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I want to make Stage light - but have the camera view them
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I want to make Stage light - but have the camera view them // Roundtable
Post by davidjohnson // Apr 18, 2007, 11:38am
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davidjohnson
Total Posts: 169
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I want to create a row of stage light, but I want my angle to be such that you can see the lights, the twinkle, the glow etc. What is the best way to achieve this? I am using TS6.6 |
Post by jayr // Apr 18, 2007, 11:41am
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jayr
Total Posts: 1074
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i'm no lighting expert but adding volumetric lights would do it i think |
Post by davidjohnson // Apr 18, 2007, 12:58pm
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davidjohnson
Total Posts: 169
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So if let's say I add three spots light in a row, point them at the camera and add volumetrics, they will come out as three points of bright light? |
Post by TomG // Apr 18, 2007, 2:54pm
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TomG
Total Posts: 3397
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Several ways to do this depending on what you want to achieve.
Lens flares is one possibility.
My favored possibility is to actually model the lights in question. This emulates the real world, and gives you the most control.
Volumetrics (use Advanced rather than simple) will show the beam of light passing through the atmosphere so that might be useful too. Will add to your render time mind you.
A combination of all the above is also possible.
HTH!
Tom
EDIT - PS by model I mean build an actual model for them using geometry, paint it with appropriate shaders, for the part that actually has the light things like high ambient setting so that they have their own glow can work. You can even make the material emit light in 6.6 so they become light sources (again, raises render time). |
Post by davidjohnson // Apr 18, 2007, 3:00pm
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davidjohnson
Total Posts: 169
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I don't mind modelling a half-sphere, no time at all, but I want them to shine, but not in a lens flare kind of way, rather be self-illuminating. What are texture settings for that, because when I tried before, they don't seem to light up at all. |
Post by TheWickedWitchOfTheWeb // Apr 18, 2007, 3:02pm
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TheWickedWitchOfTheWeb
Total Posts: 858
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...and then there's the old way of alpha mapped transparancy planes to fake volumetrics, etc. You say "if I do this and this, will it give me that?" The answer is possibly, try it and see! Part of the fun is trying out an idea. It might work, it might not, but it will give you and basis to start from and will help the idea to grow as you tweak this, try that, and so on. It may even end up going off on a tangent and leading you to other ideas. It's all part of the fun and the sense of satisfaction when you achieve what you wanted is great. Fire up tS and have a fiddle. Good luck |
Post by davidjohnson // Apr 18, 2007, 3:50pm
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davidjohnson
Total Posts: 169
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I wish I had the time to test things out, but it is a project that is due on Friday, so I really want to get it right and done. I guess I will have to do the lights in post, maybe photoshop or something because I don't think there is an easy way to do it - not that I am opposed to the grind, but as I stated, I am running out of time. After a few tests of using the material emission on a cube provided nothing but a white cube each time I rendered it even though I thought it would glow. Oh well, post work in Photoshop for me! |
Post by spacekdet // Apr 18, 2007, 7:48pm
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spacekdet
Total Posts: 1360
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Area lights will render,and be visible, if you switch on the 'render geometry' switch.
However, they are square, and if you need the project done by Friday, I'd choose a faster-rendering light.
I threw together a quick and dirty scene (see below for zipped scene file) illustrating one way to simulate visible stage lighting using spots and locals.
Check each object's 'Note' for more info.
If you can add what you need via Post Processing and get it done by Friday, then by all means go that route. The scene I attached just shows one method of doing it inside tS- maybe you can revisit volumetrics when you have more time to experiment. |
Post by TomG // Apr 19, 2007, 2:51am
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TomG
Total Posts: 3397
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Hmm depends what you mean by glow - note that a shader with ambient, or one set to emit light, will "glow" in the sense of being bright.
If you mean "have a glow around it" then you are into a different kind of area. Some possible solutions there are
1. A set of objects places around it that have varying degrees of transparency on them. Works well for spheres and half spheres but not so much for complex geometry. You have the object at the center, copy it, scale it up a little, add tranparency so it is no longer solid and paint it, then copy and scale it up, make it more transparency again, copy it and scale it up and make it more transparency, and so on.
There are glow shaders that help with this kind of thing rather than just pure transparency (though that will work). I've written one or two in the now free ShaderLab (cant recall if the glow shader itself was free though, I think it was).
2. Post process glow shaders as in the CoolPowers series
3. Create the glow yourself afterward in a 2D application
4. Volumetrics may still work though might be tricky to get glow rather than foggy.
HTH!
Tom |
Post by davidjohnson // Apr 19, 2007, 5:00pm
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davidjohnson
Total Posts: 169
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Thanks for that - I appreciate all the answers. I am going post for friday, but will chase up these ideas after the fact. |
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