Interior lighting and walls

marble

I know I should already know the answer to this but it seems I can't really decide what the truth of the matter is.

I've recently bought the AoA Advanced Light bundle including the Spot, Distant and Ambient and I'm not sure how much walls influence them. I'm also only recently trying to re-learn 3Delight after using Reality and mesh lights for several years. However, by habit, I try to keep an unobstructed line of sight between light placement and subject to be lit. Yet I believe a distant light (at least in the standard DAZ lights) doesn't care about obstructions so is that true for AoA Distant Lights?

I'm pretty sure that walls get in the way of spot lights but how about the Advanced Ambient Light? Is there a way of de-selecting walls? I know I can do experiments but there are so many options I'm a bit in the dark (excuse the pun) about the best way to use these lights.

araneldon

In 3Delight all lights can cast shadows, some have them turned off by default. Select a light and look at the Parameters. I forget what they are called but should be fairly easy to find.

marble

araneldon said:

In 3Delight all lights can cast shadows, some have them turned off by default. Select a light and look at the Parameters. I forget what they are called but should be fairly easy to find.

I was thinking more about whether they are obscured by objects. For example, distance lights have only rotation enabled so they can be positioned anywhere in the scene - even under the floor level - without being obscured. On the other hand, placing a spot light under the floor would normally block its light. But do these rules hold for the AoA Lights - especially the Advanced Ambient?

selias19

It depends on the wall, not on the light. You can make the wall invisible for the light by turning "Cast Shadow" off in the Parameters tab. Otherwise, a wall acts in 3dLight as light obstruction as well. There are a few glitches, I believe, if the wall is just a plane and not a thin cube.
The AOA lights have shadows on by default. The default Daz lights have shadows off.
If you "look" through the light you can see where the light would go through and where it is obstructed.

marble

selias19 said:

It depends on the wall, not on the light. You can make the wall invisible for the light by turning "Cast Shadow" off in the Parameters tab. Otherwise, a wall acts in 3dLight as light obstruction as well. There are a few glitches, I believe, if the wall is just a plane and not a thin cube.
The AOA lights have shadows on by default. The default Daz lights have shadows off.
If you "look" through the light you can see where the light would go through and where it is obstructed.

Well, you can look through the spot and distant but not the ambient (at least I can't see how). So you are saying that if I want to place an ambient light 5m away but that moves it beyond a wall, then I have to go to the surfaces of the wall and turn off Cast Shadows?

jestmart

If you are using Reality you are not using 3Delight. Reality is an interface to LuxRender, an entirely different render engine than the 3Delight render engine.

marble

jestmart said:

If you are using Reality you are not using 3Delight. Reality is an interface to LuxRender, an entirely different render engine than the 3Delight render engine.

I didn't say I'm using Reality now. I know what Reality is and I know what Luxrender is, thanks.

I said ...

I’m also only recently trying to re-learn 3Delight after using Reality and mesh lights for several years.

Mistara

advanced ambient light the most awesomest light ever.

there was a utoob tute that really helped. ... looking for it ...
Advanced Ambient Light 01
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOBX7wcvGpQ

StratDragon

marble said:

jestmart said:

If you are using Reality you are not using 3Delight. Reality is an interface to LuxRender, an entirely different render engine than the 3Delight render engine.

I didn't say I'm using Reality now. I know what Reality is and I know what Luxrender is, thanks.

I said ...

I’m also only recently trying to re-learn 3Delight after using Reality and mesh lights for several years.

I'm always trying to re-learn 3Delight lighting. If you find something that works let me know. I'm for the most part happy with LuxRender but even real lighting has me scrambling to read photo tutorials which always begin "Use as much natural light as possible" and that's not always an option.

marble

StratDragon said:

marble said:

jestmart said:

If you are using Reality you are not using 3Delight. Reality is an interface to LuxRender, an entirely different render engine than the 3Delight render engine.

I didn't say I'm using Reality now. I know what Reality is and I know what Luxrender is, thanks.

I said ...

I’m also only recently trying to re-learn 3Delight after using Reality and mesh lights for several years.

I'm always trying to re-learn 3Delight lighting. If you find something that works let me know. I'm for the most part happy with LuxRender but even real lighting has me scrambling to read photo tutorials which always begin "Use as much natural light as possible" and that's not always an option.

I'll probably end up going back to Luxrender. I had problems with skin and SSS and lots of red blotches which nobody seemed to be able to explain. The only way seemed to be to let it render for many hours (even overnight wasn't long enough). But there is talk about a new update in the works which uses some very fast new features of Luxrender, so maybe I'll go back to it then.