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Softer Shadows


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Islandman,

Thanks. I was messing with it a bit more. I realize I don't know enough about lights and rendering. I've always wished this part of RW was more intuitive. I tend to light things like a photographer would, but maybe I should be thinking more about typical room lighting. Put lights above and pointing straight down like they would be in a room setting. What I tried, and it worked, was to add a directional light that cast shadows and set it to 25%. That gave me the softness of the shadows I was looking for.

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Nicholas,

Please give me a bit more info how I would this works. I found a few HDRI backgrounds in my RW resources, where do I find more? How do I use them? I have VW 2008. I used one called Simple Light Dome-1 and rendered Custom Radiosity. That took over an hour! The background was black. I did the same but rendered Final Quality RenderWorks which took about a minute, it looked OK, but again the background was black.

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The best free HDRI backgrounds I've found thus far are here:

http://www.evermotion.org/tutorials/show/7928/free-hdri-cd-collection-from-evermotion

You can also make your own simple HDRI backgrounds:

http://techboard.vectorworks.net/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=92655&Searchpage=1&Main=19832&Words=%2Bmake+%2Bown+%2Bhdri&Search=true#Post92655

Renderworks will utilize multiple processors. That's why the render times are shorter.

I don't think that the Simple Dome and the other default HDRI backgrounds are meant for display. They're only intended for lighting. You'll need to use another background for display - like propstuff mentioned above.

The evermotion backgrounds, however, are intended for display AND lighting. Download them and then create a renderworks background per the instructions in the "make your own HDRI" post.

If you do a search for "HDRI" in this forum, you'll find quite a bit of useful information. You can also find some information searching for HDRI in the VW help file.

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Can someone please change the length of a day to 26 hours? I need more time to learn about RW lighting! I'm trying to understand why my scene gets darker when I add lights? It's kind of like what happens when I add light to a photographic scene. There too the scene gets darker. I understand that's a function of the camera trying to balance the overall light.

In my VW file I have the lighting background set with a HDRI background, and one directional light. I'm rendering Fast Radiosity. Increasing the ambient light and/or adding other lights only darkens the rendered image. What else can I try?

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I suspect that fast radiosity uses "Auto-Exposure." I find that this wreaks havoc on my scenes.

Is there a reason that you're using Radiosity instead of Renderworks? I find that I can usually get better results with Custom Renderworks in less time than Radiosity.

Try using Custom Renderworks with these settings:

Texturing:

Use Textures - Yes

Use Transparency - Yes

Geometry:

Curve Detail - Low (or as low as you can stand it)

Use NURBS - No (unless you are using NURBS objects)

Lighting:

Use Shadows - Yes

Ray Traced Shadows - Yes

Transparent Shadows - Yes

Sampling Quality - High

Viewport (or Layer) Lighting Options:

Ambient - Off

HDRI - From Current Background (if using HDRI as visible background)

From Selected Background (if only using HDRI for light)

Final Gather:

Use Final Gather - No (unless you're doing interiors or really need extra light bounces - like Radiosity - this adds lots of time to your render)

Rendering:

Use Anti-Aliasing - Yes

Use Ray Tracing - Yes

Then - Post your render so we can all see what you're up to.

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Note, using HDRIs as visible backgrounds are not to bad for exterior architectural models if the HDRI is a sky and has some sort of horizon.

For Product, using an HDRI of an interior to light the piece can give very good lighting effects but is close to impossible to make the piece "sit" in the interior.

Unless the HDRI photos happen to be shot from exactly the same orientation, focal length etc etc as the model is viewed from, the scale and perspective will be ALL wrong.

as for Ambient light, I generally start with it off, but usually adjust it depending on the particular HDRI and its orientation.

N.

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Bruce - If you turn off your directional light and use only HDRI, you'll get much softer shadows. Use an HDRI background that has a single light in it. You can edit the RW background and rotate the light by clicking the options button next to the Image Environment (HDRI) drop-down.

I've attached a vwx example file and a pdf of the result.

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You forgot to add the background to the SLVP.

Select the SLVP

In the OIP, click on the Lighting Options Button

Select From Selected Bacground and choose Background-43

Click OK

Click Update

Here's an updated pdf and your file back with those settings made and the background rotated more so that it's in the right position.

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Bill,

I finally got mine to look like yours! Unfortunately, I can't say for sure what I changed??? Thanks for all of your help. I'm sure we will visit this subject more in the future.

I never knew VW had "Cabinets," but I do now! I have a few questions about your work:

1) The class pen and fill colors you use, are they personal choices, or do they have some significance?

2) Your countertop is a floor. Why is that?

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