I Just Wanted to Post an Image Thread

[Ken1171]

YES! Another thing I was able to do in DS 3A, was to "look through" whatever light I wanted to see where the light was falling.

Those are called "lite cams" in Poser, where for some reason, SMS has refused to name them the same as the respective lights, so it can be a bit confusing to find which one is which. They are usually listed in the same order as the lights they represent.

Hey I have been modeling chocolate bars again in 3DSMAX. This time it's the Lacta 60% dark cocoa "intense" mint series. Rendered in Poser with Octane. It has been released about 4 months ago, and has become one of my favorites, so it has earned a 3D version. ^_____^

 

[Hornet3d]

I much prefer the lighting system in Lightwave hands down to Poser. Especially the guides on falloff for Pointlights and spots, and the ability to view the scene from the perspective of any light to see just where it's pointing (which poser allegedly has but has never worked properly for me). Lighting is critical.

Poser certainly has limitations with lights and it often needs a lot of work to get the lighting to look right, something I rarely achieve. That said I would suspect that the vast majority of Poser users, when it come to attenuation, they never stray away from constant, for all intents and purposes inverse linear and inverse square just do not exist.

 

[KageRyu]

Is this a comparison of DS3 to DS4, or a comparison of DS3 to Poser? In Poser, you can view through a light's shadowcam.

Yes and no. I have never been able to get that to work reliably or properly - and sometimes just trying it, in any version of poser I have used to date (4-2014GD) slows everything to a crawl and does not update properly when the coresponding light is moved - often it crashes the program. I complained to SMS constantly, but it wasn't an issue they cared to address.

 

[Satira Capriccio]

Check Show cameras and Show lights in the Hierarchy window to easily tell which Shadow Cam Lite belongs to which Light.

 

[tparo]

... I am in DS, where we lack a single place where we can see and manipulate the placement and direction of all lights at once. It's cool how this gizmo shows the effects of each light on a sphere, and allow me to manipulate them without having to go search for them in the scene. This helps keeping the camera on the subject and see the effects in real-time. I believe this is the most intuitive lighting interface I have ever seen in a 3D application.

Not sure if this is what you mean but there is the Lights Tab/Pane, there's also The iray Light Manager Pro availble at Daz, I find it really useful.

 

[Miss B]

Check Show cameras and Show lights in the Hierarchy window to easily tell which Shadow Cam Lite belongs to which Light.

Ahhh interesting. I usually have the lights and cameras "grouped" in the Hierarchy Editor so don't see them individually. It's good to know you can list which Shadow Cam belongs to which Light. Thanks for that tidbit of good info Satira.

 

[Miss B]

Hey I have been modeling chocolate bars again in 3DSMAX. This time it's the Lacta 60% dark cocoa "intense" mint series. Rendered in Poser with Octane. It has been released about 4 months ago, and has become one of my favorites, so it has earned a 3D version. ^_____^

Ohhhh, YUMMMMM!!

 

[Ken1171]

Check Show cameras and Show lights in the Hierarchy window to easily tell which Shadow Cam Lite belongs to which Light.

Ohh, I didn't know the shadow lite cams would show in the hierarchy editor like that, parented to the lights. That's very helpful - better than trying to figure which one is which from the camera list! Thanks for the hint! ^_____^

Not sure if this is what you mean but there is the Lights Tab/Pane, there's also The iray Light Manager Pro availble at Daz, I find it really useful.

The Lights Tab in DS is just a detachable copy of the parameters tab that only contains the lights, It's not quite the same because we are still presented with the same list of parameters and menus to dig in. What I like about the Light Controls gizmo in Poser is that it visually represents all the lights in the scene, their relative positions, intensities, and colors. It gives us a global idea of the scene lighting at a quick glance, and lets us edit the lights as well by directly manipulating this tiny gizmo visually.

In the example on the left, we have a traditional 3-points light setup where I have changed the light colors, and we can see their effect on the sphere at the center. In my scenes, I use mostly spotlights, and give them a target I can place anywhere in the scene - usually at the center. This way I can position the lights using the gizmo, and they always point to my point of interest. This allows me to control the lights without digging into menus and parameter lists, and at the same time give me a global idea of where the lights are, how strong they are, if they are on or off, and what color they are.


What I like about this is that it allows me to control the lighting without ever having to move the camera, which means more immersion and less detractions. At any time, just a quick glance at the gizmo, and I have a global (visual) idea of the scene lighting. The gizmo also makes it easy to place Rim lights because these have to be behind the character, a bit to the side, so they just light a thin silhouette. I can visually see that on the sphere at the center,and it reflects the effect on the elements I have on the scene. The gizmo rotates with the active camera, so it always has the same perspective. This is super important when placing Key lights, placing the shadows exactly where I need them to be in a visual way.

