what's wrong with my settings/lighting?

intrinsicanomaly_262dc77de2

I am trying to light a scene using distant lights. I have noticed that no matter how high I set the lumens, from 1500-15000000, the light stays the same level in the scene. Also, although it is evenly lit mostly everywhere, there is one large area in the scene that is drastically overlit and all whited out. Nothing I do changes this. I have tried everything from adding lots of lights to changing the brightness/intensity values, even deleting all the lights, and it's still exactly the same. 

Fishtales

Have you set the camera light to off, and set the Dome and Scene or Scene only to On?

Tobor

You generally only need one distant light, which will simulate the sun. Aim the light by selecting it in the Viewport. You can now "look through" the light and point it where in the scene you want it. Only the angular position (rotation) matters. 

You didn't mention what renderer you're using, but I'll assume it's Iray. In that case, the units depends on the version of D|S you have. If it's 4.8, the units are in candles per centimeter square, so a value of about 10 should be all you need. That value specifies the light *incident* on the scene (not produced by the distant light).

In 4.9 they changed the units to candles per meter square, which is a 10K increase. So, to set the value for a normal average outdoor lighting scene, it should be 10 times 10000, or 100000,

Keep in mind that you cannot alter the harsh shadows given by the distant light, and unlike other lights in Iray, the light doesn't follow the inverse square law, which stipulates that for every doubling in distance, the light distribution is 1/4. This is because the distant light is treated as an infinitely small pinpoint of light producing parallel rays that don't spread out.

intrinsicanomaly_262dc77de2

Ok, I have set to scene only, turned off all the camera lights, and created a single distant light, pointing right at the character from the same angle as the camera from which I want to take the picture. The character is dimly lit, and the area off to the left and behind the character is drastically overexposed...this is the case both at 100000 lumens or 20000 lumens..... daz 4.9

Toonces

That sounds really weird. If you're sure the distant light is pointed at the character, the character should be brighter or at least as-bright as its surroundings.

I assume you're exposure value is something normal, like 12 or 13. Might just hit the 'Defaults' button on Render settings just to be sure, and set it back to:

Engine > NVIDIA Iray

General > Auto Headlamp > Never

Environment Mode > Scene only.

Lumens 100,000 (for your dist light)

Then perhaps post a screen shot if still issues (assuming no nudity).

 

intrinsicanomaly_262dc77de2

I think I may have figured it out. Well not how to fix it but what's going on. This is a scene in a room in a house. I have created the distant light directly in front of my characters, inside the room, so I thought the light would emit from there. But I have finally realized, that the shadows cast are consistent with the wall of the room. Two sides of the room are open and two are closed. So the light is behaving as though it were cast at the angle I have chosen, but the originating point is outside of the room, not inside of it. Is there anything I can do to fix this or should I be using something different than a distant light, or ?

Toonces

Ah, yeh, sounds like you solved it. Distant lights let you 'aim' them at the figure, but they're infinite. So regardless of where you place it spatially, it'll still behave like the sun...coming from a vast distance (always outside of the 'room').

Either hide the walls or use a spotlight (which originates from where you place it).