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Oh, OK...cool...powerful..it works! Thanks!
I'm so glad I read this. I just gave it a try and it really makes a difference. Very simple to do in GIMP. Thanks Will!
Noted, thanks. You know I think that was the first time I've had Youtube vids show up in my posts here, was fully expecting "just a link" like before. Was wondering where the pictures came from as the immediately displayed post did not have the triangle play button.
I have to say that lighting is one of the trickiest things I have had to learn with DS. After a lot of really crappy first renders, I quickly figured out that if I wanted to jumpstart my learning curve, I needed to buy a really good light set. I bought light sets from both InaneGlory and DestinysGarden. I don't regret those purchases one bit, best decision I ever made. It did a couple of things. I was able to get much better renders with far less effort. It also gave me the opportunity to pick apart the light set so that I could figure out how they did that. I bought most of the light sets while on sale so the prices weren't that high, but even if they had been more I think they would have still been worth the money. I have InaneGlory's Point and Shoot bundles and the one that DestinysGarden linked above. All of them are great sets. I also got a couple of the new mesh lights for Iray. Longitude & Latitude by ForbiddenWhispers are great as she does wonderful things with gobos. And, I love ForbiddenWhisper's Warhol Inspired Lights. I also can't say enough about DimensionTheory's iRadience Light sets, iRadience Studio HDRIs and iRadience HDR Mesh Lights. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to figure out how they mesh lights were created like I can figure out the basic lights used in the other sets. I have however, been able to learn how to use them and how to change them based on my needs. I love being able to just set up the lights and then start playing with the settings just to see how my changes made a difference and, if I don't like, I can just reset to the default light setup I had in place. I do also, just use them straight out of the box and they work wonderfully.
Like FirstBastion says, he adds promo lights to his sets and so do some other vendors. I know that some of the ground shaders I've bought even came with some light sets. So did the Victorian Gown. Some other venders, even have full lighting presets for some of their interior models. A person can learn a lot by picking apart the included promo lights and learning from the experts. There are a few sets that I wish came with promo lights, but don't. I have learned that some of those that don't have promo lights usually aren't the ones that did the promo shots for their sets as some promos are done by third parties. Also, really models might not have promo lights included. I really love being able to pick apart a light set that was included with a model that I bought.
One of the first things I had to do with Moonshine Diner was do all of the lights in 3Delight. It took me almost a month or two just to get all the lights setup and then save it as a couple of preset zones. I think I managed pretty well, but 3Delight is hard and I'm sure there is room for improvement of my light setup. And then, Iray came along. I didn't like it all when it was in Beta, but tried it after it released and it was so much better (easier) than the beta version. So, I redid my Moonshine Diner setup and what took me a couple of months to achieve (figure out how to do) with 3Delight was finished in Iray in just a few days. Being able to turn any surface into an emission surface really cut down on setup time.
Now, I'm still learning and I think lighting will always kick me in the butt, but I'm improving. I can't say enough, though, about investing in a good light set and picking apart those models that you get that already have light sets or promo lights included. Even, if you only use the light sets straight out of the box when you are still learning, they will have been well worth the price in what they can teach you about lighting and you can still use them as a base lighting or change them to suit your own lighting style. Whatever you do, I encourage you to play and do lots of renders with even just slightly changed settings just to see what happens.
Greetings,
Lighting is HARD. I own Digital Lighting & Rendering, and it feels like every few pages I have a new insight that I want to play with in my scenes. I got a bit exhausted reading it and stepped away, so I'm barely really begun, but it's really, really good...at least at my newbie level. One of the best things to keep in mind from it (for me) was to understand what the motivation of every light in your scene is.
On the one hand, yes, photographic techniques will help, but also on the other hand, it's all totally fake! :) You can make things happen that aren't physically possible. You can drop walls, move windows, and move the sun and sky around. You can have a light that is invisible in the scene, but lights the area around it. Sure, we don't usually do that. We don't usually have our characters float (and even consider it a mistake, when they're not all seated on the ground), but there's nothing stopping us.
Some of the scenes with Olympia 7 look like they could easily be composited. Render the background with one light set, render the character with another, and merge them. It doesn't affect how the character is seen, so it's probably completely legit. Some of the other pictures have the character more integrated into the scene, and that's where it gets a little more difficult, but in those (I can't look closely, I'm at work
) the lighting seems 'flatter' than in the main promo images for O7.
-- Morgan
Yes..and my point is.. a generic "I need help" title is never as good as something a bit more on topic like "I need help: Promo Image Lighting", as it'll attract people who know about promo image lighting, rather than just random passerbyers.
As for "shy forum readers" what is more likely to attract thier interest? A topic that says "Help wanted" which would seem to invite "I can't help others" in response and be passed by, or "Help wanted with lighting promos" which might get a "Hey, I'm curious about that, too!" or a "hey, I once saw a tutorial about that very thing, I'll post a link to it!"
Such practice also makes it..if this place had a competant search function...easier for people searching for past threads on the topic.
Hrmm.. but those titles sounds more like someone wants help lighting the promos for their products rather than how to figure out how someone else lit images used as promos.