This gizmo is also rendering engine-agnostic, so it helps lighting scenes for Firefly, Superfly/Cycles, and also external renderers like Octane. The Octane plugin captures the camera and light settings from Poser, and updates the scene whenever I adjust them in Poser. So the gizmo helps me position Key and Rim lights in Octane externally as well as it does for the internal rendering engines.

But of course, it's not perfect. It uses Euler rotations, which means dragging the push-pins with the mouse will eventually fall over a deadlock zone, which may have unpredictable results. So once I have the lights on the desired general location, I just use the dials to make fine adjustments with more precision.

I hope this helps clarifying why I like this visual approach more than parameters lists and menus.

 

[tparo]

Ohh, I didn't know the shadow lite cams would show in the hierarchy editor like that, parented to the lights. That's very helpful - better than trying to figure which one is which from the camera list! Thanks for the hint! ^_____^



The Lights Tab in DS is just a detachable copy of the parameters tab that only contains the lights, It's not quite the same because we are still presented with the same list of parameters and menus to dig in. What I like about the Light Controls gizmo in Poser is that it visually represents all the lights in the scene, their relative positions, intensities, and colors. It gives us a global idea of the scene lighting at a quick glance, and lets us edit the lights as well by directly manipulating this tiny gizmo visually.

View attachment 56227

In the example on the left, we have a traditional 3-points light setup where I have changed the light colors, and we can see their effect on the sphere at the center. In my scenes, I use mostly spotlights, and give them a target I can place anywhere in the scene - usually at the center. This way I can position the lights using the gizmo, and they always point to my point of interest. This allows me to control the lights without digging into menus and parameter lists, and at the same time give me a global idea of where the lights are, how strong they are, if they are on or off, and what color they are.


What I like about this is that it allows me to control the lighting without ever having to move the camera, which means more immersion and less detractions. At any time, just a quick glance at the gizmo, and I have a global (visual) idea of the scene lighting. The gizmo also makes it easy to place Rim lights because these have to be behind the character, a bit to the side, so they just light a thin silhouette. I can visually see that on the sphere at the center,and it reflects the effect on the elements I have on the scene. The gizmo rotates with the active camera, so it always has the same perspective. This is super important when placing Key lights, placing the shadows exactly where I need them to be in a visual way.

This gizmo is also rendering engine-agnostic, so it helps lighting scenes for Firefly, Superfly/Cycles, and also external renderers like Octane. The Octane plugin captures the camera and light settings from Poser, and updates the scene whenever I adjust them in Poser. So the gizmo helps me position Key and Rim lights in Octane externally as well as it does for the internal rendering engines.

But of course, it's not perfect. It uses Euler rotations, which means dragging the push-pins with the mouse will eventually fall over a deadlock zone, which may have unpredictable results. So once I have the lights on the desired general location, I just use the dials to make fine adjustments with more precision.

I hope this helps clarifying why I like this visual approach more than parameters lists and menus.

I don't tend to use lights like point, distance, spot, I tend to use mesh lighting - does the gizmo show those does Poser have mesh lighting? its one of the handy things about the light manager shows all lighting.

 

[Carey]

Ohhhh, YUMMMMM!!

Those are called "lite cams" in Poser, where for some reason, SMS has refused to name them the same as the respective lights, so it can be a bit confusing to find which one is which. They are usually listed in the same order as the lights they represent.

Hey I have been modeling chocolate bars again in 3DSMAX. This time it's the Lacta 60% dark cocoa "intense" mint series. Rendered in Poser with Octane. It has been released about 4 months ago, and has become one of my favorites, so it has earned a 3D version. ^_____^

View attachment 56219

and wouldn't you know it... The doctor says the only kind of chocolate I can have is the digital kind

 

[seachnasaigh]

...does the gizmo show those does Poser have mesh lighting? its one of the handy things about the light manager shows all lighting.

Poser does not have a means of designating a mesh as a light, so only Poser lights (infinite, spot, point, area) are shown on the globe gizmo and light list within the hierarchy panel.

Could be a long list...

...depending on how they could be grouped, or considered to be one meshlight.

 

[Ken1171]

I don't tend to use lights like point, distance, spot, I tend to use mesh lighting - does the gizmo show those does Poser have mesh lighting? its one of the handy things about the light manager shows all lighting.

