topic Re: General light settings before rendering? in Visualization

General light settings before rendering?

Anonymous — Thu, 11 May 2023 10:24:59 GMT

Hello.

I have used ArchiCAD 10 for about 6 months, and as I get better at it, I have higher expectations to my renderings.

Is there any general light settings you should have before rendering? Now I haven't changed anything with regards to ambient, camera or sun, and I think that my rendered images are a bit bright, almost over exposed.

How many % should my ambient be at? I have changed the color to yellowish.

I have the light at yellowish, warm color, and not at full light intensity.

Should the camera-light-thingy be on or off?

Thank you for your time!

Re: General light settings before rendering?

Anonymous — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 15:52:35 GMT

ju§titia wrote:
Should the camera-light-thingy be on or off?

"Camera Light Thingy Bad" - courtesy of DA

Re: General light settings before rendering?

Dwight — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 16:24:49 GMT

ju§titia wrote:
Hello.

I have used ArchiCAD 10 for about 6 months, and as I get better at it, I have higher expectations to my renderings.

Is there any general light settings you should have before rendering? Now I haven't changed anything with regards to ambient, camera or sun, and I think that my rendered images are a bit bright, almost over exposed.

How many % should my ambient be at? I have changed the color to yellowish.

I have the light at yellowish, warm color, and not at full light intensity.

Should the camera-light-thingy be on or off?

Thank you for your time!

Thank you, junior.

Light settings are adjustable since rendering situations change.
Darker materials need more light, etc.

It is good you understand that light needs color, but ambient should be sky color since it fills shadows.

If you post something, I will say more.

Re: General light settings before rendering?

Anonymous — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 16:27:09 GMT

OK, here's my point:

This does not - to me - look like a pleasant room to be in, in spite of what is (in my opinion) a nice interior for a business cafeteria.

I think this is because of the lighting! I'd like to give it a nice, warm feeling. Any suggestions?

In this image:

Sun: 80% - colored light yellowish
Ambient: 60% - colored very light blue
Camera: 100%

Lights: Light cone down, yellowish light, reduced light intensity.

HELP?!

Re: General light settings before rendering?

Dwight — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 16:54:01 GMT

CAMERA LIGHT BAD.

Well, we DO have a problem if you think bland institutional colors like that make a nice environment. At least the wage slaves have a nice view.

CAMERA LIGHT BAD.

Institutional spaces usually compensate for their sterility with deep floor color and pattern.

CAMERA LIGHT BAD.

Generally, a one point perspective doesn't enhance space, especially when identical things are repeated in rows. Can you find a better viewpoint to de-emphasize these elements?

CAMERA LIGHT BAD.

For light: You've created a ghostly glow in the space that doesn't give it form - the chairs don't cast shadows.

CAMERA LIGHT BAD.

Pick a sun angle to shine through the windows. The bright areas of sunlight falling into the room will model it.

CAMERA LIGHT BAD.

DO NOT use architectural light fixtures to illuminate the space. They are just props - bring other lights to fake the illumination - think like a photographer - several large diameter light cones down usually do the trick.

CAMERA LIGHT BAD.

Roughen your walls- they are mirrored. Generally, rougher surfaces react better to light.

CAMERA LIGHT BAD.

Invest in a good book on this subject.

CAMERA LIGHT BAD.

Re: General light settings before rendering?

Anonymous — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 17:20:25 GMT

I don't know if you "own" this board, but it wouldn't kill you to be nice. I asked for a reason, didn't I?

The walls are actually white. There is some wrong setting somewhere, but I don't know where. I have used light cones, but obviously they aren't intense enough?

When I turn the camera light off, the whole image turns grey-ish. Too little light, then?

Re: General light settings before rendering?

Dwight — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 17:27:14 GMT

Why not put a large diameter light cone down up against the ceiling and see what that does.

And arrange the sun to shine through a window.

Think like a photographer.

Re: General light settings before rendering?

Dwight — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 17:43:26 GMT

THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS WHITE.
Let that be my second yell of the day.

You really make it hard for yourself to render a space when it is "white."
You already know that from the greyness of your space.
That's because the wall reflects too much light and, as i said before, your walls are shiny.

No real wall paint is "white" either - usually a complimentary or contrasting tint. In my house, we tinted the white to contrast the warm wall color. It makes the white seem whiter. Since wall paint is applied with a roller, the tiny dimples make interesting reactions to light. This is where soft shadows come from. Try tinting your walls yellow or brown slightly. This will warm the space.

Attached is an example of what light cone down can do - three in a row are capable of lighting a space.

Re: General light settings before rendering?

Anonymous — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 17:49:36 GMT

I understand that I might seem really stupid to you, and maybe I am.

1) The sun DOES shine through a window. It is set to an altitude of about 40.

