topic Re: dear dwight and other lightworkers (?!) in Visualization

dear dwight and other lightworkers (?!)

Anonymous — Thu, 11 May 2023 12:25:19 GMT

can I get a 'negativ' type of photorealistic image which only shows the shadows cast in my model, and not the furniture etc.
How do I get the shadow edges to be 'soft'?
ps. looking forward to my book, then perhaps I won't need to ask such basic stuff...
many thanks
yours
jonathan

Re: dear dwight and other lightworkers (?!)

Anonymous — Fri, 25 Nov 2005 13:20:27 GMT

Have you tried sketch rendering instead? It's pretty cool too.

Re: dear dwight and other lightworkers (?!)

Dwight — Fri, 25 Nov 2005 17:22:59 GMT

You would like to extract the shadows - not a light works trick. Easily done in Photoshop - all ArchiCAD illustrators need Photoshop.

Soft shadows are made, in part, by greatly increasing the divergence of numerous overlapping light sources contained in the Sun Object (LightWorks in ArchiCAD - pages 30 and 41). Sort of like in The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (1984) where Dr. Lizardo, attempting to cross into the 8th Dimension improperly focuses the rays of his oscillation overthruster, crashes, and ends up in a mental hospital.

Don't let this happen to you.

Re: dear dwight and other lightworkers (?!)

Anonymous — Fri, 25 Nov 2005 20:48:23 GMT

well I might go mad too, or blind, or both, the spaces have white cabinetry, white ceilings, white porcelan, white tiles and white walls!
so all I need is some white light and I'm roaring away...
have ps, but only for the final fix
have created a variety of slightly different whites (via properties, not colours) mind you.
promise to look up the pages as soooon as my copy of L&A arrives
yours
jonathan

Re: dear dwight and other lightworkers (?!)

Dwight — Fri, 25 Nov 2005 20:54:05 GMT

There's no such thing as white.

Re: dear dwight and other lightworkers (?!)

Anonymous — Fri, 25 Nov 2005 20:59:20 GMT

ok, digital grey then
but I'm still looking forward to my big book
jonathan

Re: dear dwight and other lightworkers (?!)

Dwight — Fri, 25 Nov 2005 21:06:14 GMT

Not grey, either.
Warm, creamy colors are best.
Add roughness for interaction with light.

And you will see from the book that light is a combination of blue and yellow unless in California where it is brown and mauve.

(LightWorks in ArchiCAD -- pages 1-208)

Re: dear dwight and other lightworkers (?!)

Anonymous — Tue, 29 Nov 2005 13:37:01 GMT

I wonder why these people are called lightworkers?
As a ArtLantis fan, it seems to me that heavyworkers would be more apt...

Re: dear dwight and other lightworkers (?!)

Anonymous — Tue, 29 Nov 2005 18:48:41 GMT

Hi Krippahl,

You wrote "these ppl" so I felt it might be also me.

I am far far away from starting here another "which renderer is the best" topic. I think the best is the one which meet your expectations and do the job in the end. As long as you are architect it is your engineering and taste that client should admire more than brilliant picture, that is why I prefer LW. It's not easy, that's true, but has one great advatage - it comes with the package, so you can spend more time on your modeling than setting up shaders.
I'm happy that you find Art R useful because it is excelent piece of software, especially for those who doesn't like to "dig deeper". From the other hand if you would only get used to AC's LW philosofy than you might find it amazing (like me).

All the best.

Re: dear dwight and other lightworkers (?!)

Dwight — Tue, 29 Nov 2005 18:56:14 GMT

Thank goodness there's a book on LightWorks, too!

It gets you started in all aspects of superior rendering techniques with LightWorks and makes it much easier to make quick images.

It is true that the new rendering engine is challenging at first, but get the book and have one day of training with me and you will be well on the way.

Order now and get delivery well before Christmas.

Re: dear dwight and other lightworkers (?!)

TomWaltz — Tue, 29 Nov 2005 19:08:39 GMT

tigr wrote:
Hi Krippahl,

You wrote "these ppl" so I felt it might be also me.

I am far far away from starting here another "which renderer is the best" topic. I think the best is the one which meet your expectations and do the job in the end. As long as you are architect it is your engineering and taste that client should admire more than brilliant picture, that is why I prefer LW. It's not easy, that's true, but has one great advatage - it comes with the package, so you can spend more time on your modeling than setting up shaders.
I'm happy that you find Art R useful because it is excelent piece of software, especially for those who doesn't like to "dig deeper". From the other hand if you would only get used to AC's LW philosofy than you might find it amazing (like me).

All the best.

Sounds like the same reasons we use Cinema 4D for the really high-end stuff. It took a little more to learn but REALLY shines.

