PIP NZ Posted September 15, 2009 Share Posted September 15, 2009 I am working on a model, trying to decipher how to show the natural shadows on an interior camera view. When I render it with shadows the interior walls are black. HELP - what am I doing wrong? Quote Link to comment
michaelk Posted September 15, 2009 Share Posted September 15, 2009 Hard to say w/o knowing a little more (VW version, what rendering mode, texture on walls, design layer or viewport....) Have you tried setting your ambient layer lighting higher? View>Lighting>Set Layer Lighting Options hth michaelk Quote Link to comment
PIP NZ Posted September 16, 2009 Author Share Posted September 16, 2009 VW2009, Final Quality RenderWorks, I haven't added textures to the walls - is this necessary? Design layer/model space - I think... still kind of new to VW as you can tell. I set my camera view in RenderWorks, then viewed in the object info palette. Is there an easier way to view interiors? I am trying to get a snapshot of how shadows are cast into this room that is already part of a model I have been working on, and then show a series of shots for a basic solar analysis. Thanks. Quote Link to comment
michaelk Posted September 16, 2009 Share Posted September 16, 2009 It's not necessary to add textures to the walls. But it is possible to create textures with odd shadow behavior. Are you getting any light into the interior? (ie is the glazing on the windows and doors transparent?) If you add a point source light in the interior, does that help? If you turn the ambient layer light level higher, does that help? ...and I wouldn't say this if I hadn't done it: Is your camera object inside a wall? hth michaelk Quote Link to comment
PIP NZ Posted September 16, 2009 Author Share Posted September 16, 2009 The default texture set in the walls drawn is stucco medium white wall. I played around a little with other textures - which did help, however I am still having a few issues. Openings are translucent, and I can see sun through them. The sun just does not project into the room as much as it should be. Is my north screwed up? How do I check this? After playing with the textures I am able to get light, but it is appears either washed out or too dark depending on the brightness. No, the camera is not in a wall. I Can see the furniture and person I placed in the model etc.... I don't have any light source in the interior - I am guessing I need to add one in... I appreciate your help on this. Quote Link to comment
michaelk Posted September 16, 2009 Share Posted September 16, 2009 Did you use the Set Sun Position command? View>Lighting>Set Sun Position... This will take care of the true north compared to page north problem, and set the sun position for you. Turning up the ambient layer light should light what isn't being struck directly by the sunlight. Or using Final Radiosity will bounce the sunlight around the room to light the walls. hth michaelk Quote Link to comment
VincentCuclair Posted September 16, 2009 Share Posted September 16, 2009 Set the Stucco texture reflectivity to Matte and max the ambient and diffuse settings. Then play around with the View>Lighting>Set Layer Lighting options. You can select your 'Sun' and change azimute (height) and Latitiude (rotation) so that the sun 'shines' into your windows better. NOTE!! Once you change this, the original location settings will NOT be correct, so if the point of the presentation is to show how the sun behaves in this particular location don't fiddle with those settings..... Quote Link to comment
billtheia Posted September 16, 2009 Share Posted September 16, 2009 If you are only using an exterior light source to light an interior model, you'll need to use Radiosity or Final Gather in Custom Renderworks to get the light to bounce around. FQRW will only give you "direct" illumination (no bounces.) I have lit model interiors using only an HDRI background outside the model and it gave good results but the render times were quite long. See the following posts: http://techboard.vectorworks.net/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=112213 http://techboard.vectorworks.net/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=112664 http://techboard.vectorworks.net/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=60037&Main=13944#Post60037 I REALLY wish that there were more thorough Renderworks tutorials/manuals. I've suffered through LOTS of trial and error. Quote Link to comment
islandmon Posted September 16, 2009 Share Posted September 16, 2009 I've suffered through LOTS of trial and error. And i thought that i was the only one experiencing this affliction. One way to ease the pain of experimentation is to utilized low dpi Sheets with stripped down Viewports. Instead of rendering the entire scene at hi-res, first, crop the VP to show an average vertical or horizontal slice of the scene. Then, reset the Sheet to something like 54 dpi and have at it. Quote Link to comment
billtheia Posted September 16, 2009 Share Posted September 16, 2009 Excellent suggestion, islandmon. I also use Custom Renderworks and set all the variables to Low until I have things worked out. That, when combined with the low sheet layer dpi, results in VPs that render very quickly. You can also use the render bitmap tool, while working on a design layer, to render just a portion of the image. Quote Link to comment
PIP NZ Posted September 17, 2009 Author Share Posted September 17, 2009 Yes I finally realised that I did not have any 'direct' light. Thanks for all the suggestions. Quote Link to comment