2) The walls do have a bit of yellow in them.

I said I had only been doing ArchiCAD for 6 months, so I think it's actually not that bad.

But I will try moving my light cone down's further up against the ceiling, and change my wall "paint", and see if it makes a difference.

Re: General light settings before rendering?

Dwight — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 17:53:01 GMT

Another way to light a space is with general lights - this example has three general lights floating in the space and the sun in the sky. See how light penetration models the volume?

Re: General light settings before rendering?

Dwight — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 18:10:18 GMT

ju§titia wrote:
I understand that I might seem really stupid to you, and maybe I am.

1) The sun DOES shine through a window. It is set to an altitude of about 40.

2) The walls do have a bit of yellow in them.

I said I had only been doing ArchiCAD for 6 months, so I think it's actually not that bad.

But I will try moving my light cone down's further up against the ceiling, and change my wall "paint", and see if it makes a difference.

If i thought that you were stupid, I wouldn't reply to your post. If you think me unkind, you should read what i edited out from my initial post about lime green. But when you turn off the camera light and then post that the scene is too dark and ask does it need more light, how can one reply to that?

1/ make the sun penetration dramatic and obvious like my last example. Sunset.

2/ make the wall tint obvious - and add roughness in the Displacement Class.
Rough setting = .02, .02, 1,1.

3/ there is no measuring quality versus Archicad experience. A bad rendering is a bad rendering and LightWorks as implemented in Archicad is an invitation to bad rendering. It is sort of like when I was in France and sent the wine back. The snotty sommelier came over with his little cup dangling and announced that "This is France, we know good wine." I said: "I come from Canada where we know bad wine." It will always be a fight to make a fine rendering in LightWorks - as implemented in Archicad, not as seen on the website www.lightworks-user.com where they have good renderings.

Re: General light settings before rendering?

Anonymous — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 19:57:02 GMT

Well, now i tried the following:

* Changed the sun to "sunset"
* Changed the wall-paint
* Added more general light
* Removed the camera light

It turned out better, but now it's a bit yellow.. I think I overdid the color of the lights a bit...

I also figured out what happened in the first rendering that I posted; When I have yellow-white-ish walls, and have light blue ambient = green... NOT nice! But when I keep the ambient white now, it looks okay...

I'm sorry I came out a bit strong, but a little piece of advice;
If you want to sell your book in here - which I'm sure is an excellent book - you might want to be a bit friendlier and more helpful in here. That way, I think a lot more people would think "Oh, he's really talented and great! I should get his book", and not the opposite... Just my two cents...

Re: General light settings before rendering?

Dwight — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 20:32:08 GMT

Try a mauve ambient.

Re: General light settings before rendering?

Anonymous — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 20:53:33 GMT

This is how it looks so far.. White ambient..

Re: General light settings before rendering?

Anonymous — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 21:26:27 GMT

ju§titia wrote:
This is how it looks so far.. White ambient..

I like this composition better than the first one if you ask me. I'd second what DA recommended....go for an ambient on the more blueish purplish side, then see how it comes out. Just out of curiosity....are the mountains on the back suppose to represent the view outside or is it just a painting on the wall?
if thats the view outside, and if there is a glass window there....I'd probably give the glass material a bit of reflection and maybe 'lighten' up the background image (again, only if it were representing the view outside). I'd also try choosing a similar texture thats a bit more seamless for the flooring. Just little bits that could make a reasonable difference without much effort.

Re: General light settings before rendering?

Anonymous — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 21:50:44 GMT

Yeah, it's getting better and better! Waiting for rendering of one with grey-mauve-ish ambient now.. Think it will look good!

The landscape is a photo-wallpaper. This is a business cafeteria for a chololate factory in Norway, whos slogan is "A Little Piece of Norway", with a similar kind of picture on their signature chocolate's wrapping...

The floor is supposed to look like silvered driftwood, so it's supposed to be like logs.. You still think I should change it?

Re: General light settings before rendering?

Dwight — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 21:57:37 GMT

The flaw in the silvered [ha! "slivered"] wood image is the repeat of the texture map implies a large fake sheet rather than individual boards.

The solution is to actually model individual floorboards with slightlydifferent material darkness.

Re: General light settings before rendering?

Anonymous — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 22:01:42 GMT

I see your point.. But the floor is actually fake... Vinyl-driftwood......

I tried your candle light... that was still a bit too advanced for me..

Re: General light settings before rendering?

Dwight — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 22:07:37 GMT

The individual boards approach would still work - let it be our secret that it really is sheet goods.

Re: General light settings before rendering?

Anonymous — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 22:10:10 GMT

Hehe, right.. I will have to see if I can do it....

Another image coming up soon, I think you'll like this one much better. I got the nice, warm, fuzzy feeling I wanted. Although I'm not quite sure how........