Finding light objects

[DanS]

Is there a easy way of finding the light object that is controlling the rendering (final shaded polygon). Also is there an easy way of getting a neutral light render, I know you can use unshaded polygon but the rendering is not as good (odd and missing lines here and there).

Bye the way, this site has been very useful for a 3D begginer, cheers.

Dan

[CipesDesign]

A couple answers: You can find a light object (or nearly any other object type) by going to ORGANIZE>CUSTOM SELECTION and then setting the pulldown to "type" and then setting the type to "light". If you have multiple lights on multiple layers you will need to do a bit of searching (or custom selecting) on each of the layers. With version 11.5 there is a new feature that will create "light" if there is no other light source. This may help with your "neutral" lighting request. Also, in case you were not aware, lights can be toggled "on" or "off" in the OIP. Renders generally work better with only one main light source (sun position) turned on. Hope that helps...

[Delmer]

The artistic render > color wash might give you what you're looking for.

[ 06-02-2005, 06:22 PM: Message edited by: Delmer ]

[DanS]

Thanks for the advice. A the moment I am just rendering in final shaded polygon (although I hope to move onto renderworks at some point) and find the only way too get a neutral colour (no dark sides to a building) is to have the light object elevation at 90 degrees (straight down). This does though have the effect of bleaching the colour out of pale coloured objects. MAybe I just have to bite the bullet and get into renderworks? Is it a time consuming process??

[CipesDesign]

Dan, No dark side? Too much like the real world! You could try just increasing the Ambient Light Level. There will still be relatively lighter/darker sides, but the dark side will be lighter than it was before.

I assume from your post that you don't yet own RW's? If you're interested you might take a peak at NNA's gallery: http://www.nemetschek.net/gallery/gallery.php?category=residential for some idea of what you can do with it. And yes it can be time consuming, especially if you are trying for a "realistic" rendering.

[DanS]

Sorry to keep going on about this, but I can only get one directional light object to have any effect on rendering in final shaded polygon.The ambient light setting doesn't do anything either. Everything works in open GL but thats not the rendering option I want to use.

I had a look at NNA's gallery, I've a long way to go!

[CipesDesign]

Dan, please don't be *too* offended by whaty I'm about to say, as it is meant to be tongue in cheek: What you are asking is sort of like: "I really want to go 160 mph, but I only have a VW bug." I therefore second the notion of biting the bullet and getting RW's. While it may not be the end-all-world's-greatest-bla-bla-bla, I think it might allow you many more options with your presentations. A long time ago I was considering buying what I considered to be a pretty expensive new computer system. I was nervous and indecisive. My uncle asked me, "Will you use it for work every day?" I said, "Yes". He said, "How can you afford not to buy it?"... Have a good weekend :-)

[CipesDesign]

Dan, please don't be *too* offended by whaty I'm about to say, as it is meant to be tongue in cheek: What you are asking is sort of like: "I really want to go 160 mph, but I only have a VW bug." I therefore second the notion of biting the bullet and getting RW's. While it may not be the end-all-world's-greatest-bla-bla-bla, I think it might allow you many more options with your presentations. A long time ago I was considering buying what I considered to be a pretty expensive new computer system. I was nervous and indecisive. My uncle asked me, "Will you use it for work every day?" I said, "Yes". He said, "How can you afford not to buy it?"... Have a good weekend :-)

[DanS]

Point taken, looks like I may be going shopping this weekend!

Cheers

Dan

[islandmon]

Invest in your productivity and invest in your future. Learning to fly involves learning the curve. The sooner you get off the ground the better yourr experiences will be.

[Lynda]

I found that by flooding the image with extra lights but turning off cast shadows gave me the colours and degree of accuracy I wanted. This was in renderworks but seems to work quite well in Open GL too. I keep lights visible in wireframe so that I can find them - didn't know you could do an optimize select. I also adjusted the position manually after placing.

It mentions something about achieving realistic lighting in the 10.5 version manual.

Don't know if this helps.

I've found the Tech support board invaluable as abeginner in all aspects of VW including Renderworks. Thanks all! Lynda