BOO Presets for Iray Ghost Light Kit- Tips /New Setups
Novica
Posts: 23,859
KindredArts Iray Ghost Light Kit provides a fast and easy way to light portraits and scenes, with the product description emphasizing scenes. So I tackled doing portrait lighting with them and KindredArts posted the link here. Here's some information that you'll find helpful, I hope you enjoy these as much as I do.
Render Pane>Tone Mapping: Set your Film ISO first- because as you know, it will move the Exposure Value slider, which in turn moves the Shutter Speed. To get these results as a STARTING POINT the ISO is 200 and then set the Exposure Value at 13.50. With testing, starting here gives you wonderful results when you increase or decrease the Exposure Value slightly (you can also do ISO.) Depending on your character being lit you should also twiddle with your Crush Blacks and Burn Highlights. (Dark skinned people, or to reduce shadow intensity, test reduction of the Crush Blacks.)
So what are the presets? There are three presets: Preset 1- lighting from the Right, then Preset 2- Mirrors, Lighting from the Left. Each has FOUR options each that get brighter and brighter! Then, want more fill? Use Preset 3 that is the Fill from the front. And again, that gives you four options, getting brighter. This can also be used by itself! If you have a room and a character you need lit, you can use these presets or just Preset 3 as a fill. BUT-
THESE WORK WITH WORLD CENTER IN MIND. MOVE YOUR SET, NOT YOUR CHARACTERS!
We've discussed this many times on my Art Studio thread- get in the habit of moving your set around, not your figures, if you have light presets and want to keep the same results. I know I've been guilty of moving perfectly set up lights instead of the scene because I'll be working and not think about it. So it's the first thing I do when I'm using my custom light setups.
The lights are:
1. Numbered, with the low numbers closest to the front, near to you at the default load.
2. Labeled Left and Right, using YOUR LEFT AND RIGHT. No reverse thinking required!
3. Even numbers are on your right, odd numbers are center or on the left.
4. Provided with simplicity in mind- you won't get overwhelmed using more lights than you really need. You'll be missing numbers because this is part of a bigger set I tested, and these are the most versatile and also don't repeat results. They have the best angles but also give you the best flexibility so far as using "bend" and getting good results with that too. I also tested rotating your figures and the lighting will work from front, side, and even from the back! (Included a back corner light, and overhead-from-behind light)
5. Set up so adding additional ghost lights will work nicely with them.
6. DUPLICATED IF YOU USE PRESETS 1 AND 2. Because these are mirrored, MANY lights switch values and are in both Preset 1 and Preset 2. Most of the time, use one or the other, with or without Preset 3 as a fill light from the front. But how can you use loading both 1 &2 to your advantage? If you want to move the duplicates left or right, further up or down, to get even more lights. Preset 3 does not use any lights from the other two sets. They are unique.
7. These use the Daylight setting, with the light blue material (the IGLK 7000) as that was pretty neutral. White will get you brighter of course, and color changes look awesome with these lights.
The first time you use the lights, Debug so you can see where they are, I kept the descriptions simple because when I thought about it, you already know the low numbers mean the lights are near your front, and simplicity is best. You may want to rename them (add ceiling perhaps) but KEEP THE NUMBERS PLEASE AND REFER TO THEM IF YOU POST HERE WITH TIPS. (For example, if you add a light, it's easier to say "Added another ceiling light to the right of Number X." )
With the exception of the very darkest ones (used when your room character's need only a bit of light, or if you are doing night scenes) I am going to show you both Preset 1 and 2, with the fill added.
AS YOU USE THE PRESETS, FEEL FREE TO SHARE WHAT YOU'RE DOING AND ANY LIGHTS YOU ADD TO CREATE NEW ONES. Just supply the coordinates Ghost Light settings, and people should be able to duplicate what you're doing.
When KindredArts gets the link for my BOO lights posted, we'll put it here. Coming shortly- enjoy! :) (And again, what fun to work with him!)
Cathie / Novica
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Comments
This was the first one I tested with the lights, so I kept these in the setup. I changed the Exposure value to lighten her. You do need the front fill to get this result. (I didn't keep the settings, otherwise I'd share them.) This was without any adjustments (I always do postwork but want you to see out of the box.) I do know this only had 5 ghost lights, you get 5 more included with these.
Preset 1: Stronger lighting from the RIGHT with fills
I RENDERED ALL THESE AS SMALLER VERSIONS TOO AND INCLUDED THESE IN THE ZIP TO KINDREDARTS SO YOU GET THESE CLOSEUP FACES FOR THE THUMBNAILS WHEN YOU GET THE BOO PRESETS.
I am not showing Preset 2, as you get these same results, only from the opposite side.
This is the darkest one from Preset 1, using Preset 3 Fill, so you will mostly notice the effects of the fill as it increases. How to read these: 1.3a means preset 1 base, 3a is Preset 3A You will notice the entire body is nicely lit, with side rim lighting. If you move the lights, you may lose some of that rim. (Lots of tests!) Watch how the lights increase on the top of the head, the light in back from above contributes to that too. (lights 19 and 20) The darkest ones (Bases, the first in each row when you see the presets) work nicely with the fill for evenly lit characters then you can add other lights for drama.
1.3A (Preset 1 Base with Preset 3 number A)
1.3B (the Preset 1 base with Preset 3B)
1.3C
So now let's go one step lighter in Preset 1. Instead of the base (1) let's do 1A.
