Ed Neuhaus Posted November 18, 2008 Share Posted November 18, 2008 Hi, I just updated to VW2009 designer and I am having issues with rendering lighting in renderworks. In version12.5 there was a "lit fog" check box in the obj. info pallet for lighting instruments. I have noticed that when using a lighting instrument the "litfog" option is not available. While the draw beam as 3d solid is nice, how do I make it light up fog like it would in show conditions? I find it available for "lights" that come from the visualization tab, but not for lighting instruments. I have tried adding a renderworks background of fog as the vectorworks help suggests, but no luck. Anyone out there know what I am doing wrong? Any help would be great. Quote Link to comment
Vectorworks, Inc Employee klinzey Posted November 18, 2008 Vectorworks, Inc Employee Share Posted November 18, 2008 All the lights used in the lighting devices are shown in the visualization pallette. You can set the properties there. You can also select a lighting device and right clitk on it, select "edit light..." to access the properties of the light. Quote Link to comment
cad@sggsa Posted November 19, 2008 Share Posted November 19, 2008 So NNA has made it more difficult and time consuming to use lights in 2009. Now I do not know the visualization palette in '09, but am I correct in saying that 'If you have to edit the light in order to change the litfog option instead of selecting several lighting instuments and simlpy deselecting the checkbox it will take twice as long' ?? Quote Link to comment
Vectorworks, Inc Employee klinzey Posted November 19, 2008 Vectorworks, Inc Employee Share Posted November 19, 2008 You can select mutiple lights in the visulization pallette and change the attributes. Quote Link to comment
John Hoey Posted January 8, 2009 Share Posted January 8, 2009 All (...anyone that can help), I'm having the same problem that Mr. Neuhaus was having. The beam of light from a lighting instrument doesn't appear to have the same "lit fog" effect that it used to. Is there anything that can be done to the lighting instrument symbols (ie., Source4's, Pars, etc,.) to make the light they emit visible, the same way the other lighting sources do from the Light Tool palette? I've tried Mr. Linzey's solution. Unfortunately, going through the Visualization palette still doesn't give the "lit fog" option. I've also tried the suggested "fog background/weather effect" but with no luck. Any thoughts? Thanks, John Hoey Quote Link to comment
michaelk Posted January 9, 2009 Share Posted January 9, 2009 The only way I've been able to do it is this: Whenever you turn on lit fog on an instrument, VW creates a RW background called Background 1 (or something close to that) That background lives on the Resource Browser. You can edit the fog effect there. (Greenstein fog???) The problem is when you want more than one kind of fog effect in the same rendering. Then you have to start splitting lights off into different viewports and you can give each viewport its own RW background. HTH michaelk Quote Link to comment
michaelk Posted January 9, 2009 Share Posted January 9, 2009 I just Googled "Greenstein fog". David Greenstein is was named the CEO of London Fog (the raincoat people) in December 2004. Is this evidence of NNA programers' humor? I hope so. Quote Link to comment
John Hoey Posted January 9, 2009 Share Posted January 9, 2009 michealk, Thanks for the info. But I'm still at a loss as to how to get the "lit fog" option turned on for a lighting symbol (the Source4's, PARs and other assorted theatrical lighting symbols that come packaged with the program). And let's hope the programmers have a sense of humor like that. j Quote Link to comment
michaelk Posted January 10, 2009 Share Posted January 10, 2009 John Go to the Visualization Palette. All the available lights will be listed there. Right Click on one of the lights, choose Edit. A Properties dialogue box will open up. Lit Fog is near the top. HTH michaelk Quote Link to comment
John Hoey Posted January 11, 2009 Share Posted January 11, 2009 Michael, I've been trying that. I'm on a Mac with system 10.4.something. When I "right click" on the visualization palette (control-click on my Mac, or through a small buttoned window on the right side of the palette), I get the edit option. When selected, a Properties Dialogue window comes up. Unfortunately, just the "Draw Beam" or "Draw Beam as 3D Solid" options are there, but no "lit fog". This window is also all but identical to the the layout of the Object Info palette. And when the "Edit" button near the top is activated, VWs crashes. (It's actually kind of fun. I can crash VWs in three moves.) Could this possibly be a resource error that simply differs between the two platforms? Am I missing something obvious? I'm doing some wicked cool stuff, but I had to go back to 12.5 just get the lights to turn on. j Quote Link to comment
michaelk Posted January 11, 2009 Share Posted January 11, 2009 j This is the properties dialogue box I get. michaelk Quote Link to comment
Vectorworks, Inc Employee klinzey Posted January 11, 2009 Vectorworks, Inc Employee Share Posted January 11, 2009 Right (control-click) on the lighting device in the drawing and select "Edit Light..." not "Edit" or "Properties" Quote Link to comment
