Aura Lighting, Tutorial and Freebie.

[Art_of_Mind]

Aura Lights - An Art_of_Mind Creation

I know it is an older product but I had some spare time and wanted to do a tutorial.
As a Daz Studio user, lighting is something I struggled with in the beginning. Countless hours of trial and error fashioned this product, Aura Lighting. It is an older product and only works with 3Delight but it is easy to use and a free sample is available here,
Aura Lights Daydream - DAZ Studio - ShareCG

These lights give you a great jumping off point for outdoor lighting but I would like to give you a demonstration on how to alter the lights for an indoor natural light effect. My hopes are that with this tutorial on lighting you will be able to tackle any time of the day or place, you can imagine with Aura Lighting.

First I set up my scene, everything is where I want it and I'm not planning on moving anything.
I've just loaded the (Late Evening set) I switched my view so that I am looking through the (Master Camera) and using the controls repositioned it to my desired location.
After rendering through the master camera this is what I got by default.

 

[Art_of_Mind]

Notice how the hair looks too bright, glowing. This is not a fault of the hair; it is not a fault of the lighting. Different artist set their surfaces up different ways just as different artist set their lights up different ways. Lights and surfaces have a love hate relationship, after understanding what triggers different reactions you can get loving results.
Please understand the creator of the hair did not make a mistake with their hair model, this is their preference, I didn't make a mistake with my lighting, this is my preference.
When you see this happen, on hair, clothing, etc. here is how to make the surfaces and lighting make peace with each other.
In this case, I select the hair in the surface tab. I go to the Translucency Strength node; I change the value from 100% to 1%

 

[Art_of_Mind]

Now re-render.

 

[Art_of_Mind]

These lights give you a great jumping off point for outdoor lighting and now I’m going to give you a demonstration on how to alter them for indoors.
Here is a shot of what is in the scene tab.

 

[Art_of_Mind]

The light named (Shadow Caster) is what makes most of the magic. It is by default a distant Light. Let’s change it to a Liner Point Light.
First unparent the Specular light, because if you don't it will get eat by the new light.

 

[Art_of_Mind]

Select the Shadow Castor and while keeping the shadow castor selected go to Create>New Linear Point Light.

 

[Art_of_Mind]

In the next window that pops up Select (Copy and Replace Selected Item: <Shadow Caster> and then hit Accept.

 

[Art_of_Mind]

I've now switched to the Perspective View and repositioned the Linear Point Light.

 

[Art_of_Mind]

Now select the UE2 notice it's value of intensity in the lights tab is set at 37% I'm going to subtract that by 20 changing it's value to 17%

 

[Art_of_Mind]

Now select the Linear Point Light, notice it's value of intensity is set at 54% let's add that 20 we just took here increasing the value to 74%

 

[Art_of_Mind]

Switch view back to the Master Camera and re-render looking through it.

 

[Art_of_Mind]

Got it? Great!
Here comes another tip.
Let’s start all over from the beginning and apply what I just shared with you.
Lets say the default lights render too bright for you liking, and the tip I just shared with you rendered too soft - you want light that renders inbetween the trick you just learned and the default lights.
Here we go - I just deleted all lights and reloaded them.
With the fresh light set loaded, go back into the scene tab and reselect the Shadow Castor. Then in the Lights tab, do not turn down the Intensity, instead change the color from white to gray. You do this by clicking on the white bar, it will activate the color replacement tool in Daz Studio and allowed you to make the change.

 

[Art_of_Mind]

There is still another step but I'm re-rendering to show you what changing the white to gray does.

 

[Art_of_Mind]

Now we are going to do just as we did before, go into the scene tab, select the Shadow Castor.. Go to Create>New Linear Point Light.. Only this time we will select a different option, choose (Copy Selected Item: <Shadow Caster>) and hit accept.

 

[Art_of_Mind]

Now move the point light about just as you did before and re-render.

Another option if you want it brighter, you could select the point light, then go into the lights tab, it should be the same color of gray as you made the Shadow Caster, let's try changing it to white by clicking on the gray bar - bringing up the DS color picker - selecting white - and left clicking on the (Okay) button.

Now re-render.

 

[Art_of_Mind]

Here comes the last tip.
By default the EnvironmentSphere does not show in the render. It is this way by default, as most people choose to add their own background of choice. If you like what you see in the background and want it to be a part of your render.. Select the EnvironmentSphere in the Scene Tab, under (General) in the Parameters Tab you will find that (Visible in Render is turned off.. Simply turn it on.

Just for fun I have started all over again, with the default lights, with only one change, I turned on the EnvironmentSphere and re-rendered. Here is the result.

I hope that with this set and the knowledge I’ve just shared with you; now you can get the ideas you see in your head to come out in your renders.

Look forward to see your renders,
Art_of_Mind

 

[Seliah (Childe of Fyre)]

This is a well written tutorial. Outdoor lighting can be difficult to achieve at times, so I'm sure this will help someone!

Would you mind if I moved it into the DS software/tutorials area? People will usually go looking for tutorials in the software areas, and I wouldn't want to see this get lost beneath other Honey threads.

 

[Pendraia]

Looks good! Thanks for the work on this...

 

[Art_of_Mind]

Looks good! Thanks for the work on this...

Thanks!

This is a well written tutorial. Outdoor lighting can be difficult to achieve at times, so I'm sure this will help someone!

Would you mind if I moved it into the DS software/tutorials area? People will usually go looking for tutorials in the software areas, and I wouldn't want to see this get lost beneath other Honey threads.

I just updated the tutorial with a few more tips (my bag of tricks is now empty) and changed the model from Dawn to a mix of Evanna and Sora.
I didn’t really know where to put this thread, you may move it to the place you feel is most appropriate.

 

[Seliah (Childe of Fyre)]

OK - done.

I just didn't want to see it get lost. You did a really good job writing it up, and I think it could help someone quite a bit.