Namnik Posted November 11, 2011 Share Posted November 11, 2011 Does anyone have a good way of doing truss toners. I have tried everything from lights inside the truss, to line lights to area lights and nothing gives me a realistic effect. I have even tried glow textures and backlit textures with only mediocre results. Any ideas? Ryan VW 2012 Designer OS 10.6.7 MacBook Pro http://www.gearhouse.co.za Quote Link to comment
JPP Posted December 7, 2011 Share Posted December 7, 2011 Hello Namnik, you can use a "linelight" in the center of the truss on the hole length. Hope that can help ;-) Quote Link to comment
Teresa Hull Posted December 7, 2011 Share Posted December 7, 2011 Ryan, I have had good success with line lights, but I warn you that (at least in VW2011), the line light is pretty render-intensive. This is because there are essentially infinite light sources that go in all directions along the entire length of the line light. The render engine has to calculate each of those sources. **The previous explanation may not be completely accurate, but it is how it was explained to me.** I would not suggest putting a line light in every stick of truss on your drawing (depending on how much truss there is), unless you have a lot of time to watch it render. The attached are prelim renderings, so I didn't spend too much time tweaking all the settings to get everything "just so." If the project had been realized to final renderings, I would have adjusted the line light fall-off (although I'm not sure if that's what it is called for a line light) so there wasn't so much spill onto the ceiling above the circle truss. I also played with the texture of the truss itself, so that it was very willing to reflect the light that I was hitting it with. Another adjustment I would have made (had the project made it to the next phase) would have been to make the ceiling less reactive to the light, so it didn't shine so blue. Cheers and good luck! Quote Link to comment
bcd Posted December 7, 2011 Share Posted December 7, 2011 If you can, use a 2d image prop rather than the 3d Human tool to speed up your renderings considerably. Quote Link to comment
Ridpath Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 I have tried to recreate the truss toners using line lights but nothing happened. Any advice on how to accomplish the same effect, Teresa? Thanks, RR Quote Link to comment
RickR Posted January 13, 2012 Share Posted January 13, 2012 I did some truss with socks by a texture with "glow." I imagine it would work the same on regular truss. The drawback is that you don't have falloff in the light along the truss. The whole surface glows at the same intensity. The benefit is that it is very easy for the rendering engine. Quote Link to comment
cad@sggsa Posted February 23, 2012 Share Posted February 23, 2012 OK I'll be the one to ask the dumb question here: What is a Line Light? I need to create some truss and some ligt boxes on stage I'm would like the fall offs and not just a texture set to glow. Thanks Quote Link to comment
CipesDesign Posted February 23, 2012 Share Posted February 23, 2012 You should experiment with Line Lights and Area Lights in a new clean file. Draw a few objects, maybe four walls and a ceiling (or whatever) and set up a view or viewport using a RW Camera (or the old Set 3d command). The view should be of the interior and it will be dark. You will probably want to render in FQRW, but Fast RW w/Shadows will give you a taste and is much faster for quick trial and error. LINE LIGHT: draw a line in plan view, then go to front or side view and move it up to just below the ceiling. Select the line and run command: Modify>Convert>Convert to Line Light. The rest is fairly self explanatory. AREA LIGHT: basically same thing as Line Light, but you can use a rectangle, circle or even a 3d shape (like an extrusion) The reason I suggest using a new clean file is that lights can dramatically increase rendering and regen times. The less data in the file the faster you will get an idea of what these things can do... They can be amazing if used thoughtfully! Have fun. Quote Link to comment
cad@sggsa Posted February 24, 2012 Share Posted February 24, 2012 AWESOMENESS and Thank You Mr Cipes. * I did not know about this new tool. Exactly what I need to use for these "light boxes" I'm having on stage. Could work for lighting up the truss yes. Mmm... now we can do a scene from Star Wars *The Force is strong with this one, Yes. Quote Link to comment
Teresa Hull Posted March 3, 2012 Share Posted March 3, 2012 Ridpath, Sorry for taking so long to respond ... Before you try to put the light inside the truss, make sure you are correctly creating the line light. Draw a line and "convert line light". As I recall, it was pretty self-explanatory after reading about it in the Help. There isn't really a way for me to know why line lights didn't work for you without more information. Did you turn the light "on"? I can never keep track of what renders in what modes, but I'm sure line lights don't render in all the modes, so try several of them. Also make sure the line light isn't colliding with another object (such as the floor), as I imagine this would also make the line light not emit. Good luck! Quote Link to comment
cad@sggsa Posted March 12, 2012 Share Posted March 12, 2012 (edited) I notice Line Lights differ in the way they look when they are different lengths. See attached is a render showing 3 line lights. 500mm, 2400mm and 19200mm. Why is this?? The 2400 is looking the best for what I need but could be better. Then there seems to be a BUG. When a Line Light is created vertically it does not show except when it touches or intercepts anoher surface. It will also show a black line in Renders eventhough it has a color from creation. What I tried doing is having the same effect as the line light has running horizontally like a edge glow on the vertical corners. I did some truss with socks by a texture with "glow." I imagine it would work the same on regular truss. The drawback is that you don't have falloff in the light along the truss. The whole surface glows at the same intensity. The benefit is that it is very easy for the rendering engine. Make the texture 50% transparent with glow selected I made the lightboxes have a falloff by adding additional spotlights and raising the box about 3mm. Not very successful, but looks good with the line light I added. When other lights are swithed off you can see the falloff Edited March 12, 2012 by cad@sggsa Quote Link to comment
Vectorworks, Inc Employee klinzey Posted March 12, 2012 Vectorworks, Inc Employee Share Posted March 12, 2012 Carl, If you are still having problems, you may get more help by posting in the Renderworks forum. There are more users in the Renderworks forum that may be able to help you out with rendering issues and offer you better solutions to your problem. Quote Link to comment
cad@sggsa Posted March 12, 2012 Share Posted March 12, 2012 Carl, If you are still having problems, you may get more help by posting in the Renderworks forum. There are more users in the Renderworks forum that may be able to help you out with rendering issues and offer you better solutions to your problem. Thanks for the headsup there. This is a Spotlight problem though, but will post in there too. Quote Link to comment
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