michaelk Posted January 11, 2009 Share Posted January 11, 2009 I think the confusion is that the dialogue box for both Edit Light and Properties are called Properties. michaelk Quote Link to comment
John Hoey Posted January 11, 2009 Share Posted January 11, 2009 Kevin and michaelk, I dream of the day when I get the properties window like you do. I'm not sure why, but I don't get that layout with the lit fog and beam shaping diagram. I simply get a repeat of my Obj Info palette with only the braw beam option. From poking around, I believe it's either a problem with the lighting instrument symbol (ie., no light source embedded, which might explain why I don't get the "edit light" option), or something about the VW's access to the properties window. My next option is dial a prayer. Thanks, John Quote Link to comment
michaelk Posted January 11, 2009 Share Posted January 11, 2009 John No need for divine intervention. Yet. Let's try it this way. Do you see lit fog in this file? btw, it helps if you create signature with your version and computer info. michaelk Quote Link to comment
John Hoey Posted January 17, 2009 Share Posted January 17, 2009 michaelk, Thanks for the files. I was dealing with a composite file that came from so many sources that a lot of things were a little messed up. I was able to get the lit fog option to work. I ended up deleting all my symbols and replacing them in a document that tech support provided. Yours worked also. Somewhere along the way, mine got corrupted. But my big issue was getting my file out of that 12.5 version that doesn't let anyone else open the files (including me for about 3 days this week). I'm doing (at least what I think) is some pretty cool stuff, but now my rendering of "gobos" has gotten weird. I've been looking at so many versions of software that past week I'm a little bleary, but am I correct in that a lighting unit with a gobo in it (through the gobo resources), and the lit fog option on, should show the pattern of the gobo in the Fast Renderworks with Shadows version of the rendering? The gobo shows in the Final Rendering and the beam shows in Fast Renderworks (no shadows), but there's no light emitted in the Fast with Shadows. What have I screwed up now? John Quote Link to comment
michaelk Posted January 17, 2009 Share Posted January 17, 2009 John It works with Final Quality. Not Fast or Fast w/ Shadows. You can also use Custom Renderworks. I'm not positive about this, but I think the important settings are Lighting: Use Shadows & Ray Traced Shadows Rendering: Use Ray Tracing I also have both options under Texturing turned on. Don't know if that matters. HTH michaelk Quote Link to comment
LMalkin Posted January 25, 2009 Share Posted January 25, 2009 Hi all, I have been reading you posts and decided to try it as i have had some problems in the past. I can get it to work in rough renderworks but rough with shadows or final only gives me half the lights. will be happy to send the file via usendit if anyone is interested in seeing it. any suggestions please let me know. I also figured out how to flip a truss vertically today in a very simple way. if interested let me know. Leo Quote Link to comment
michaelk Posted January 25, 2009 Share Posted January 25, 2009 Leo What version of VW are you using? By rough renderworks do you mean fast renderworks or sketch>rough? Are you rendering on a design layer or in a viewport? michaelk Quote Link to comment
LMalkin Posted January 26, 2009 Share Posted January 26, 2009 2009 fast renderworks design layer mike would you like to see the file Quote Link to comment
michaelk Posted January 26, 2009 Share Posted January 26, 2009 Sure. You can post it here. michaelk Quote Link to comment
LMalkin Posted January 28, 2009 Share Posted January 28, 2009 it is a little large I and I would like to usendit to you my email is drlights@earthlink.net. leo Malkin Quote Link to comment
michaelk Posted January 29, 2009 Share Posted January 29, 2009 Leo I got it to work. I think the trusses are blocking the lights. Not sure where you got the symbols, but they seem to have the light coming from the insertion point. Which is exactly where the trusses are. (This used to be the way all symbols were done.) You have a couple of options. 1. Move the instruments slightly away from the truss. or 2. Apply a texture to the truss that doesn't cast shadows. The default instrument texture is a good example. Then you can render with Final Quality Renderworks or Custom Renderworks to get both the light and fog. HTH michaelk Quote Link to comment
LMalkin Posted January 29, 2009 Share Posted January 29, 2009 Hi mike thanks for taking a look. that is interesting and weird. The symbols are in the vectorworks 2009 library for varilite. Does anyone know if this is a common problem with the vl1000 symbol? as you probably notice all the have the light coming from the c clamp. is that supposed to be that way? "(This used to be the way all symbols were done.)" To all I would post it but its really large (40mb) if you would like to see just email me at drlights@earthlink.net and I will usendit on to you. It seem Nemetshcek hasn't corrected the problem. Leo Quote Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.