Surprisingly, we slowly shifted back towards Lightworks. It worked for about 90% of what we do. Although, it also helps that we have a guy who really should be rendering for a living. He has "the eye" for picking the right view point and what to look at. Once in the computer, he knows how it should be lit and what story he wants to tell.

For him, it's not about the software. It's about making what's in his head appear on his computer monitor.

Re: dear dwight and other lightworkers (?!)

Dwight — Tue, 29 Nov 2005 19:20:56 GMT

If you are looking for better work than what LightWorks can provide, it means changing careers: becoming an illustrator.

Cinema 4D is the logical next step since it is relatively inexpensive and has a strong suite of tools, professional capability and a wonderful community.

All rendering software requires learning - it is only the expectation of automatic rendering that users find frustrating.

Re: dear dwight and other lightworkers (?!)

TomWaltz — Tue, 29 Nov 2005 19:40:22 GMT

Dwight wrote:
All rendering software requires learning - it is only the expectation of automatic rendering that users find frustrating.

I feel like we could replace "rendering" with "drafting" in that statement and it would still be true!

Re: dear dwight and other lightworkers (?!)

Dwight — Tue, 29 Nov 2005 19:53:17 GMT

I'm working on a tool to do just that:

Dwight's new parametric ArchiCAD building object:

Just put the building area and building type into the parameter setting and, voom... no more architects.

Re: dear dwight and other lightworkers (?!)

TomWaltz — Tue, 29 Nov 2005 20:12:25 GMT

I think there's an object on Objects Online that does that: Building Maker for $29.

Much cheaper than an architect!

http://objectsonline.com/customer/product.php?productid=115507&cat=0&page=1

Re: dear dwight and other lightworkers (?!)

Anonymous — Tue, 29 Nov 2005 20:43:23 GMT

hi dwight
so here's my very first and very white lightworks rendering then, with a tiny bit of photoshop work. all tips having been taken when given.
haven't really figured out the lights etc, but expect to soon with the imminent (I hope) arrival of my big book of howtodoits in lightworks from addressed author
yours
jonathan

Re: dear dwight and other lightworkers (?!)

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov 2005 09:01:07 GMT

Dwight wrote:
If you are looking for better work than what LightWorks can provide, it means changing careers: becoming an illustrator.

Hi Dwight, never got the chance to ask you if you did return the keys to Davis

As for illustrator, for a long time architects have been also illustrators.
It is not that far away that most of the architecture teaching was based on the beaus art principle, where every architect had to be a very good illustrator.

This is double true today. everyone expects you to present high end renderings with your first sketches, so there are only two ways about it:
Either you send them to a third party (illustrator) which I don't do for the same reasons I use ArchiCAD so as not to have someone else drafting my design, or you have to learn to do them yourself.

Like I said, I am a big Artlantis fan, and I really don't think using it slows me down, quite the opposite.

But, if I ever feel crazy enough to try out hardworks (or should I say herdworks...), then I would start by reading that incredibly amazing book called "LightWorks In ArchiCAD:"
PAYPAL: www.paypal.com: FUNDS to: info.beginnernomore@telus.net
US$95.00 in NA. US$110.00 elsewhere

Re: dear dwight and other lightworkers (?!)

Dwight — Wed, 30 Nov 2005 17:54:29 GMT

Seminar attendees and readers of that book know that LightWorks isn't hard, just marginally documented. Until now.

Your rendering uses two light source types. A similar LightWorks rendering would use three. Furthermore, these light sources can be saved as a module to be used in the future with just one step to place and set up. The three light approach is explained in the Quick Start Guide starting on page 27.

Readers of that book (and of this FORUM) also know to make slick surfaces rougher for improved light interaction and to provide warmer light color to eliminate deadly greyness in their images.

That book is a dense and colorful compendium of LightWorks knowledge and represents good value to any ArchiCAD user who wants better LightWorks images quickly without the added expense and difficulty of learning an additional application, not to mention the time of repeated file transfers.

Re: dear dwight and other lightworkers (?!)

TomWaltz — Wed, 30 Nov 2005 18:06:25 GMT

I have to agree with Dwight: Once you know what the buttons actually do and how they interrelate, Lightworks is not hard at all. It's not as powerful as some other programs, but I do find it pretty solid for most rendering work.

Dwight's book really is a critical part of the equation there, since GS's documentation is pretty sparse.

Re: dear dwight and other lightworkers (?!)

__archiben — Wed, 30 Nov 2005 22:11:21 GMT

krippahl wrote:
look ma, no tricky lightning, just heliodon and sky...

it's quite a nasty rendering though isn't it? i'm sure you would spend more time tweaking and massaging that model in artlantis if you were really going to use it as a presentation illustration?

same same in lightworks . . . i wouldn't know where to begin in artlantis these days (i used to use it), and so i would find that tricky. lightworks isn't hardwork if you know what you're doing. neither is artlantis. but if your experience is only with one or the other . . .

~/archiben