Realistic Strip lights

[Josh Schulman]

What are the odds that VW will figure out how to make strip lights render light realistically? I know I can play around with the field and beam settings to sort of fake it, but the lights don't look believable if you are using them for lighting a scenic good like a cyc. 

 

here are supposed to be ColorForce 72s in a line. What I get are hot spots. Any thoughts? 🧐

 

Thank you,

Josh

[mjm]

1 minute ago, Josh Schulman said:

What are the odds that VW will figure out how to make strip lights render light realistically? I know I can play around with the field and beam settings to sort of fake it, but the lights don't look believable if you are using them for lighting a scenic good like a cyc. 

 

here are supposed to be ColorForce 72s in a line. What I get are hot spots. Any thoughts? 🧐

 

Thank you,

Josh

@Josh Schulman I tend to either roll my own by deploying IES files, but multiples of them per strip fixture, or I create one with multiple sources from the 'Spotlight Mode' of the VWX Light tool (the light bulb icon). I end up playing with the beam and field angles to develop something which 'looks' right-er. I also attached a modified spotlight CFII72 with IES lights, in case you're interested

CF72+IES.vwx

[Josh Schulman]

Those look really nice. I just wish that VW made the light more realistic. They bill themselves as the one stop shop for the entertainment industry but the way their lighting works is hokey. 

[Kevin Allen]

Have you tried multiple emitters?

[Kevin Allen]

18 minutes ago, mjm said:

in case you're interested

 

really nice render.

[MrTemplate]

yes, multiple emitters is a good starting point. but if you're dealing with old-school three-circuit striplights do your homework, especially if you want to view the colored gel in the rendered striplight.

[mjm]

1 hour ago, MrTemplate said:

yes, multiple emitters is a good starting point. but if you're dealing with old-school three-circuit striplights do your homework, especially if you want to view the colored gel in the rendered striplight.

Yep, this is such a fun task!

 

1 hour ago, Kevin Allen said:

 

really nice render.

@Kevin Allen thanks man. the really fun part was the filled scrim

[Mark Aceto]

9 hours ago, mjm said:

the really fun part was the filled scrim

 

*chef's kiss*

[Mark Aceto]

When importing an IES file for a Robe CycBar 15, I keep getting this error: The light distribution file is invalid. Please load a new one.

 

IES files attached:

 

CycBar_15_IES.zip

 

Any idea how to solve this?

 

[Mark Aceto]

ahahahafhafhshasfhafhsadfhsafhsd you gotta be kidding me--this is a regression from 2022

 

[Mark Aceto]

Adding the IES file to a Lighting Device in v2022, saving the file, then opening it in v2023... strips the IES file.

 

That's it. I'm done.

[mjm]

12 hours ago, Mark Aceto said:

Adding the IES file to a Lighting Device in v2022, saving the file, then opening it in v2023... strips the IES file.

 

That's it. I'm done.

I so know that feeling

[Mickey]

I found this thread to try to once again teach myself how to make a strip light look correct, and after reading through the thread all I get is facepalm

ugh

 

So back to putting multiple emitters in the light.

Of course when I tried that it didn't work.

more facepalm.

 

 

[Kevin Allen]

3 minutes ago, Mickey said:

multiple emitters

 

not for the weak of heart

[MrTemplate]

mark doubleday created a video regarding this, as i recall? i labored this topic for some days, but that was back in vw2022.

[Buhbuhbryan]

Just gonna leave this here as it will help you get started with multiple emitters: https://university.vectorworks.net/mod/page/view.php?id=1180

 

Also sending out a file with some good ol functioning cyc lights in case anyone wants it

 

1790076044_MultipleEmittersFINISHv2023.vwx Old Cyc Lights.vwx

[Mark Aceto]

On 4/6/2023 at 11:21 AM, Mickey said:

I found this thread to try to once again teach myself how to make a strip light look correct, and after reading through the thread all I get is facepalm

ugh

 

So back to putting multiple emitters in the light.

Of course when I tried that it didn't work.

more facepalm.

 

I was able to get those robe cycbars to work, and it was worth it. There's another thread somewhere that documents my journey. Also, since then, that IES bug should have been fixed (not that it matters), and Shaded rendering is constantly improving.

 

What got me across the finish line was following the built in VW Help documentation to a T, and watching Mark Doubleday's videos. It was a painful day or two but everything made sense in the end. If you have the time to hunker down and power through it, go for it. If nothing else, I have a much clearer understanding of Lighting Device parts, what they do, and why (that alone made it worthwhile because there's a lot of misinformation out floating around out there).

[Mark Aceto]

On 4/27/2023 at 4:00 PM, Lunar Waneshaft said:

I was able to get those robe cycbars to work, and it was worth it. There's another thread somewhere that documents my journey.

 

I'm not able to link to the other thread, so here's a screenshot of my notes (along the journey of discovery):