LED Bar emitting light only as point source

[mjm]

thanks man

[Steve Clarkson]

It still needs some work, I've put it into an actual project, and it's added to my render time significantly.  There's also some other weirdnesses, for example only the linear light is rendering.

A work in progress.

[scottmoore]

I would add that linear lights can add significantly to render times as I believe the tool adds a number of lighting object along the linear path. Unfortunately the solution to your issue is Maxon allowing VW users to have reasonable and useful control over lighting objects. How infuriating is it to go through all of that work only to end up with a beam of light that gets brighter the further away it is from it’s source. Not the BEAUTIFUL work on that rendering of the Svoboda fixtures (extra props if you know who Josef Svoboda was and why he is SO important to modern day lighting design and video projection....) It really is a beautiful render, but in what universe (to quote Sheldon Cooper) do beams of light get brighter the further they travel?  That should be a brilliant hot spot at the fixture falling off in an exponential way as the beam travels in the air. Having to compensate with something like a linear lighting element is just a resource hog, but serious kudos to you to try and get that going Steve. Well done sir. 

[klawson]

I have also used a rectangle, converted to 3d poly, then Modify > Convert > Convert to Area Light... then tweek to preference. This way I have a controllable light from across the whole row of lights, and it approximates the real thing... sorta.

 

Just my 2 cents!

 

Kevin Lawson

[Steve Clarkson]

klawson - ya I tried an area light too, they're pretty close in the affect they have for this purpose.  My linear light is a rectangle placed barely above the exit of the shell, similar it sounds to your area light.  And ya I agree.... it's sorta the real thing.  I tried lowering my linear light into the enclosure hoping for a shuttering effect, but all it did was block all light, have you tried anything like that?

[klawson]

27 minutes ago, Steve Clarkson said:

klawson - ya I tried an area light too, they're pretty close in the affect they have for this purpose.  My linear light is a rectangle placed barely above the exit of the shell, similar it sounds to your area light.  And ya I agree.... it's sorta the real thing.  I tried lowering my linear light into the enclosure hoping for a shuttering effect, but all it did was block all light, have you tried anything like that?

If you place it inside the symbol it will need to have a transparent surface to let the light out.

I just placed it a slight bit above the geometry so it was clear.

You could eliminate some of the geometry to allow fr the shell to remain and your linear light to be within the shell. No one is really going to notice that the top of the fixture is "ripped" apart.

 

Kevin Lawson

[scottmoore]

It is generally a good practice to create your fixtures with a body texture and lens texture that do not cast shadows. That’s how the Spotlight symbols work without having to create a hollow piece of geometry for your fixture body. 

 

Nice work Steve. 

 

[Steve Clarkson]

Well I'm still at it, this time it's a glowing texture at 1000% set into a mirror-texture lined case, with one spot light set to 10deg beam with 90deg spread, smooth falloff, lit fog.  Way easier on the rendering and not too bad for coverage, though the falloff goes on a bit.  Decent realism on the drape I think.

Edited March 6, 2018 by Steve Clarkson

[mjm]

looking good Steve!

[scottmoore]

Nice Steve!  If you want to gain some more control from your glow texture, you could try creating your light fixture as a hollow object and a texture that DOES cast shadows. Place a lens on it that does not cast shadows and then move your glow texture in/out of the light fixture “trough” until you get the effect you want. That will allow the fixture to act as barn doors. 

 

Really nice work and dedication to the result!!

[Steve Clarkson]

Thanks guys! 

I probably seem pretty obsessed with this kind of light, but we use them VERY frequently on corporate shows, and it's the only thing I've found in VW so far that doesn't come out looking realistic.

scottmoore -  sounds good, I'll try that next.

Edited March 6, 2018 by Steve Clarkson

[Steve Clarkson]

One question for you guys, I've made this 15 Objects into a group, and a symbol, and in none of those 3 states could I convert it to an Instrument (Lighting).... is it possible somehow?

More info - 12 of those objects are themselves 3D symbols, should I deconstruct them and then re-group the whole mess?

 

UPDATE:  So I broke it all down to base components, created a symbol, attached the instrument records, and still couldn't get the option to create a lighting instrument....UNTIL I switched to 2D/plan view.  Go figure.   I also tweaked  the brightness again.

Edited March 6, 2018 by Steve Clarkson

[mjm]

23 hours ago, Steve Clarkson said:

One question for you guys, I've made this 15 Objects into a group, and a symbol, and in none of those 3 states could I convert it to an Instrument (Lighting).... is it possible somehow?

More info - 12 of those objects are themselves 3D symbols, should I deconstruct them and then re-group the whole mess?

 

UPDATE:  So I broke it all down to base components, created a symbol, attached the instrument records, and still couldn't get the option to create a lighting instrument....UNTIL I switched to 2D/plan view.  Go figure.   I also tweaked  the brightness again.

Steve: Thats  good looking!