A primary and a cache light

[Gary David Bouton]

Hi All--

I really hope that I can sit down and write a long piece on lighting, because I've yet to be in complete agreement with a lot of suggestions put forth on the work of fellow forum members.

I would just like to submit this unretouched image as an example or creative yet realistic lighting. I wanted the scene to look like morning. The obvious lighting setup should include venetian blinds to suggest morning light peeking through. So I put a directional light on the scene, and then put a bunch of vertical slats in between the light source and the table top.

Finally, I added a weak, second directional light, a red one to warm the scene, to balance and soften the scene. Sort of like ambient light reflected off white walls.

I think the lighting is more expressive than the subject matter ! [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]


My Best,

Gary David Bouton
Gary@GaryDavidBouton.com
Free education! The Writings Web site
and the updated GaryWorld Gallery is pretty okay, too.

[Gary David Bouton]

Hi All--

I really hope that I can sit down and write a long piece on lighting, because I've yet to be in complete agreement with a lot of suggestions put forth on the work of fellow forum members.

I would just like to submit this unretouched image as an example or creative yet realistic lighting. I wanted the scene to look like morning. The obvious lighting setup should include venetian blinds to suggest morning light peeking through. So I put a directional light on the scene, and then put a bunch of vertical slats in between the light source and the table top.

Finally, I added a weak, second directional light, a red one to warm the scene, to balance and soften the scene. Sort of like ambient light reflected off white walls.

I think the lighting is more expressive than the subject matter ! [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]


My Best,

Gary David Bouton
Gary@GaryDavidBouton.com
Free education! The Writings Web site
and the updated GaryWorld Gallery is pretty okay, too.

[randyrives]

Gary,

Great pic! I love the lighting, and the mood it portrays. Shouldn't the slats go all the way to the bottom of the pic. If not shouldn't the bottom of the pic be darker because it would be below the light?

Just asking to help add to my lighting education [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]. I love the pic as is.

--Randy

[Gary David Bouton]

Hi Randy,

The truth? I didn't want the venetian blinds dominating the scene. But to lie a little, "I had the window half open and the blinds half-drawn!"

See how easy rationalizing is? [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]

Truth is: what works is what works. I also had to use a s...ty rendering engine on the piece...I did it before I started collecting 3D apps.


My Best,

Gary David Bouton
Gary@GaryDavidBouton.com
Free education! The Writings Web site
and the updated GaryWorld Gallery is pretty okay, too.

[This message was edited by Gary David Bouton on September 07, 2001 at 11:52.]

[Gary David Bouton]

I did this Christmas card a while ago. There are two important things to see here--first, the shadows on the igloo are pale blue, not black. You see this effect every time you go out in the snow on a sunny day. But most of us use a uniformly black shadow on everything.

Second, the height of the Yule logs casts light *up* and not down on the penguins. And even the Christmas ball, outside of the composition has a shadow on the opposite direction of the illuminating Yule logs.


My Best,

Gary David Bouton
Gary@GaryDavidBouton.com
Free education! The Writings Web site
and the updated GaryWorld Gallery is pretty okay, too.

[s.winders]

This lighting is by no means perfect,but it is what I would think indoor night lighting would be more like.....just my opinion.


Stu.

[s.winders]

Doh!!... forgot to say nice work Gary [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]

Maybe a little less orange though then the image above on second thoughts,and a little more tinted with yellow.


Stu.

[Gary David Bouton]

Stu--

There's a charm all your own when you do the "big scene" still lifes. I consider it to be a "big scene" 'cause it contains a LOT of modeling work.

One thing--unless I'm mistaken, you are using radiosity to gain the shadows. Radiosity, as I've posted earlier, is NOT the next generation of ray tracing. Radiosity is the rendering shadows upon the materials in a scene that are dull and not shiny.

Surely there's something shiny in this scene, no?


I think there's a time when to use tracing from shadows and specular highlights, and a place for shadows on dull textures...and probably a time for both.

Everyone: don't let your program control you, but instead harness what you need from it to bring an idea in your head to life on the screen!

Kindest Regards,

Gary David Bouton
Gary@GaryDavidBouton.com
Free education! The Writings Web site
and the updated GaryWorld Gallery is pretty okay, too.

[Earl]

I'd have to disagree Gary. Even shiny surfaces have a diffuse element to them. And I do believe that just about any scene would benefit from the quality increase in shadow detail of radiosity - especially those which are trying to simulate real world lighting, or photo-like lighting. Indoor scenes especially benefit from this type of rendering...

It is computer intensive - and thus not appropriate for everything... but if you have the guts in your machine (and your 3d program) I don't think there's any scene that wouldn't benefit from it's added quality...

[s.winders]

Thanks Gary [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]


I dont have the radiosity option,I think thats xl 7.I didnt use volumetric lighting either,what I did was I found a way of controlling what light an object reflects and also absorbs,and with this method you can pretty much have your cake and eat it too.Heres what I did...I wanted the floor to look kinda shiny in areas and less in others too mimick wear and tear,yet I also wanted dull wooden furniture,so I turned back the transparency of the furniture so that it couldnt absorb as much light,and I also tweaked the floor with the same method.Before I did this the floor and the furniture were giving off even amounts of specular and looked too similar for my taste.

The reason I didnt include shiny objects is that I felt the light would absorb the specular highlights unless a shiny object was directly beneath or close to the light source itself.I tried to mimick an overhead light and ambient light coming from another room,although I did make it too orange.The other reason I didnt include shiny objects is that I felt the light was evenly distributed and thus would not create too much contrast or ie speculars.as you would get with shiny stuff [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]

Cheers

Stu.