Destroy all shadows...Need help removing all shadows...

defiantfilmworks

Hello... I am not very good with lighting... I am having a very hard time dealing with shadows... My characters look dirty...the shadows appear embedded into their skin...

Can anyone help me with a single issue...I want no shadows! I plan to export the renders as billboards for a motion comic.. I can place shadows on the entire scene in after effects... I do not want the shadows in Daz... I am painting no textures in photoshop... the problem is once the model returns to daz the shadows destroy all my work...

I would be grateful for any help anyone can give with removing all the shadows on my models...

P.S. I am not a rocket scientist when it comes to lighting... i use character lights on the models...Mostly toon lights... Whatever help you give please understand i am a light novice... Thank you in advance...

sriesch

What kind of light are you using? If you were using just default lights like a point light, select it, then in the Parameters tab select Shadow, then set the "Shadow Type" dropdown to None.

defiantfilmworks

These are the following lights i use... for white characters i use toon lights-Amy...Jazmin... for characters i want to be of different races i use chablis...

I am thinking you might be on to something...use default lights and turn down the shadows... Question the method you listed-it will get rid of all my shadows...I can get the lights to make the model look good-but no shadows... If this works you so deserve a gift basket!! i've been working on this for three years...

I am thinking if i paint the models in photoshop the default lighting should allow me to have whatever texture i want-i think i've used shadows as textures-great for someone with a tanned look-not if she should be pale or of lighter skin...

Forever the rambling...I'm excited that i might have an anser to my problems... Thank you

Richard Haseltine

Is the problem shadows cast by an item onto the ground or other items, or is it shading? Or is it that you shading and shadows are speckly? The latter would be caused by an environment or area light with its quality settings too low - do you have anything called uberEnvironment or the like added to your scene when you load the lights you use?

defiantfilmworks

The main problem comes from shadows ëmbedded"on the model's skin... It makes the model look dirty-and not in a good way,,,

The shadows change the intended racial background of the character i create-White character looks black or latino... black characters look like they work in the coal mines... There is no other item in the scenne when i render....
MY dream is to avoid all shadows... I am hoping photoshop will help when i am texturing... I don't want to retexture a model each time i change the character pose. I am hoping it is not a problem i have to work outside daz to create. The 3delight render does a fairly good job on my renders-except for the shadows... Thank you for any more answers

Szark

Can you provide a visual reference of your issue. If the lights have Shadow casting turned off then you should not get any shadows.

Exactly what Lights are you using?

defiantfilmworks

i AM USING TOON-AMY LIGHTS...CHABLIS LIGHTS... tHE SHADOWS ARE POURED ALL OVER THEIR SKIN...It completely changes how the character ends up looking... Here are some examples of my renders-I'm having trouble adding more than one render.

Szark

To add another image to your post is to upload your first and Hit preview and then load another etc.

OK have you selected each light and turned off Shadows in the Parameters Pane?

and TOON-AMY LIGHTS…CHABLIS LIGHTS still doesn't tell me what lights you are using. Being a volunteer doesn't allow me to have every single product in the store. ;) If the lights are all default spot, distant or point lights then you have the option of turning off all the shadows via the Parameters Pane when each or all lights are selected. But if the light sets use Uber Environment then you can either delete the light or set it to Ambient only again via the Parameters Pane when the light is selected.

defiantfilmworks

Thank you...i will give your idea a try i will repost the end results

refsocrd1_aefdbd2b3a

To be honest that render looks really good.

From checking out the Toon(couldn't find any toon amy light set in my mess), part of the results are coming from the IBL(uber environment?). The chablis light set is using Uber as well.
That toon set uses 3 distant lights, and one IBL.
The chablis set is using 3 point lights, 2 distant, and Uber.

If you turn the shadows off(none) on the diffuse and rim lights, and the occlusion down to 0% you should get a relatively flat image
First pic is with default, second is with everything i mentioned off/0% with default amy skin/morph.
The third and fourth images are with the "ireland" skin applied. same settings, respectively.
The biggest problem with pregen light sets is that they are set up for a particular character/set/prop/pose.
when you change one of those things, it changes how it looks, and can give some unwanted results.
Simply rotating a head can give some weird lighting results, because of where the lights are.

You may also want to change the settings for the skin itself.
"Lighting model" is usually the primary culprit of problems(imho). as the default is plastic, you may need to change it to skin.(surfaces tab, down towards the bottom, you'll either have to do this at the character level, or on each "skin" part. to get good results.)

depending on what skin(hss, basic, AO, etc.) you are using, it can add a lot of variables to the mix(fresnel, subsurface, multiple specular, etc.)
and any one of those can change how the character looks.
Simply changing the diffuse color(not the little box, the big one) can also change how a character looks, under certain lighting/render settings.
These are just a couple off the cuff things i have run into.
Really there are so many variables that any one can present problems, and take a long time to figure out.
I've literally had to go through every single setting(lighting and skin), just to get a "good enough" result for some renders.
Lighting is the bane of my existence.

Another thing to think about is your monitor.
It's very rarely discussed in the forums, and about issues with character look(what you see), but your monitor settings may be playing a part in the "look" you are seeing.
The default settings for most monitors are generally a bit low for most cgi(unless you are talking about a high end monitor).

Personally, my monitor is set at brightness of 68% of maximum, and a contrast of 61%(equates to about 42k:1)
A few other calibrations have been done, but those are a bit over the average users heads(and price range for the tools).
I'd try cranking up a few settings and see what ya get.
Generally you won't need to mess with the color settings, just brightness and contrast.
Might also want to try "tipping" your monitor to a different angle.
Most monitors have a specific viewing angle range, and when outside that it gets funky(yeah a bit technical, but i'm just keeping it simple).
But, sometimes dead on is not good either.
My monitor generally sits at a 3-5 degree angle(top towards me) from it's base. this is optimal for me.

Just my two cents here. take it for what it's worth.