Why is my render so dark even when I add lights?

[Anonymous]

Hi,
I made a model of a house in Archicad 19, without the roof at first because I can't see the interior if I do, I rendered it, and it's all good. But then when I add the roof and lights, it is still really dark, no different to roof on no lights.
I put 2 lights on top of the kitchen island bench, I made them area lights as well as spot lights, no different, and I put a sunlight window source outside the sliding doors and no difference at all. I increased the light intensity to the max of 200, still nothing.
Any ideas?

[David Maudlin]

Stephanie:

It is best to start with one of the preset CineRender Scenes, like Indoor Daylight Medium (Physical) which has Global Illumination for interior light. The CineRender settings are very complex, so start with a preset Scene.

You should add a Signature to your Profile (click the Profile button near the top of this page) with your ArchiCAD version and operating system (see mine for an example) for more accurate help in this forum.

David

[Anonymous]

Adding to what David said, you could also add Window Light in every window or door from where the light is coming into the building, or at least in the bigger ones.

[MuazOnline]

Stephanie,

adding light and expecting to reflect and give you fine rendered image is not enough anymore after Cinerender is the rendering engine that ArchiCAD is using for rendering.

please see my video on internal rendering using Cinerender engine and you'll see some powerful techniques to do that.

cheers


https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9R0WIVCKaTSB_YZAe6CdMxMILY45WHCX

[Anonymous]

Hi everyone,
Thanks for your responses, I didn't even realise my post was published because when I posted it, a message says there seems to be inappropriat content in my post and it will be checked by a moderator before being published, and I checked the email me updates but I got none.
I use Archicad 19 like I said before, and I use windows 7 64 bit.

For the sliding door that leads to the outside, I am already using the window light source as recommended by Arqrivas and David, and as you can see in the new image I uploaded (it won't let me upload more than 1 image previously) it is still dark. There are also a variety of lights inside. I will have a look at the video, thanks for the link.

[Barry Kelly]

Do you have the lights turned on in the rendering properties dialogue - i.e. set to 100% (or other value) and not 0%?

Barry.

[Anonymous]

Barry wrote:
Do you have the lights turned on in the rendering properties dialogue - i.e. set to 100% (or other value) and not 0%?

Barry.

I'm pretty sure I do, because when it was dark the first time I went back to turn on all the lights to 100%. Does doing this interfere with each other and somehow cancel them all out? I also have window lights, maybe the outdoor one is way to bright so it makes the indoor one look dark? like when you are in a dark room and it is very bright outside, looking outside then in would make the room seem dark? This is a perception thing so I don't think this is the reason but just a thought.

*EDIT*
I just realised your screenshot is of light settings in the render settings as well. I turned the lights to 100% in the lamp settings - when I added a lamp I made that lamp 100%, but didn't do anything in the render settings light settings I don't think, so I will try that later and see what happens.

[Barry Kelly]

The settings in the light themselves allows you to adjust an individual light so you can have one bright, one dim, one off, etc.

The settings in the render properties is a global setting affecting all lights.
So if it is off all lights will be off.
If on then all lights will be on and using the settings in the light object itself.
100% here means you will be using the settings exactly as they are in the light objects but if you need a little more light you can globally increase all lights to 150% or 200% of their individual settings.

Hope that makes sense.

Barry.

[Anonymous]

Hi Barry
I tried changing the settings in the render settings light settings, and it worked this time! Thank you for the tip, I never knew it existed before. Can you give me a pointer about what I should do now to make the render look more realistic?
Thank you

[Barry Kelly]

I am struggling with all the settings myself!
It looks to me you have 2 strong light sources - one at the rear and one overhead.
You need more ambient light in the room if this is not what you intend.

Have you watched the videos in the Archicad youtube channel (in the HELP menu)?

Barry.