Point of view of light

Sam_16471

Hi all,

How to set the view to become the point of view of light in Carrara 8.1.1?

Thanks in advance

tbwoq

Carrara doesn't have this feature yet. The easiest way is to drag a new camera from the top tool bar camera icon directly onto the light object in the scenes instance list. This will parent the new camera to the lights position.

You can then save that position in the upper left of the scene window camera drop down menu->'Set position to...'->'Save Position...'' and delete the new camera if needed. You may have to use the universal manipulator to move the camera a little so the light display object doesn't block the view.

evilproducer

I can see where some people might like this feature, but for me there are other methods that are just as fast. Setting the Interactive Renderer to display scene lighting for instance, or using a point at modifier.

To each their own. As far as my personal feature wish-list, it's pretty close to the bottom.

wetcircuit

evilproducer said:

I can see where some people might like this feature, but for me there are other methods that are just as fast. Setting the Interactive Renderer to display scene lighting for instance, or using a point at modifier.

I also use a point at modifier on my lights. I feel it is very "handy" to control this way, in that it feel like you are manipulating more by hand.... If you want a light coming from a higher angle just move it higher. If you want it for from the left just drag it left.... The camera can stay focused on your subject, and you "sculpt" the shadows by moving the lights.

I get that a "lightcam" would show you what the light is generally pointing at, but it tells you nothing about how the subject actually appears under that light.... It seems a very utilitarian way of pointing a light, but not a good way of visualizing the final results.

If the light were parented to a camera (rather than the other way around) then you could at least use the camera controls to orbit around the subject. I have some light rigs where a fill light is parented "below" the camera.

Dartanbeck

tbwoq said:

Carrara doesn't have this feature yet. The easiest way is to drag a new camera from the top tool bar camera icon directly onto the light object in the scenes instance list. This will parent the new camera to the lights position.

You can then save that position in the upper left of the scene window camera drop down menu->'Set position to...'->'Save Position...'' and delete the new camera if needed. You may have to use the universal manipulator to move the camera a little so the light display object doesn't block the view.

That's a great trick! So when you drag the new camera from the toolbar directly onto the light, in the instances tray(?), it snaps to that same angle and location? I would leave it parented, myself. Carrara just doesn't care how many cameras you have. Just name the new camera to Mid-Fill-Bldg-Shdw, or whatever - to match the light's name! Thanks tbwoq!

3DAGE

If the reason for looking from the Lights position is to see what the light is pointing at, and to adjust that, ....then you don't need to.

Create a Target Helper object, call it "Light target", or something like that.
Select your light,. Go to the Modifiers panel, and add a "Point at" modifier.
Select your "Light target" (helper object) as the "Target" for the light to point at.

Now, you can move the light around, and it'll always point at that target.
You can also move the target and the light will point at the target.

No need to have a "View from Light" to help you position lights accurately.

You can also use the same process with a Camera and helper, to create a target camera.

Hope it helps :)

tbwoq

Dartanbeck said:

tbwoq said:

Carrara doesn't have this feature yet. The easiest way is to drag a new camera from the top tool bar camera icon directly onto the light object in the scenes instance list. This will parent the new camera to the lights position.

You can then save that position in the upper left of the scene window camera drop down menu->'Set position to...'->'Save Position...'' and delete the new camera if needed. You may have to use the universal manipulator to move the camera a little so the light display object doesn't block the view.

That's a great trick! So when you drag the new camera from the toolbar directly onto the light, in the instances tray(?), it snaps to that same angle and location? I would leave it parented, myself. Carrara just doesn't care how many cameras you have. Just name the new camera to Mid-Fill-Bldg-Shdw, or whatever - to match the light's name! Thanks tbwoq!

Hi Dartanbeck. Np. :)

Yeah it snaps to the same angle and location with most objects. I use this in place of the Align feature when possible. What surprised me is that you can save the new cameras position and then delete that camera, but the saved position will remain and can be saved with the scene.

----

Viewing through a light can be useful for many things.

-Light falloffs.
-Sun Light direction.
-Light banking.
-Fill light/Rim light.
-Transparencies.
-Aiming from inside objects.
-Setting up reflections.
-Light gel setups.
-Animating POV views from a helicopter spotlight, car headlights, flashlights....etc.

Dartanbeck

I totally agree. I really like being able to see through the light's pov. But even more so now, after reading through this awesome book by Birn!
The reason I am thinking of parenting the light to the camera, and leaving the camera in place (instead of just saving its position) is so that I can actually use the camera to set how the light is aimed. And since it doesn't add any actual geometry to the scene... just leave it in! :)

evilproducer

I usually go the other way and parent the light to the camera. This is useful in C7 when using shape lights, as C7 doesn't have the avatar for the shape light, just a generic bulb light. Using this method gives an idea of the orientation of the shape.

As to using the POV to aim a light? Much faster and effective ways to do in my opinion.

Dartanbeck

evilproducer said:

I usually go the other way and parent the light to the camera. That's the Same way around :)

Dartanbeck said:

I totally agree. I really like being able to see through the light's pov. But even more so now, after reading through this awesome book by Birn!
The reason I am thinking of parenting the light to the camera, and leaving the camera in place (instead of just saving its position) is so that I can actually use the camera to set how the light is aimed. And since it doesn't add any actual geometry to the scene... just leave it in! :)

As to using the POV to aim a light? Much faster and effective ways to do in my opinion.Certainly. One of my favorite things in Carrara is how 'real world' like the lights can be just placed and aimed in the scene. Aiming by pointing at Target helpers gives enormous control. That's why I've never cried over not having the ability to look through a camera, like you can in most other render software. Still, to have the ability to peer through a light to see exactly how it is aimed is, in my opinion, going to be a very efficient extra advantage. There are many times when a light's true position can be obscured by perspective when I'm framing. This will give me the ability to just jump into the view of the light and back to my other last working view quickly.

Again, just a theory for me at this point - as I haven't put this to the test in Carrara yet. I loved being able to do it in other software though. And there are other examples of its usefulness in Jeremy Birn's Digital Lighting and Rendering book. Man, what a good book!