I also use area lights a lot with Octane, since that's the only kind it supports. But answering your question, Poser supports 5 kinds of lights:

* Spotlight (directional with a cone and decay)
* Infinite (directional, parallel rays, no decay)
* Point (omni-directional)
* Diffuse IBL (works like a HDRI dome without requiring an actual dome)
* Area light (directional, great for PBR, aka mesh light)

All of the directional and omni-directional kinds can be controlled by the gizmo, so this only leaves the "Diffuse IBL" out, where the gizmo wouldn't make sense anyway.

Poser does not have a means of designating a mesh as a light, so only Poser lights (infinite, spot, point, area) are shown on the globe gizmo and light list within the hierarchy panel. ...depending on how they could be grouped, or considered to be one meshlight.

I beg to disagree. Poser's native "area light" is an actual mesh light, which can be scaled and manipulated just like mesh lights from other rendering engines. If you need a specific shape, we can use masks on the area light to turn it into another shape, like a circle or even a star.

In addition, any geometry in Poser can be turned into a mesh light by simply assigning a light emitting material to it. Even before Poser came to support mesh lights natively, I was already parenting planes with emitting materials to existing lights, so I could manipulate them with the visual gizmo interface. Thankfully, that is no longer necessary because the native area lights we have now do just that as they are.

 

[Stezza]

Sit Mars!.... sit!

rendered in Carrara

 

[Hornet3d]

For internal lighting I often use the area light set in the ceiling or shining in from a window to light the scene. For strip and panel lamps I size the area light to match the dimensions of the strip or panel. I know I can set such props to be light emitting but the use of an area light gives the ability to adjust the light without interfering with the props.

 

[Ken1171]

For internal lighting I often use the area light set in the ceiling or shining in from a window to light the scene. For strip and panel lamps I size the area light to match the dimensions of the strip or panel. I know I can set such props to be light emitting but the use of an area light gives the ability to adjust the light without interfering with the props.

I tend to use spotlights for Key and Rim lights, and then the area light for the Fill. The reason I don't use mesh lights for everything is because they give me no spill control. That is, they go everywhere. With a light cone, I can place light and shadows just where I need them to be. This helps me light the scene giving focus to the main subject, and provides more control over shadows placement. This is, again, because I am more inclined for artistic lighting than realistic rendering.

 

[Miss B]

and wouldn't you know it... The doctor says the only kind of chocolate I can have is the digital kind

Decades ago my Allergist at the time told me I'm allergic to chocolate. Unfortunately, I'm also addicted to it, though in recent years I've tried to control how much I eat, and how often, which has helped my allergies. That said, however, I don't think I could ever completely stop eating chocolate. ~sigh~

 

[Hornet3d]

I tend to use spotlights for Key and Rim lights, and then the area light for the Fill. The reason I don't use mesh lights for everything is because they give me no spill control. That is, they go everywhere. With a light cone, I can place light and shadows just where I need them to be. This helps me light the scene giving focus to the main subject, and provides more control over shadows placement. This is, again, because I am more inclined for artistic lighting than realistic rendering.

I should have explained myself better or at least given a fuller description. Although I make extensive use of the area lights in internal scene it would be very rare to use only area lights in a scene. I will use point lights in such places as candles, fireplaces and free standing lamps. I would also add a spotlight in most cases highlighting and figures in the scene. I then try to balance the spot with the area light so that the figure is well lit but the spot lamp is not obvious. Once they are all in place I alter the colour and attenuation if required and then work out which lamps I want to produce shadows.

One advantage of using area lights in the same dimensions as a prop that the reflections in a figures eyes are a little bit more convincing. For example if the figure is in a room with two oblong windows the eyes will show two oblong highlights if the figure is facing the window. It is only important of course if the render shows that amount of detail in the render so is has to be portrait or semi portraits type render. .

 

[Carey]

Decades ago my Allergist at the time told me I'm allergic to chocolate. Unfortunately, I'm also addicted to it, though in recent years I've tried to control how much I eat, and how often, which has helped my allergies. That said, however, I don't think I could ever completely stop eating chocolate. ~sigh~

lol you better keep an eye on the news, willy wonka is having bid problems at the chocolate factory,,,,seems chocolate trees are becoming diseased...

 

[KageRyu]

well...there's always vanilla.

 

[Janet]

Decades ago my Allergist at the time told me I'm allergic to chocolate. Unfortunately, I'm also addicted to it, though in recent years I've tried to control how much I eat, and how often, which has helped my allergies. That said, however, I don't think I could ever completely stop eating chocolate. ~sigh~

Holy moley! Not chocolate! Is it all chocolate or just some types?