not sure if you're in DAZ or Poser... if you're in DAZ, i cant help so much, but in poser, i'd adjsut the point light's "dist end" property.
i used spotlights pointed at Evey in my pic, and changed the dist-end on them so that they just barely illuminated the background.
C/C Needed
This is a piece I'm doing for a very good friend, so I'd like to do as good a job as I can with it. The scene came together quite easily until I started working on the lights. That is mainly what I need help with.
What I'm envisioning is something fairly atmospheric and moody, generally along the lines of Vex's wonderful Elf Wizard piece, only lit by flame rather than spell effects. I'd like it to look like a dark, windowless room lit only by candles and the fireplace. But I still want her to be clearly visible, and I want the bookshelf in the back to be easily discernable as a shelf full of books. Not sure this is all possible, but I know there's lots of room for improvement over what I've got now.
What I've got now, by the way, is a yellowish-orange point light just above the tops of the candles, a reddish-orange point light in the fireplace, and a pinkish flesh-colored infinite light shining from the front right. I'm thinking the candle light is too yellow, but I'm having trouble finding a color that looks like candle light. That light is also illuminating the floor and column too much; what I want is to create a soft glow that includes the table and her right side. The infinite light probably needs to be a spot, but I also want the bookshelf to be visible. I also want her hair to stand out more -- right now it's getting lost against the background -- but if I light her up too much, it quickly starts to lose the feel I'm going for.
The other thing I'm wondering about is the pose. Does it seem too unnatural? When I change it so her back fits against the back of the chair better, she seems to be slumping forward. What I'd like is an erect, regal posture, while still making it look like she's at her ease. Does that make sense? Any pointers there?
There are some things I know need to be changed, like the flask on the table -- I figure I'll have to change the translucency so it doesn't pick up the lights and glow like that, but I figure I'll wait until I get the lights finished before messing with that. I'm anticipating adding the flames to the candles (and fireplace) in post, but I haven't figured out how to make the candles themselves look like they're lit. Any advice on that?
Anyway... sorry that I'm asking for so much here. Any thoughs or suggestions at all would be greatly appreciated. Sorry also for the small image size, I basically screwed up when I uploaded it this morning before heading off to work. ><
Vex
18 years ago
Sartori
18 years ago
I'm using Poser. Thanks, I'll play around with that a bit tonight. Do you think a spot would look better than a point light there?
Vex
18 years ago
point lights = candles / lanterns
spot lights = off-camera lighting
point lights can only cast raytraced shadows,
spotlights can do depth map ( can ease your rendering-time woes, max of 1024 shadow map size )
spot lights = off-camera lighting
point lights can only cast raytraced shadows,
spotlights can do depth map ( can ease your rendering-time woes, max of 1024 shadow map size )
Sabby
18 years ago
hijack--
Is there a "for dummies" way of explaining what the hell the dis-start, dis-end do? I am messing around with this, and the lights have a SOLID line of where they are on her...?
Is there a "for dummies" way of explaining what the hell the dis-start, dis-end do? I am messing around with this, and the lights have a SOLID line of where they are on her...?
Vex
18 years ago
well. maybe this will give a clue
"dist" = "distance"
the dist-start = the distance from the light that the light actually STARTS
the dist-end = the distance from the light that the light ENDS ( elsewise its infinite going )
does that help or should i whip out pics?
"dist" = "distance"
the dist-start = the distance from the light that the light actually STARTS
the dist-end = the distance from the light that the light ENDS ( elsewise its infinite going )
does that help or should i whip out pics?
Sabby
18 years ago
It sorta helps, but I keep getting lines on her arm when I point the light at her hand. When I make the dist end smaller the lines go away but then I can't see where its lit... =/ Confuzzled.
Vex
18 years ago
make a new thread, and post some pics =)
Sartori
18 years ago
I was able to mess with this a bit last night, and here's what I've got. I adjusted the dist end on the points and changed the front fill to a spot, and I had much better control. I'll probably do the final render on Sunday when I get back from Disneyland, so if anyone has any comments, suggestions, criticisms or any thoughts whatsoever, please don't be shy! :)
Temprah
18 years ago
I would plop a low intensity point light in the top of each candle in a warm orangy yellow color.. Get some cross shadows going and a hint of warm light on her face from them. Also play with the translucency of the candles.. you want to see the light traveling down into the wax a tiny bit. I know in Daz I used pwshader settings for jade with colors tweaked and it worked well. In poser I'm not sure how to get the effect. =/
Also in general don't forget to work with something other than white light to get the warm glowing light of fire and candles. It seems a little cool right now for flame lighting IMO.
Also in general don't forget to work with something other than white light to get the warm glowing light of fire and candles. It seems a little cool right now for flame lighting IMO.