Remember- A-C, each step getting lighter.
These are all now 1A's with Preset 3 applied, same as above.
The decimals separate each preset.
1A.3A (using Preset 1 right lighting, with Preset 3 Fill)
1A.3B (fill is getting lighter, watch the light wrinkles on the pants)
1A.3C (fill getting lighter)
1B
Now we move one step lighter in Preset 1. We've done 1, then 1A. Now the 1B's with Preset 3 fills. You'll see those going A-B-C (lighter) So the first letter of these are 1B. Then you'll see 3A, 3B, 3C. I did not render these with the Base of Preset 3 because it is minimal lights (dark.) That will also be true when I do the 1C's.
Notice the white starts to get washed out. You can darken it in Surfaces in Diffuse to a gray and it will appear white, these are out of the box. I deliberately chose a dark pants and white shirt so you can see how the opposites do with each preset.
1B.3A
1B.3B
1B.3B
1C
Now one step lighter with the 1C's, using the Preset 3 fills also going lighter.
1C.3A
1C.3B Going lighter by moving to 3B
1C Going lighter to 3C fill. 1C.3C
And here's the link (also in the first post) and how the thumbnails look (just a screenshot, they look a LOT better.)
thanks
Sure, have fun! I'm tinkering with a few things (such as ISO, Exposure Value, and light combinations) that I'll share soon.
SPOOKS
I'll link to this post from the first one. Want more lights to work in conjunction with your BOOs? I'll share some of the ones I fine tuned and tested/ used for the woman render.
I did the testing and positioning so these work well to assist and cover other areas. So I guess these are best called SPOOKS. They sneak in to the scene to help the BOO lights LOL. (I know, I'm having too much fun.) Position and number them like I have them if you want to get the same results.
Ceiling lights are Horizontal, otherwise, use Vertical.
3 Center, in front of World Center Up/Down:114 Forward/Back:259.01 Bend:90 Z Scale: 158
4 Will be front / right and think of a window turned toward World Center. As you can tell from the number, it's slightly closer to World Center than 1-3, or in close vicinity to any of those that are near it but located on the ceiling. Side to Side: 107.66 Up/Down: 0.16 Forward/Back: 133.01 and Y Scale 158%
11 Left of World Center, tilts up from floor. Side: -78.37 Up:48.81 Forward: -67.83 Y Rotate: -180 Spin: 140.19 X Scale: 22.4 Y Scale: 230.3
Z Scale: 38.4
15 Left of World Center, no turning, is a direct side light. Side: -171.92 Up: 112.16 Forward: -57.80 Spin:90 X Scale: 158 Z Scale: 65%
16 Right of World Center, change Side to 171.92 and spin to -90, keep everything else from 15 the same.
18 Right and turned, slightly behind World Center Side: 142.48 Up: 112.16 Forward: -146.93 Bend: -34.62 Spin: -90 X Scale: 158% Z Scale 65%
And I've done two in the corners, for room renders. Tested and does quite nicely!
23 Left, Corner Side: -268.25 Up 0.16 Forward: -297.91 Rotate 45 Y Scale 158%
24: Right, Corner Change Side to 268.25 and rotate to -45, keep everything else from 23 the same.
BOO / SPOOK Combo #1
This was Film ISO 100.26 and Exposure Value 11.64. I've tested my BOO presets with other lights, trying to round out a good room setup for you and increase the opportunities with portraits. So for this set, I'm going to use a lot of Spooks to show you what can be done.
BOO & SPOOK settings: You will have to go into Surfaces and do the Luminance for anything that isn't a Ghost Intensity preset. These are kcd/m^2. (Don't panic, you'll see that in Surfaces right under Luminance. Be SURE you're using that as the unit of measurement for results like this.)
So you have the ISO and Exposure Value. Set these lights to these Luminance, have your figure at World Center, and you'll have lighting like below!
1: 30 (Light 1, 30 in Luminance) 3: 100 4: 45 (Spook) 7: 700 11: 300 (Spook) 15: 200 (Spook) 16: 200 (Spook) 18: 600 (Spook)
21: 800 23: 100 24: 100
Here's how the gal above looks when rotated around, so you can see how this combo lights from the sides, 3/4 turned around, back, etc.
IN PROGRESS, ADDING IMAGES NOW.
First is the front view, no changes to anything.
Next is rotating to the Right. You'll notice on the next one, the Right but swinging toward the Back, how nicely the Back lights chip in on the lighting. Just the Right is rather bland, so if you are using this setup, you'll want to possibly add more "oomph" to the Right lights.
Now the Right / Back, turned more to the Back. Still the same Tone Mapping settings. We'll play with that in a minute.
This is from the Back.
This is the Back with the Film Iso changed from 11.64 (brighter) to 12.23 but Crush Blacks were slightly increased to keep shadows rich. This does not work very well IMO and I want you to notice the leg- the splotches on it really show up when the Crush Blacks are increased. I don't like the color of the leg either.
So you'll have to watch the materials of your characters to see which ones tolerate the increased scrutiny. I didn't like this one but I do these to share experiences, not just good results.
Wow this is fantastic Novica thank you!
Fantastic work Novica and thanks for sharing.
You're welcome (to both of you)
Do try the Spook lights with these, I tested them a LOT to make sure they were complimentary with the BOOs. I'm still testing the missing numbers (you'll notice some skip) to fine tune those.