That old chestnut -

[Anonymous]

Hi All,

I am currently faffing about with the attached rendering, and while searching about this forum have found many different opinions regarding your initial/basic Lightworks (for ArchiCAD 10) light setup before one starts to tweak settings.

Am I close or far off with the following -

1) LW skyobject - cold/blue colour - fill light - no shadow - set on 'realistic method'

2) LW sun - warm/yellow light - key light - shadow

3) 'Dwight Light' - inverted sunobject - cold/blue light - no shadow

I have noticed when I use the LW skyobject set on 'realistic method'
my rendering has a fuzziness quality added to it? Is this the norm?

Anyways, as per usual, your comments and advice is always welcome.

Your friendly neighbourhood Stonethrower

[Anonymous]

PS - sorry for zipping the image... but my internet at work here tends to throw a proverbial mickey-fit every time I try to upload unzipped???

[Dwight]

1) LW skyobject - cold/blue colour - fill light - no shadow - set on 'realistic method'

With no shadow, it will be faster not set on "Realistic" since that uses raytracing and can only use one processor to do the rendering.

2) LW sun - warm/yellow light - key light - shadow


Of course you mean the built-in sun set to "realistic." Increase divergence for softer light.

3) 'Dwight Light' - inverted sunobject - cold/blue light - no shadow


ok.

I have noticed when I use the LW skyobject set on 'realistic method'
my rendering has a fuzziness quality added to it? Is this the norm?


yes. but slow rendering.

[Anonymous]

Hi Stoney!

Good start, here a few points that strike me immediately.

- Lighting - Increase no. of samples in realistic skyobject to 400+ to help remove the grainyness. May take a while to render, but will be pretty!
Rotate the angle of the sun to come from top left. This should put some nice shadows on the righthand side of the building, and give a better feeling of depth.
As Dwight mentions, the shadows look too 'crisp'. Try a divergence angle of maybe 1.5 degrees in whatever sun you are using.

- Textures - Change the wood textures you have applied to the windows to a horizontal version.
Change grass to a better texture.
Texture to garage door is 'weird' (spotty?).
Terracotta chimney pots with a slate roof? Yuk!! Change to gray!

- Modelling - Model the ridges as a semicircular custom profile with a stripy texture applied. This greatly reduces the number of polygons to render.
Don't forget to extend the eaves overhang on the dormer windows. It looks wrong when it is in line.
Step in front of garage looks incorrect. You would need a 4x4 to get over the kerb! SEO out a ramp maybe.
Rainwater downpipes are too dominant. Also look too large a diameter. Try 65-70mm dia. instead.

- Composition - Add some interest to the background, either a photo taken on-site or perhaps a simpler one of just some trees and cloudy skyline.
Add trees, bushes, people etc around the site in general. Perhaps add these in photoshop afterwards.
Increase eye level height slightly. It looks a fraction too low?

I hope some of those points may be useful to you. I hope I haven't been overly critical.
Don't forget to show us how you get on!

Pete.