Constructive Feedback Request Thread

[SofaCitizen]

Yeah, unfortunately I do that myself all the time. I am constantly tweaking things when making a render and so often will make a change that uncovers something that wasn't an issue in earlier variations. I try and let a finished render sit on my screen for a few hours or more in the hope that seeing it with a fresh pair of eyes will mean I can spot the mistakes I made. Doesn't always work and so I have a few published renders with annoying issues that I plan to fix and re-upload when I have more time.

For the lighting I am far from an expert, unfortunately. It's probably the thing that I mess around with the most when building scenes and still struggle a lot. Perhaps it's because I started with Iray, and so didn't learn the different way to light scenes in 3Delight, but I've always tried to light scenes "naturally" - i.e. only use light sources that would actually be there if it was a real scene in the real world. From what I understand about how iray works I think that SHOULD work - although I have sometimes had to supliment with "fake" lights which I feel is probably more a failure on my part to do it right rather than because that is what is needed. I had to do this on the last render I did where I was trying to make a kitchen scene lit by a HDRI outside the window - there were plenty of windows available but I just could not make it look right so I had to "cheat" and throw up two point lights above and to either side of the camera to make it look like a day scene rather than is some weird cave :( I'm sure it should have been possible by adjusting the exposure value or other tone mapping options - or maybe a different choice of HDRI maybe.

Obviously, this would not be the case if you are doing "portrait style" renders - in those instances you would use a 3-point setup or somthing along those lines - afterall a real photographer would also use those things in the real world.

Hopefully someone will drop some more lighting-knowledge in the thread as I would like to learn more too! :)

[SimonJM]

Don't quote me on this ... I am FAR away from being a great 3D artist, and lighting is a core component of having a decent chance of getting some good results!

A lot will depend on the scene/environment but if you are starting with an HDRI for lighting then the first option is, almost, HDRI dome on/showing or not. That'll mostly depend on if the skiy or lighting medium is a required part of the scene. In either case once the scene is mostly in situ I will decide on a starting HDRI and, with dome on, select Iray as the Viewport option to get a basic idea of how the lights and shadows will fall. I will usually rotate the dome to ensure the main subject(s) in the scene get decently lit, plus the shadows look to be ok (if the HDRI ground is to be shown I am not a fan of shadows laying flat on rocky or grassy ground as it looks wrong).

[SimonJM]

Ok, weird posting issue seems to be based on size (ok, anyone who is thinking "size doesn't matter" go stand in the corner .. )
If I don't get what I want I try and decide what it is that is wrong/missing - often it will be the angle of the main light so I go in search of an HDRI that has a sun that is higher in the sky. If that fails, then ... Plan B comes into force (Plan B is always Plan A, but with more dynamite, er lighting I mean ...). I hate the phrase, but my 'go to' auxillary lighting set up is from the Ultra Genesis Studio set (just checked and I should have said sets, as it is in two parts! Vol1 - Box Lights
and Vol2 - Ring Flash) which has a wide range of Iray mesh lights to pick and choose from, based on real lighting, such as Fill Lights, Rim Lights, Ring Lights, etc., with a number of preset settings for colour, temperature, power, etc. Those (when placed outside the camera view) can provide an extra light boost that can make the difference.

[semicharm]

Here's a render for a character project that's been sitting on my hard drive for awhile now. I'm hoping to get it done sooner than later...