Looking for Lighting Help

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JohnLashuay
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Looking for Lighting Help

Post by JohnLashuay »

I am wondering if anyone has any tricks they would like to share regarding lighting when rendering a design?

I have been successful at times, but many times I end up with a jpg that is grainy. Also recently it has been frustrating because I am not able to adjust the light intensity without having to move or remove lights. :wall:

John
Rylex Custom Cabinetry & Closets
http://www.rylexonline.com
Thermwood CS 43
Kerry Fullington
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Re: Looking for Lighting Help

Post by Kerry Fullington »

John,

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.

If you want, post your job and I will light it so you can see what I would do.
JohnLashuay
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Re: Looking for Lighting Help

Post by JohnLashuay »

Kerry,

Thanks!

Do you show the lights in the finished jpg? If not, how do you hide them while still being able to manipulate them?

John
Rylex Custom Cabinetry & Closets
http://www.rylexonline.com
Thermwood CS 43
Kerry Fullington
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Re: Looking for Lighting Help

Post by Kerry Fullington »

John,

I show the lights and do a couple of presentations views to get the placement and brightness that I want, then I exit the presentation view and hide the lights for my presentation shots.

If you get the light placement correct you usually won't have to move them for different camera angles.

Kerry
Jean G Voyer
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Re: Looking for Lighting Help

Post by Jean G Voyer »

John,

To hide the lights you click on the show/hide button at the top middle of the page and check light fixtures.
Jean-Gabriel Voyer
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JohnLashuay
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Re: Looking for Lighting Help

Post by JohnLashuay »

Thanks guys for the input!

As I have been working with the lighting and using Kerry's insight, I am able to see the possibilities of the end results that I am looking for.

Kerry, I have been trying to attach a file, but have been unsuccessful as of yet. Once I have found the file in the "upload attachment" I click the "add the file" button and I end up with a "page has expired". I gues I'll try it later!

Thanks for all your help!

John
Rylex Custom Cabinetry & Closets
http://www.rylexonline.com
Thermwood CS 43
Kerry Fullington
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Re: Looking for Lighting Help

Post by Kerry Fullington »

John,

What kind of file are you trying to upload? If it is not an image file you might try to zip it first. If the file is very large it might exceed the limit for uploads and cause that problem.

Kerry
JohnLashuay
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Re: Looking for Lighting Help

Post by JohnLashuay »

Kerry,

How do I zip a file?? :oops:

I right-clicked on the file and I didn't see any options for zipping.

The file size is 9.4 mb. What is the limit for uploads?

John
Rylex Custom Cabinetry & Closets
http://www.rylexonline.com
Thermwood CS 43
Kerry Fullington
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Joined: Mon, May 09 2005, 7:33PM
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Re: Looking for Lighting Help

Post by Kerry Fullington »

John,

Right click on your file then mouse to Send to and choose Compressed (zipped) Folder

I think that there is a 16mb limit for all of your uploads, so if you have 10mb of uploads already on the forum server and you try to upload 9.4mb more it won't work.

email me the file if you want at kerry@kerryfullington.com

Kerry
JohnLashuay
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Re: Looking for Lighting Help

Post by JohnLashuay »

Kerry,

Hopefully this will work, if not I'll email it to you.

John
Rylex Custom Cabinetry & Closets
http://www.rylexonline.com
Thermwood CS 43
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