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need help with lighting (I think)

DancingCatDancingCat Posts: 35
in Technical Help (nuts n bolts)

I'm a Poser user and am trying to give myself the option of working in DS. I've tried to do this over the years but for some reason, I find just find DS harder to use. Right now, I'm hitting a wall with what is probably a simple problem. I set up a scene with a G3 character (plus hair) and then try to light it. I have a variety of choices under "Light Presets" and I choose FWSA Soft Light Probes, which gives me some awesome lighting plus a background of some sort. But where are they? I see no lights in the scene, no background. Where do I look for control of these things? (I have poked around a lot but no success)

frawn07-fwsa lt proble07.png
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frawn1.png
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Comments

  • barbultbarbult Posts: 23,169

    The FWSA Soft Light Probes are HDRI files for the Iray render engine. You will find them in the Render Settings pane. When Render Settings pane is open, click on Environment and then you will find the light probe HDRI loaded into the Environment Map. You can adjust the direction of the light by changing the Dome Rotation. You can adjust the intensity of the light in your render by changing the Tone Mapping values.

  • ToborTobor Posts: 2,300

    D|S has two primary renderers, Iray and 3Delight. You don't mention the one you're using. Many light presets for one will not work (or not work well) with the other. 

    The set you mention is meant for Iray. So let's start with the renderer you are using.

    Second, the "Light Probes" product is a set of images that, when used wth the Iray renderer, produces an environment that includes a light source. There's nothing to see in the scene. Light Probes are graphics files, and can be seen in the Environment panel in the Iray render tab. 

  • DancingCatDancingCat Posts: 35

    Thanks! I think this solves my confusion. I'm using iray, sorry, I should have said that. 

  • DancingCatDancingCat Posts: 35

    So.... the dome is invisible except in iray? And then you see the image in the background but not the structure of the dome? (the user guide has no information on this panel)

  • Richard HaseltineRichard Haseltine Posts: 97,011

    The dome is an Iray feature, though you may well be able to use the HDRIs in uberEnvironment. By default the dome is not drawn, but supplies light - you can control whether or not it is drawn in the Environment group of the Render Settings pane in the Editor tab.

  • DancingCatDancingCat Posts: 35

    Thanks, Richard. I have "Draw Dome" on ON but I don't see anything. I tried it earlier (as it seemed to apply) but nothing seems to be different whether it is ON or OFF. Maybe it's a stupid Mac thing.

  • ToborTobor Posts: 2,300

    The effects of Draw Dome are only seen in an Iray render. And then, what you see depends on the dome. You can have a "mapless" dome where there's no image in it. In that case, Iray gives you a horizon with a virtual sky. If there's an HDR image added into the Environment Map node in the Iray render tab, then painted onto the dome is that image. How it appears depends on the image; some images are intentionally fuzzy, so you get what appears to be an unfocused background. On other images, you get a sharp picture that makes it look like your characters are on a real backdrop.

     

  • fastbike1fastbike1 Posts: 4,074

    If you choose Draw Dome > OFF with the Soft light probes, you won't get any background (i.e. checkerboard > alpha channel.)

  • 3amt87_3b0d7b1ca23amt87_3b0d7b1ca2 Posts: 11

    I have no idea how lights should work with Iray in general. Things are either black or the image turns out grainy as hell. Either way it looks way worse than the viewport but take several hours.
    If someone can tell me how to work with iray and light I would be very pleased.

    Btw. Is the "Reality" render worth it money. It sounds nice, does anyone have expirience with it?

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