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Here's another sample. This is better, but still not quite right.
After look things over, I realized that the Key Light and Fill Light were on the wrong angle. I think now I've got something that looks pretty decent. I'd like the back wall to be evenly lit, but that seems like a challenge.
By experimenting with the intensities of the background lights (I have 3 of them and each is shining on a separate part of the wall) I was able to make it look more balanced. It's not perfect, but that's because the Key Light is spilling over onto the wall. I don't think there's much I can do about that. I still think I prefer the original version better (which you view at the very beginning of this thread) even though it's a little dark.
I've got two separate lights on Destiny's face, each from a different angle (the girl in armor on the far left).
I was thinking of changing the color of the light. Does anyone know a color that displays heroism? I know that blue is good for displaying coldness and orange for romance.
What I find puzzling is why the group does not cast any shadow? ;)
Apart from that, the lighting improved a lot. I don't know if changing the color would improve anything. As for pure heroism - setting sun light, perhaps. But it requires a different background.
On the other hand, sci-fi tv series tend to use rather neutral lighting for their promo pictures. See Stargate:
SG1: http://www.wallpaperpimper.com/wallpaper/Shows/Stargate/Stargate-SG-1-14-2JD7RCOCHW-800x600.jpg
Atlantis: http://geektyrant.com/storage/post-images/Stargate_Atlantis_Season_5_Cast.jpg?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1273349983085
Universe did more "dramatic" lighting as they were going for the darker and edgier look: http://www.lastgizmo.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/url.jpg
BSG did one of my all-time favourite promos and they used mostly neutral light with a nice key light to paint the edges: http://flimgeeks.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/bc.jpg (What I like about this promo is that the characters interact with the surrounding)
Defiance does neutral: http://scifimafia.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Defiance-s1-cast-promo.jpg
Firefly went for beutral too: http://spoilertv.co.uk/images/cache/archived-old-shows/firefly/cast-promotional-photos/cast-004_FULL.jpg
But they also did several "wacky" promos, the "out-of-place" promos: http://www.firefly-objectsinspace.com/images/gallery/Firefly-Cast01.jpg
and http://bayes.wustl.edu/backup/firefly-serenity-movie-cast-promotional-photos-hq-07-1500.jpg (lovely one!)
A tip: if tour machine can't handle rendering all the characters in one frame, render them seperately and compose in GIMP (or any other graphic software)
The reason the picture above doesn't cast shadows is because I forgot to turn shadows on for the key light (main front light).
I've been playing around with some of my past renders, and I think I'm starting to get the hang of this. Here is a picture of a 1950's version of Buffy The Vampire Slayer. In this one, the key light is casting shadows but I turn up the Shadow Softness a little bit. I really like the final result.
I often set a second light in the same position as the one casting the shadows, but reduce the intensity and leave shadows off for it; this lets you have some light in the shadows so they aren't entirely black.
By George, that is an excellent idea! Actually, the Light Master course mentions this technique but I didn't think of it. Here is my newest version. Much improved! Thank you!
As a lark, I'm also going to post my very first version of the scene just so you can see what a difference this course has made for me!
That's a huge difference, all right. :) Well done!
Here is another updated version. I now have a spotlight shining on the east wall and a distant light creating a window reflection on the floor. Subtle differences, but still better I think.
The only thing about the extra lights is... don't the vampires avoid being out during the day? All the light at the far end of the hall makes it look like it's broad daylight outside, and the extra window reflection is adding to that effect.
Moving on to other topics, if you don't want the bad guy's pants to be so shiny, you'll probably want to select that surface and set the specular color to dark grey. :)
Well, that's supposed to be moonlight coming in through the windows.
You can kinda fake a moonlight effect by turning the light blue to simulate a dark place.
Its a common trick in movies and illustrations.
Try making the light a bit blue to suggest nighttime/moonlight.
I really like that picture. the colours are deep and it has a toony look
I've created two more versions. The first with blue light coming through the window, and the second with all the lights being blue. I like the first. I'm not so sure about the second. I'd be curious to hear other people's opinions as to which they like better.
I like the first better too.
Here are two more renders I've done. I'm getting better at this, although it's frustrating at how much time I have to spend tweaking the lighting for each one. I'm sure I'll get faster with time, though.
very much better!
NOW this is getting to where it will be a nice Comic to read.
Here's an updated version of Aurelia. I thought the first version was too dark. After a lot of fiddling, I think I've got it just right, but this is really time-consuming!
it looks great!
All blue seems like overkill. Is there any electric light in the scene? But the first one may be a bit too subtle.
