Gobo Projector

[Ohran]

I am rendering a set and have added some lighting using the gobo projector tool. When I go to render, one of the lights won't turn on. If I then delete the light that didn't do anything, and insert another one the new light turns on but the old one turns off.

By turn off I mean that it just doesn't show up as any light. The object window still says it is doing exactly what it is supposed to.

[Kevin Beacham]

I have found a similar situation. A get arouund is to change active classes, and then go bact to the class you are working in.

I seems to happen when I first create the "gobo projector".

[Eric Chenault]

Here's to hoping we can get functionality closer to WYSIWYG in the future.

It sure would be great if the lighting instrument that you spent all the time to hang on the pipe, enter the color and gobo, focus to a focus position ... could then just be "turned on" rather than having to add a gobo projector and go through the whole process a second time in order to create a rendering.

It's troubling to me that the Spotlight manual says under the Gobo Projector section "These features are intended to assist you in previewing the lighting design (they cannot be used to accurately render all the lighting instruments on the stage for every scene)."

Regards,Eric Chenault

[kmoore1]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Eric Chenault:

It's troubling to me that the Spotlight manual says under the Gobo Projector section "These features are intended to assist you in previewing the lighting design (they cannot be used to accurately render all the lighting instruments on the stage for every scene)."

---

SpotLight does not currently do what WYSIWYG does with regards to visualization and console interaction and I wanted to make this extremely clear to people buying SpotLight. Our strength is in light plot and paperwork creation and management, whereas WYSIWYG is a strong visualization tool. The caveat in the manual is there to prevent people from having false expectations of the program that it is not designed to fulfill and then becoming frustrated / disappointed when it won't do what they expected.

I would much rather have someone not purchase SpotLight because they find out it doesn't have the visualization capabilities they want, than to purchase it and either feel that its capabilities were mis-represented, or frustrated that they can't make it do what they want.

SpotLight is first and foremost a production tool; it also has visualization capabilities. WYSIWYG is foremost a visualization tool; it also has production capabilities.

That said, we are continuing to refine and develop our visualization tools. Integrating the visualization with the light plot is high on many people?s wish lists. I?ll make sure to add your vote to the list.

[Eric Chenault]

Thanks Kevin. WYSIWYG and Spotlight are definately two different animals. I actually can't envision Spotlight hooked to a console. I probably generalized a bit too much when I said "closer to WYSIWYG".

Being a user of both programs I have to say that the process of drafting a light plot which will then look like the personality of the designer is really only possible in VW/Spotlight.

I think you understood my wish, but I just wanted to make it clear that I am very pleased with where Spotlight has developed, and only wish the process was a bit smoother when it comes to the Gobo Projector tool. (so that the lighting device object holds the power to create the rendering).

My problem about the accuracy was that I just wish RenderWorks had a higher level of capability that would allow it to calculate light more accurately. (radiosity / bounce , etc.)

[ 12-10-2001: Message edited by: Eric Chenault ]

[AndyM]

I have never used WYSIWIG but have heard lots about it and it sounds too good to be true. How is it possible that WYSIWIG can do all of this rendering and raytracing hooked up to a console in real time when it takes every other program in the world quite some time to render a scene? I have seen some examples of renderings and they look OK, but it is my uninformed opinion that there must be something inherently "cheesy" about the rendering engine.

[Eric Chenault]

quote:

---

Originally posted by AndyM7777:

I have never used WYSIWIG but have heard lots about it and it sounds too good to be true

---

It's not appropriate to really discuss a different product by a different manufacturer here, but you should look further at the WYSIWYG websites for more info. It's definately not cheesy and the new version due out in January or February is exponentially enhanced.

CAST Software

[kkarjune]

quote:

---

Originally posted by kmoore1:

SpotLight does not currently do what WYSIWYG does with regards to visualization and console interaction and I wanted to make this extremely clear to people buying SpotLight. Our strength is in light plot and paperwork creation and management, whereas WYSIWYG is a strong visualization tool. The caveat in the manual is there to prevent people from having false expectations of the program that it is not designed to fulfill and then becoming frustrated / disappointed when it won't do what they expected.

I would much rather have someone not purchase SpotLight because they find out it doesn't have the visualization capabilities they want, than to purchase it and either feel that its capabilities were mis-represented, or frustrated that they can't make it do what they want.

SpotLight is first and foremost a production tool; it also has visualization capabilities. WYSIWYG is foremost a visualization tool; it also has production capabilities.

That said, we are continuing to refine and develop our visualization tools. Integrating the visualization with the light plot is high on many people?s wish lists. I?ll make sure to add your vote to the list.

---

I'm also finding it frustrating to "plot" everything twice. It would be so nice, if tere was just another box in the object info.... like "project gobo"

[daisymurray]

I'm also finding the gobo projector frustrating and hope for a more integrated solution in future releases. Please add my name to the wish list.

[*Claes]

Another one in favour of putting the gobo's where they belong, in the fixtures please!

(and, indeed, in the object info palette of a spot, next to 'draw beam' maybe?)