Texture map rendering dark

[fuzzytnth3]

I'm trying to set up some Lightworks materials for a project and I'm having trouble getting the stone colour the way I want it. Could anyone suggest what I need to do the material settings to get it to look more like sandstone and less like granite

I've attached a rendering done in ArchiCAD of the building looking all gloomy and I've posted the same texture rendered in Strata CX plus the original texture map (which maybe of use to others btw)

TIA

[Dwight]

yes, the scale is absurd, but you can get close to degrees Kelvin by using reasonable values.

1900=candlelite 3400=strong incandescent up to 5000=sunlite in Lower Hutt New Zealand, whitest sunlite found.

[Dwight]

but you get better results with the sun object where you set the color visually..

[fuzzytnth3]

Thanks Dwight and Djordje for that. I was starting to guess thats what it was referring to. It didn't help that I misread the min max and of the colour temprature as 0 to 5000 when in fact it's upper limit is 50,000.

I've had a chance to have a go at my image today. I have tried adding a LW sun object but I was finding it a bit heavy handed compared to using the LW colour temp scale. The photo I'm montaging into is an early morning shot just an hour and a half after sunrise so it is quite warm. I really like the degree of control I'm getting with the LW scale and using Dwight's reference numbers plus the website I found.

My setup in the model has three sun objects with a slight yellowy orange colour and the output scale set at 15%. The LW colour temprature scale is now set at 3000 after starting at 2000 and working my way up till I was happy with the colour match with the photos I'm using.

I'm wondering if I should introduce some interior lighting to the banking area at the street level as I suspect at the very least users would have task lighting and computers.

I've attached my first stab at the montage proper. There are a couple of errors but you should get the idea. Any suggestions would be gratefully received

[Dwight]

the obvious error here is that the sun color is quite well expressed in the pavement reflection and the bright sun on the buildings down the way to the right. even the sunlit building on the left tells you how yellow and intense the sun is. Use color sampler to get the right color if using sun object.

You've made it pinky - supermandypinky! and the intensity is too diffuse.

You are trying to use both the LW sun and the sun object? [wrong]

How getting ambient? very little blue in the shot, yet your shadows are cool....

BTW: wonderful photo - dynamic, energetic and sharp! Every context photo should be like this. Did you assemble the entourage or were they all just standing there at once?

Let me have a shot at it. I'll put it in the book.

[Karl Ottenstein]

I agree with Dwight that this is a great context shot ... really nice angle, action and draws you into the story.

My comment relates to the building to the left, which shows distortion from a wide angle lens, and yet your inserted structure does not (of course). Even after fixing the light, this makes it look like an insertion.

Mark Burginger pointed us all to a free Photoshop filter called Panorama Tools a while ago (search the forum). It removes barrel distortion from images beautifully.

I would suggest using Panorama to un-distort the source image (straightening the building on the left perhaps not completely, but at least a bunch)... before the insertion. The result should be more believable. (You'll note the distortion of the building in full sunlight in the distance adjacent to yours ... and that the angle of its face differs from that of yours. You can never really get that fixed with ArchiCAD cameras ... you need to remove the lens distortion first I think.)

Keep posting!

Karl

[Dwight]

but on the other hand, since your better illustrators render against white and paste into the context image, Photoshop's skew, perspective and other distorting tools help jink it onto place at the end, without bothering to detract from the distorted, photographic nature of the original image.

This way, you save work when you don't mess with both images......

[fuzzytnth3]

Dwight wrote:
the obvious error here is that the sun color is quite well expressed in the pavement reflection and the bright sun on the buildings down the way to the right. even the sunlit building on the left tells you how yellow and intense the sun is. Use color sampler to get the right color if using sun object.
You've made it pinky - supermandypinky! and the intensity is too diffuse.
You are trying to use both the LW sun and the sun object? [wrong]
How getting ambient? very little blue in the shot, yet your shadows are cool....

I had used both the Sun setting and LW Sun object. The LW Sun objects were I thought working as a fill light. They have a blue colour which may explain the cool coloured shadows. They were set to 15% output so the main light source is the Sun. So yes I did a bad thing

The "supermanpinky" is coming from the main Sun using a colour temprature of 3000K

The context photo is made up from three digital photos which I merged together manually with a layer mask to reduce the visibility overlaps and loose half a car that appeared in one shot but not the other. The crowd of photographers and tv crew were standing there waiting for a murder case to start in the court building behind where the photo was taken.

I will take on board what you both have suggested and give it another go.

The boss has just seen the image for the first time and he hates the colour and he hates the acid etched glass boxes! Which at the moment look like copper metal boxes!

Fun fun

[Dwight]

wr1nkles wrote:
so heres a hard question dwight (or maybe easy for you ),

Even though with image placement you have to render to a white background first in archicad..... how can you get the lw reflection effect (with respect to the sky/surrounding reflection in the windows etc.), when rendering to a white background. All you will get is white reflection..???


I want sky and surrounding relfection, but i also want to place the building into another image with that images reflection in the building and then create a tippitoes dance to celebrate spring.


nik

The reason for keeping building and background separate is that in most cases you want to have the ability to adjust your model image with photoshop to make it fit the background perfectly. Stretching, minor perspective changes and color/brightness issues are more easily addressed in a photo editor than by trying to make things fit "just so" in ArchiCAD, especially distorted context images!

You can easily map the background image onto the glass surface - this is a cheapandnasty from the old days.

I'm not saying that it shouldn't be done since for simple situations the background rendered image is fine - just use white for the tricky ones.

[Dwight]

Simple solution for Color Temperature in Litewurx

0 - total white light