Lessa
18 years ago
Have you got a directional light in there? ( not sure if poser uses same name) the fireplace light looks good.. I agree with Temp on the candles.. but it looks like theres another light source thats illuminating the whole room, maybe dim that a bit and play with the color of it to get the dark effect you want.
however if you want the room to be bright as it is then ignore me :p
however if you want the room to be bright as it is then ignore me :p
Sartori
18 years ago
Thank you for the feedback, it has all been very helpful. I've settled on my final version, which is attached. I think it ended up very close to what I had in mind. Thanks again for the suggestions. :)
LillianaSapphire
18 years ago
Well I don't know about you and how good your postwork skills are but you could try and postwork the light in.
Try using a overlay brush and overlaying colour over the person like i did in my image "elixer". What i did was got a new layer, a soft edge brush, colour of my choice and then I paitned over the parts on the figure i wanted lighting to hit. I then gaussian blurred the coloured light and then set the layer to overlay. Fiddle around with the layer settings until you get something you like the look of.
For candle light i did the same thing apart from i stop when i get to the gaussian blur bit, i instead dodge the centre of the flame, to imitate the feeling of illumination.
Your final version looks really great, and her pose natural. My personal opinion to make it that more atmospheric would be to make the right side of her face away from the candle that much darker, as its not clear where the lightsource is coming from apart from the faint candle light.
I hope i havent caused offense, i'm pretty shady about offering crit, because of bad experiences from renderosity.com where alot of artists there cannot handle crit.. *rolls eyes*
Anna
xxx
Try using a overlay brush and overlaying colour over the person like i did in my image "elixer". What i did was got a new layer, a soft edge brush, colour of my choice and then I paitned over the parts on the figure i wanted lighting to hit. I then gaussian blurred the coloured light and then set the layer to overlay. Fiddle around with the layer settings until you get something you like the look of.
For candle light i did the same thing apart from i stop when i get to the gaussian blur bit, i instead dodge the centre of the flame, to imitate the feeling of illumination.
Your final version looks really great, and her pose natural. My personal opinion to make it that more atmospheric would be to make the right side of her face away from the candle that much darker, as its not clear where the lightsource is coming from apart from the faint candle light.
I hope i havent caused offense, i'm pretty shady about offering crit, because of bad experiences from renderosity.com where alot of artists there cannot handle crit.. *rolls eyes*
Anna
xxx
FyreGarnett
18 years ago
hey! that's my cat in there!!! I swear that's the way she looks at my son.... like if you give the slightest excuse, she's gone!!
Great job! She came out wonderful!
Great job! She came out wonderful!
ROzbeans
18 years ago
I'm a serial c/c'er myself. Basically I started this board because I incredibly vain but also because I didn't think there was enough detailed and helpful C/C out there. I think, regardless of talent skill, everyone could use constructive criticism and here - well they get it from me whether they asked for it or not =D
So any c/c that is detailed and fraught with suggestions and helpful links/tutorials is always welcomed!
LillianaSapphire
I hope i havent caused offense, i'm pretty shady about offering crit, because of bad experiences from renderosity.com where alot of artists there cannot handle crit.. *rolls eyes*
I'm a serial c/c'er myself. Basically I started this board because I incredibly vain but also because I didn't think there was enough detailed and helpful C/C out there. I think, regardless of talent skill, everyone could use constructive criticism and here - well they get it from me whether they asked for it or not =D
So any c/c that is detailed and fraught with suggestions and helpful links/tutorials is always welcomed!
LillianaSapphire
18 years ago
phew, thank god for that R0z. It just really annoys me at rendo because there's too many artists that can't take it. Especially the artists who are big. It makes me laugh because on other websites that they post at, their art isn't even recognised or appreciated. I suppose Karma came around and eventually bit them in the ass......
Once I offered some crit on a pic about shadowing, and it wasn't the artist who attacked me, but all his followers. Like "how dare you say soemthing in this gods work needs improving!"...... It's pathetic.... so naturally i reported these people for harrasing me and they got banned....
I don't put up with sh!t, i'm glad i can CC here without the fear of being attacked.
Once I offered some crit on a pic about shadowing, and it wasn't the artist who attacked me, but all his followers. Like "how dare you say soemthing in this gods work needs improving!"...... It's pathetic.... so naturally i reported these people for harrasing me and they got banned....
I don't put up with sh!t, i'm glad i can CC here without the fear of being attacked.
Sartori
18 years ago
Of course, c/c is always welcome. Especially on anything posted by me. Especially anything posted by me with "C/C Needed" in the title. ;)
I'm considering this piece finished (unless the person I did it for wants any changes), but I'll definitely keep those suggestions in mind for future reference. My postwork skills are, shall we say, very much in the developing phase, so I'm always looking for ways to improve!
I'm considering this piece finished (unless the person I did it for wants any changes), but I'll definitely keep those suggestions in mind for future reference. My postwork skills are, shall we say, very much in the developing phase, so I'm always looking for ways to improve!