I think there may be a bit too much green in that blue light. Try shading a bit more in the purple direction, but not too much.
As for the amount of time lighting takes, this is why I mentioned doing it by scene (set) when possible. Establish the lighting you'll use in each of your major sets, and you won't have to tinker with it so much for those images, at least.
That sounds like a great idea in theory, but I'm not sure how well that will work in practice. The current sci-fi scene I'm working on is taking place inside the Vanguard ship. I've got an arial light (overall light) shining down across the entire ceiling, but I'm not sure what else I could do. Because every time I move the characters or the camera, I need to shift the lighting. I'm using the 7 point light setup from the Dreamlight course (although for me it's more like 9 because there are simply more dark spots than I would like).
I realize I could set up some point lights in various areas, but that would ultimately lead to spill (more than one light shining on the same place) which you're supposed to avoid because spill makes it difficult to make adjustments.
I know that distance lights would cover huge areas from each side, but I've tried them and I don't like the way they look, not for this particular scene.
Any suggestions about this would be welcome.
I think you might want to try UberEnvironment with image-based lighting, rather than a 7 or 9 point system based on a specific camera angle. Take a look at these:
http://www.daz3d.com/serene-scene-ds4-uberenvironment-lights
http://www.daz3d.com/predatron-ds-lights
http://www.daz3d.com/luminance-hdris-for-daz-studio
http://www.daz3d.com/daz-dimension-lights-1
http://www.daz3d.com/daz-dimension-lights-2
http://www.daz3d.com/ibl-cold-days
http://www.daz3d.com/hdri-scenes
http://www.daz3d.com/dawn-to-dusk-lighting
One of these IBL sets might work for you. Take a look at the promo examples and see if some of them match the kind of lighting your sets need. Properly you want to create an IBL image that matches your set, but that's an extra layer of complexity that you could probably skip for now. If you want to try it, you could look at these:
http://www.daz3d.com/skymap-hdr-generator
http://www.daz3d.com/bryce-7-pro-scene-converter
Just as a reminder, you can use HDRI images created for other software packages in DS. You may need to load them manually into UberEnvironment, however.
Just to clarify-- what you're doing looks great. I only suggest looking at these options because you can set them up once for a set and then change figure positions and camera angles more easily, and they still tend to render fairly quickly. There are still critical moments in storytelling when you want to hand-tweak the lights to highlight the emotional impact of the scene, of course. ;)
Thanks for the compliment.
I recently bought DIY Lights but the IBL setting gave my characters a look that I just didn't like. I also have tried UberEnvironment 2 and I didn't like that either. It seems to me that a lot of these lighting sets are not for beginners. I feel compelled to stick with doing the basics myself at least for now. With practice, I know I'll get faster.
In a few weeks, I should have my Buffy the Vampire Slayer comic book completed. I hope you will all check it out since a lot of these new lighting skills I've acquired will be on display!
Wow, check this render out! Is this sweet or what?
The thing to understand about UberEnvironment is that it is a kind of light, not a complete light set. It is effectively a perfect "fill" light, because it comes from all directions at once. Adding an image to it wraps the image around your scene and makes the lighting from different directions vary a bit, as they would in a real scene. Again, this works well for "illustration" tasks where you may want to render the same set from multiple camera angles and with different characters, rather than for custom portrait lighting focused on a single character (though UE can help with those, too).
I don't think you ever want to use UE without an image at full strength, or at least I don't. But at 20-30% intensity, maybe a bit more with a dark image, it does a good job making sure all of your scene gets enough lighting to be visible, and then with a 70% distant light, you've got a good basic light rig for outdoor natural lighting. You do need to use UberSurface (or UberHair) on hair and turn off AO or you'll be there all year waiting for your render to finish. ;)
For indoor (in-ship) lighting, I'd use UE with an image that matches the general color and mood of the walls of the deck/cabin at about 30% strength, then add a few specific scene lights for overhead or screen lighting (or a nearby star/sun/planet out a viewport).
I'll try to post an example tonight.
Galactica, I think you're getting the idea. Try not to overthink it, though. Much of the time you can get away with a key and fill light. Keep the key to fill ratio appropriate to the mood of the scene. Add in a backlight if your subject needs some separation from the background.
In this picture, Cleo is wearing the B25SCA armor. The suit looks too bright in certain places. Does anyone know how I can correct this? I've tried adjusting the lights and it hasn't made much of a different. The Ambient Strength for the armor is also set at 0.
Adjust the Reflection and Specular strengths of the Material Zones. Lower one or both until your happy with the result.