Up-lighting Drape

[ChadL]

I've been trying to do corporate 3d drawings, and can't figure out how to make uplights on drape look good in renderings. I've tried putting lights below with focus above them, but only get an unattractive oval on the drape. No light results in not being able to see the pleats. Has anybody had success in rendering uplights on drape, or just making drape look good in renderings?

Chad L.

vw spotlight 2008 w/renderworks

[JBenghiat]

My $.02 -- your model is for presentation, so it doesn't matter how you get the look you want. Use Photoshop to create a texture with a gradient that gives you the end result you want. Apply that to the drape, along with a constant reflectivity.

-Josh

[ChadL]

The problem is I don't have photoshop, and I feel there must be a way to do it in spotlight. Also when using final quality renderworks I can't even get the pleats to show up.

[Fergy]

Try adding a simple light dome to the renderworks lighting settings, and perhaps turn down the layer lighting options as well. Your rendering time will increase a bunch, but you'll have the ambient light to create the drapery pleats for rendering purposes.

As for uplighting purposes, the problem is that you can't adjust softness and falloff levels very well for Renderworks lights. Or are you using Spotlight instruments, and trying to do it realistically there?

Sometimes, when I'm doing what you're doing, is to use a Spotlight symbol, but modify it with a Renderworks light, so that I don't have to use focus points. Also, that allows me to adjust the falloff and spread of the light source independent of the lighting symbol I use. I usually have to crank those Renderworks lights up pretty high, and turn down the layer lighting options. Also, I find that the falloff settings can be a pain, so sometimes I use multiple Renderworks lights per Spotlight symbol to get the effect I want. I'll usually set them to a short falloff when I do that.

[Andy Lasseter]

I hope this is not to late. One more simple little trick I use for drape texture is to change the color of drape from Black to "Just less than black".

When the shadows are black, starting off with a drape at BLack, there is nor more further Blackness for the drape to go to.

Therefore I color all my drape at 2nd to Last "black" in Row 4, Column 8.

For the renderings it does the trick.