, point, spot, atmospheric, and area lights? I have played around with them a little, but would really appreciate some tips. I asked tech support if I could pay them to do some one on one tutoring, but all they can offer is their 8 hour package. I would be willing to pay someone to give me some tips, or maybe someone would like to post a tutorial or video on this topic.   

The 2  attached files are both rendered in the Ray Traced mode with the Direct x12 renederer. The one is done with path tracing turned off, and the other one is done with path tracing set at 20 000 passes. The one with the path tracing turned off, shows the front roof edges clearer than the one with it turned on. I could add more lights to the fron of the porch, but I also think if I could just add lighting to the image that could be directed where I need it.

Attached Files

•  Strand Front Image Sky Background.jpg   156.35KB   5 downloads
•  Front Image Sky Background 20000 Passes.jpg   141.78KB   5 downloads

[Matthew Dunson]

I think you are heading in the right direction when it comes to how SoftPlan does light calculations. For Path Tracing, exterior shots seem to render heavier shadows in more detailed geometric areas (such as siding or fascia) however there are a few ways to decrease the shadow amount by simply adding 3D lights as you mentioned. Direct Lights mimic closest to the sun and provides high illuminance(lux) values to brighten the scene. However, your model can easily be overexposed with too many lights so I would suggest adjusting your sun illuminance(lux) in Model, Sun Options to balance with the number of lights in your scene but typically the default sun options are a good starting point. When you Edit a Direct Light, you will see two categories: Position and Target. The Position is where the light is located in 3D space. The Target is the direction of where the light is shining. Position Z for Target is important for when you want to set an elevation for the light (in your example to be pointing towards to roof fascia). The Position relative to the Target is also important since a closer Light Position to Target Position would have different results if you had a Light Position that is far from the Target Position (your target position in this case will be what you are trying to illuminate). I would think of it as a movie set where large distant lights provide a diffused and dispersed light array versus closer lights will have crisper shadows. Your difference in Light Position Z and Target Z will also determine if your light is tilting up or down (set a lower Light Position Z and Higher Target Z to get your light to point up from the ground to your roof line to illuminate the under space of the roof for more clarity and definition (mimics real life indirect illumination from surfaces). One more tip, I would work with your lights at a higher Illumination(lux) value so you can see how the light is impacting the scene (sometimes even change the light color to visualize it in 3D space) and then turn down the illuminance(lux) value and adjust to your final desired brightness.

[Verlin Klassen]

I really appreciate your response Matthew. In this case where I want to illuminate the fascia and get rid of the shadows, how far away from the house would you place the lights and how many would you use? I placed a bunch across the front of the house, set the illuminance to 120000, position z at 2', and target z at various heights from about 9' to 14' and couldn't really see any difference.

[Fred Russell]

I didn't look at this hard, but you can do a surface edit and lighten the roof and maybe the soffit or freeze,   maybe change time of day on sun.   sometimes on direct light it helps to put the light at say 35' and it helps as an extra sun.

I 've messed with turning the sun's shade off and using the direct light's shade.

Just some thoughts

 

Also has helped me to make the windows a little clear and put lights inside the house and some outside, tends to help with reality

[Verlin Klassen]

I appreciate the input. The attached is the result of adding 1 direct light approx. 35' from the front of the house. That was what I was looking for.

Now, would anyone care to give some tips on where and how to use the other lighting options- Point, Spot, Atmosheric, and Area lights? Are they mostly for interior rendering??

Attached Files

•  Front Image Sky Background 20000 Passes 2.jpg   118.2KB   3 downloads

[Fred Russell]

I would suggest you put some interior lights, seems they somehow help the outside.

I mainly use 3d for doing videos to email to customers.         Path doesn't do well for that,      Path doesn't work for me, so I don'ts turn it on.

Try surface Edit on window glazing, and change the opacity, to have them somewhat clear, or however you like,    This tends to somehow use the interior lights, to again get the rendering or textured drawing

look more realistic.

I have not got it down to having everything right on the 3D.       But surface editing stuff like shingles siding,  etc.  can darken or lighten that particular item.

lately I have messed with turning the shadow off on the sun or direct light to made the picture clearer.

[Matthew Dunson]

One practice that I always try to do is color match your materials to the real-life manufacturer materials you plan on using in the build. In your renders, the roof and fascia seem to be textured in a rich black that may or may not represent the manufacturers finish color. Adjusting your materials to be color accurate makes a huge difference for the overall appearance of the render since a lot of manufacturer "Blacks" are not pure black and look almost charcoal black (use the RGB values to add accurate colors or select from the paint catalogs that SoftPlan provides; a lot of my projects use PPG Voices of Color). Adding exterior wall lights does contribute to the overall scene lighting and depending on the fixture and location, it can add uplighting to the roof fascia. Once you do venture into adding interior lighting, I would also try to keep the lighting true to the actual light source values such as temperature and lumens. Usually, all my interior lighting seems to work almost perfectly by adding the actual fixture light values in the spaces without the need for additional artificial lighting, but you may have to based off your overall lighting in the scene.

[Peter Nauta]

Best bet would be to surface edit your fascia and increase the specular or ambient... if you want you can even set a value for emissiveness and that will make it become it's own light source.