Rendering - lights wash out one wall

[tim lucas]

Having a problem with the lights washing out one wall but not the other

Scott I am emailing this file to you - its the same kitchen as the countertop but with lights added
if you could take a look when you have time, the stove wall keeps washing out while the sink wall is dark.
I have some can lights in the top cabinets trying to give the proper effect.

Thanks
Tim

[Kerry Fullington]

Tim,
I copied this from a post I made years ago on lighting:


Use as few lights as possible. I usually place two overhead and one just below counter top height.

To adjust intensity you have to render the presentation view with the light fixtures showing then right click on a light and adjust the intensity. You can also set the light intensity using the slider on the pop up dialog box and then right click on a fixture and choose Apply Dialog Settings.

less is more in lighting. Use the lowest intensity that you can to get th look you are after. Too much lighting washes away the textures.

You must also add shine to every texture in the room. Use the Light Intensity slider and Apply Dialog Settings from the right click menu to do this as you will only want a shine of 2 or 3 for walls and floors, 4 or 5 for everything else unless you want them to reflect. The shine is very important.

Be sure to use slightly different textures for your doors, face frames, moldings, and sheet stock.
This provides contrast and allows you to select different shine values for different items which help highlight them.

Place lighting where your light sources would actually be in the room. Work with the intensities to get natural looking shadows.

Don't use too much lighting. If your jpeg is too dark when you save it, use Irfanview to add a little brightness, contrast and most effective, Gamma Correction. This will give you perfect presentation shots.

Have fun with it.


HERE is a link to some of my jobs done this way.

Post your job so we can take a look at it to find the problem

[tim lucas]

Hi Kerry,

Thanks, I had not thought about the shine and slightly different textures, will give it a try.
Any tips on rendering the lights in wall cabinets with glass doors?
This job washout really looked different because one wall was way worse than the other.

Thanks
Tim

the job file is over 7m zipped so I cant get it to upload

[Scott Marshburn]

Hi Tim
I have a video that is very simulare to your layout. I know that Kerry said that less light is better but if you watch the whole thing you will see that I only use very few of the Lights that I placed. I hope this helps
Here is the link if you are interested.
https://youtu.be/Tj59OumOElA

[tim lucas]

Thanks Scott,

Between you and Kerry I might just make some nice presentations

Kerry, I still have not separated the cabinet texture from the doors but I understand lots more now

here is what I have so far,

Thanks again
Tim

[Kerry Fullington]

Tim,

The "Wash Out" is being caused by the lights inside your upper cabinets from too much reflected lights. Adding shine values to every texture helps.

I removed all your lights and just placed two of the ceiling fans in the room, one in the center at ceiling height and one outside the room by the peninsula at ceiling height to get these shots.

The light colored textures are harder to light also.

[tim lucas]

Thanks Kerry, that looks good and just having 2 lights makes it a lot less setup

Tim

[Kerry Fullington]

Tim,

Lighting just takes a lot of experimentation. Start with light fixtures placed in the room where they would actually be at the height they would actually be. Use the lowest light intensity you can to get the effect you are looking for and add any light fixtures at different room heights to take care of shadows.
I like to keep the rooms fairly dark in eCabinets and fix it in Irfanview.
You must assign shine values to every texture in the room or it will look washed out.
Play with different textures. I use a lot of the Formica and Wilsonart textures that have a little more grain and color to them. Whites are hard to light and never look white so usually I use wood tones that look good and don't try to give the customer their actual color. I am selling the cabinets, not the finish.
Here are a couple of examples how the wood tones always look better than the solid light colors.

Keep playing with it.