Light presets loading at character's feet... etc

leahalbert11

So, another lighting question for the forum... sorry, I have browsed for an answer but nothing's really helped yet. Am trying to light a scene for use with a transparent background. I've attached an example of previous png sequence rendering I've done from Carrara, basically just need that result and I'm good to go. I won't be getting heavily into lighting I just need this one style of setup for one ongoing animation project.

The problem is I have to shove a spotlight right in the face of my character to get any light. If I use presets they seem to all load gathered at her feet. Have played with adding a bunch of distant and spotlights, targeting the figure, playing with settings etc, think I'm just missing something so stupid I'll be embarassed about it, the lights don't behave the way they do in tutorials.

Screengrabs attached (the blue png is an example of the basic end lighting result I'm after, nothing fancy). I'd like to dial down the glow factor of her eyes too so any tips on which surface to edit would be a bonus. Thanks for any help =)

 

SixDs

Hey, Leah. Just a few questions to clarify things. Based upon what you have said and shown, you are basically looking for lighting that will fairly well illuminate your entire character without harsh shadows. However, achieving that in DAZ Studio will involve different things depending upon which render engine you are using, which you do not mention. 3Delight or Iray? Since your characters seem to be somewhat toonish, I would think that 3Delight would suffice, or even be preferable, but we'll need to know. In 3Delight for example, your results will vary depending upon whether you are using raytracing or not, and with nothing for the light to "bounce off of" in your scene other than your character. So please share exactly what render engine and settings that you are using and that will enable folks to respond a little more specifically.

As for lights loading at the origin, that is perfectly normal for DAZ Studio builtin lights. It is logical because there is no way of knowing what is going to be in the scene or what effects you are trying to achieve, and the zeroed position is therefore understandable, as is the same approach for most other things added to a scene. Like figures and props, lights can be moved by translating or rotating them through the Parameters tab. Light presets (other than the defaults) may be designed to load various lights in predetermined positions for portraits, etc. and you can even save your own once you achieve the desired results.

leahalbert11

Thanks SixDs. Yup, a nice illuminated character without harsh shadows is exactly what I'm after. Am using Iray and final render dimensions will be 1920x1080px 300dpi to comp with HD live action footage. I usually exported png sequences at 30fps from Carrara so am basing all this on my process there, may be wrong I haven't played with Daz too much yet. Will be investigating shadow catchers too.

leahalbert11

These are the Carrara settings if that means anything... I'm a throwback print designer, it's all very confusing.

leahalbert11

Looks like I can merge a scene like beach day and turn off the Dome and Ground in the Environment tab as a good base to start from. I was just deleting them, the background doesn't play that big a role in Carrara lighting so I didn't realise that was the main issue. Still open to any guru advice on this process.

scorpio

To get overall lighting on the figure I would try a simple HDRI, the sort of thing that comes with this set

https://www.daz3d.com/elianeck-hdri-lights-for-iray

Mec4D did some free ones but I'm not sure if they are still availble.

leahalbert11

Ok, thanks, will look into it. Going to use 3Delight.