jeffroyer Posted September 18, 2009 Share Posted September 18, 2009 Islandmon - thanks for that suggestion! Interiors are tough. Lots of trial and error. Quote Link to comment
billtheia Posted September 22, 2009 Share Posted September 22, 2009 PIP, how's that model coming along? Any images you can post? I'd love to see what others are doing out there with RW. Quote Link to comment
jeffroyer Posted September 24, 2009 Share Posted September 24, 2009 While we are on the subject of lighting... Attached is a room we are working on with input from a lighting designer. The room is rendered with only her actual lighting along with sunlight. It still seems way too dark although I don't think it is a product of her lighting placement. We do have an HDRI outside along with one sun. Interior is lit only with actual lights an no ambient light. Render is Custom Renderworks with Final Gather at 12" and 10%. My question has more to do with reflectivity of surfaces - our walls and ceilings had no reflectivity in the texture. Should we use "image reflectivity" or "matte" in order to get the light bouncing more? The wood floor has phong as the reflectivity. It seems that we really aren't getting very much from the sun. I think the reality is the room will be very bright during the day. Any thoughts would be appreciated. thanks Quote Link to comment
billtheia Posted September 24, 2009 Share Posted September 24, 2009 What happens if you try Final Gather at 6" & 40%? Quote Link to comment
cad@sggsa Posted September 25, 2009 Share Posted September 25, 2009 By looking at the shadows, sees what lighting effect it will have if you rotate the room 180deg in relation to the sun source. See what light will come streaming through the window behind the bed. Also what is the transparency of the glass? I would use Image reflectivity and you need to have some sort of reflectivity for it to reflect, might just be why it is so dark in there. Quote Link to comment
islandmon Posted September 25, 2009 Share Posted September 25, 2009 Jeffroyer ... a couple simple tricks ... 1) Floor & varnishes require reflectivity 2) Place Directional Light(s) ( possibly colored ) above ceiling panels, then assign the panels a simple transparency to allow the light to radiate through. ( i sometimes do this with fake walls opposite the ambient for brightness ). Quote Link to comment
jeffroyer Posted September 25, 2009 Share Posted September 25, 2009 Thanks for the feedback. I will try a few things out and repost my results. The renders take a while - we are doing these on an older iMac. Might be upgrading to a new iMac, Snow Leopard and 2010 if a few more checks roll in... Quote Link to comment
JSiegel Posted October 6, 2009 Share Posted October 6, 2009 jeffroyer & others, As a new user to VW2009 in general and RW in particular, I have a few questions: 1) The oak floor texture in the bedroom image you had attached previously: Is this within the VW textures? I f so where? Also did you draw the floor as individual planks or is this a simple flat surface? 2) For lineal elements; crowns & base moldings are these simply drawn, extruded, & dropped into place? The lineal elements tool bar seems to be useful for details, rather than model elements? Thanks, Jeremy Quote Link to comment
Ray Libby Posted October 6, 2009 Share Posted October 6, 2009 Jeremy, It would make it easier to help and answer questions if you would create a signature with your version of Vectorworks including updates and computer specs including OS. Click on the My Stuff link at the top, Edit Profile. There are lot's of textures that ship with VW, on Windows they are located here: C:\Program Files\Vectorworks2009\Libraries\Textures You can extrude moldings and miter with the Split Tool, or you can use Extrude Along Path. I'm not sure what you mean by "lineal elements tool bar" Quote Link to comment
JSiegel Posted October 6, 2009 Share Posted October 6, 2009 Ray, I will further search the library. I meant Detailing\Tool Sets\Lineal Material where I said "lineal elements tool bar" sorry for lack of clarity. As for the moldings are there stock profiles that can be used and/or modified or am I to draw them, extrude them & miter them as you mention? Thanks, Jeremy Quote Link to comment
Ray Libby Posted October 6, 2009 Share Posted October 6, 2009 VW 2010 does come with Copper Beech Millwork profiles. You can also go to manufacturers sites and find cad examples of their profiles. The ones I use are all either a stock moldings or drawn from scratch. Quote Link to comment
rDesign Posted October 6, 2009 Share Posted October 6, 2009 If you are not yet on Vw2010 (or are waiting for your copy to arrive, like me), you can get a collection of 504 moulding profiles graciously provided for free here : Vector Depot :: Moulding Profiles by Matthew Swett. These may be the same profiles as provided in Vw2010, I don't know. Regards, Tim Quote Link to comment
bcd Posted October 7, 2009 Share Posted October 7, 2009 jeffroyer, It seems to me that you are getting virtually no contribution from the North & East windows. This may have to do with your glass reflectivity or the HDRI outside. You can estimate / calculate the contribution you expect from these and create an area light, angled slightly downward, hide geometry and place just outside the windows. Quote Link to comment
Gytis Posted October 7, 2009 Share Posted October 7, 2009 Vector Depot :: Moulding Profiles by Matthew Swett. These may be the same profiles as provided in Vw2010, I don't know. These are in fact from the New England Classic profile catalog, so they are different. Quote Link to comment
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