Question: how to write on a wall?

[Anonymous]

Hi, I have a question with ArchiCAD 12 walls:

is it possible to create a writing on the wall?

I would like to have a writing, like a neon sign, on a wall for viewing in 3D and render. Nothing "special" just a plain simple letters attached to a wall (in metal) with an illumination behind them.

I hope you understood what I am talking about, since my architectural english isn't quite good (yet, but hopefully this will change).

Thank you in advance.

[Anonymous]

Unfortunately I don't have Artlantis, that's why I said ArchiCAD is not optimal...

[Karl Ottenstein]

Played a little more - time to get back to work. Artlantis is pretty fussy about neon, perhaps because of its auto-exposure feature. I had to use very low power at night to get a softer glow, but then had to use 10 times the power in this later afternoon shot to get any glow at all to show.

Cheers,
Karl

[Dwight]

Almost like in real life where the sun trumps everything!
It seems in Artlantis that as soon as the heliodon is activated, the power of other lights diminishes.

Here is a similar light that is also suppressed.

[Karl Ottenstein]

Matteo wrote:
Karl, thank you very much (and all others as well). May I ask you how much distance did you put between the text and the wall?

I made the letters 2" (5 cm) thick and offset them by the same amount (5 cm).

With ArchiCAD alone, you cannot directly fake the illumination in one step. But, if you are generating still images (not animation), you might be able to fake it with one of these ideas:

You could turn off the letters and render the scene with one or more light sources creating the desired glow on the wall. Then render just the constant glowing letters against a constant color background to use for masking. Overlay the letters on top of the main render in Photoshop (gimp, etc). If you need shadows too (not fully dark), fake them in Photoshop in the classic Photoshop way.

Or, you could create a special material for the wall in Photoshop which maps to the entire wall and onto which you have painted, in Photoshop, the necessary glowing area. Assign that image to a new material, sized to the wall, and align it to the wall with the Align in 3D command. Illuminate the scene with only ambient lighting. You could even do an animation with this approach.

Either is a bit of work though, and not sure how good the results would be? 😞

Cheers,
Karl

[Karl Ottenstein]

Dwight wrote:
Here is a similar light that is also suppressed.

Beautiful, Dwight! Settings tips for that one in your forthcoming book?

Thanks,
Karl

[Dwight]

Yes, but have not written that part yet.
Very slow going.

[Dwight]

Email me for the instructions to solve the backlit neon sign - the article is too big as an attachment....

[Anonymous]

my quick try . . .

ofc, this is not artlanits
no faking !

i have problem with my moitor its not calibrated so image can be display wrong at your monitors !
low quality image !

[Anonymous]

2 image

[Dwight]

Wonderful!
The usual problem with this effect is that the light is too strong.
How do you contain the light?


Here is a neon solution in LightWorks that could be a backlite, too.