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shadows too dark - vray sun & sky??

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  • #16
    Originally posted by cubiclegangster View Post
    It doesnt matter.
    Hey cube.

    Yes, LWF isn't a magical be-all & end all, but it does offer a practical solution to burnt/over contrasted images.

    Since V-ray first came out I've been 'artificially' darkening materials to lessen burn, turning down the amount of received/cast GI on objects AND playing with colour mapping & under exposed images... Switching everything over to LWF has stopped me putting out small 'fires' all over an image & makes everything behave more in a more predictable manner.

    I agree that suddenly checking some values won't improve every render, but if it solves a lot of common problems I don't think it's fair to dismiss it either.
    MDI Digital
    moonjam

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    • #17
      Learning LWF is the benefit of LWF. The results really are not that different, but you will find solutions to problems you didn't even know you had before using LWF. I feel that, basically, LWF throws your colors way out of whack in a way that you are forced to re-think color theory and workflow, generally something that a person would not do of their own initiative otherwise.

      On the particular subject of this thread, I agree about the lack of environment lighting. The sky is evidently in there, and you are calculating GI, perhaps you have the override GI environment enabled?
      Ben Steinert
      pb2ae.com

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      • #18
        Is there a best thread to start with LWF?

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        • #19
          Originally posted by JeffG2 View Post
          Is there a best thread to start with LWF?
          There are several here, but I found Chris Nicholl's quality/speed video on Gnomonology really helpful for LWF as well. It's a sideline to the vid, but well worth a watch. LeLe's sun and sky tutorial was also very helpful.

          From my POV LWF is useful in exactly the same way that HDR photographs are useful. Having access to the HDR data allows you to fine-tune exposure and details in your renders without having to get the lighting bang-on the first time or re-render a lot. This is probably more helpful to someone less-experienced with 3D (like me), but there you have it. To me that is a huge, huge advantage, but outside of that it really doesn't make a damn bit of difference to the final images in most cases.

          b
          Brett Simms

          www.heavyartillery.com
          e: brett@heavyartillery.com

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          • #20
            instead of all this LWF arguement maybe we should focus on offering some simple advice.

            Personally I would just take the render into photoshop and adjust the shadows and highlights...the 'amount' slider defaults to around 50, i usually drop it down to about 10 and instantly your shadows are lightened up.

            Certainly not the best solution but if you need to get the images out to the client fast its fine. I call it ICLWF (instant cheaty linear worfkflow) since people here love their acronyms.

            as I've had this problem in the past, one solution offered by Vlado was to increase secondary bounces but this was using Irradiancemap/QMC. If you increase the skylight then everything else is going to brighten up which may be something you dont want? Another method was to introduce a 'light reflector' bouncing sunlight up at the right angle from the sun into the dark part and put it out out of camera shot which is a method i picked up from one of the gnomon DVD's. Along with the LWF solution i think all of this is overkill at this stage, requiring re-rendering where obviously it is just a work in progress.

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            • #21
              The latest versions of Vray have given you a lot more options to work with Max. Pre Physical Cameras and updated lighting systems, working in methods other than LWF was often brutal to get colors to match up or render the way you exepcted them to.

              But yeah, getting back to the topic - what Paulison said.
              LunarStudio Architectural Renderings
              HDRSource HDR & sIBL Libraries
              Lunarlog - LunarStudio and HDRSource Blog

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              • #22
                My setup preference is to adjust the color mapping in vray to 2.2 gamma with linear. Then create a scene with a 128 gray material. Make sure the gray is exposed correctly and then apply my proper materials to the scene. I then adjust the materials gamma in the load diaglogue to a gamma that suits the image. Sometimes I boost up the saturation in photoshop too.

                I find that gives me good results. Sometimes I then I have to re-expose slightly higher or lower depending on if Im doing an interior or exterior, but it works well for me.

                So, for your scene, it may be worth setting the override material to a 128 gray...making sure exposure is correct, then reapply your materials and adjust the material gamma and saturation.

                Not complicated.
                Regards

                Steve

                My Portfolio

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                • #23
                  Thanks for all the tips guys. I ended up pretty much doing what Paulison suggested. Although I did place a Vraysky environment in my environment slot under my render settings and that helped a lot. I'm not sure why that wasn't there already. I thought that was default.

                  I then adjusted my curves / B&C in photoshop. I will be referring back to this thread periodically to try out all the advice. Thanks again I really appreciate it. It is frustrating, that I do 3d all the time but some times spend a few weeks without touching Vray, or atleast with textures.

                  Here is what I call the final result, sort of. I made a matte material file and changed all my site and surrounding buildings to black and white, so the proposed building popped a bit more. The client called and said they loved the black & white and they were presenting to a big donor and would like colour in a couple of days. I was already busy with other commitments. I decided to tell them I could really only add a splash of the warmer tones to the building. And this is what I got!



                  Thanks again.

                  Cheers Peter.

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                  • #24
                    That looks better.

                    If you create a vray sun it should automatically create the environment. Without the env your scene definatly wont be lit correctly.
                    Regards

                    Steve

                    My Portfolio

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                    • #25
                      steveiouk - yeah the environment was there, under rendering / Environment but it was not in the V-ray Environment override slot.

                      Thanks.

                      Cheers Peter.

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                      • #26
                        You shouldnt need it in both. The override is only used when you want the background in the render to look different to the actual light being produced. If you have the same vray sky in both slots set to the default intensity it wont make any difference...or maybe I missed something you said earlier
                        Regards

                        Steve

                        My Portfolio

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                        • #27
                          Originally posted by steveiouk View Post
                          You shouldnt need it in both. The override is only used when you want the background in the render to look different to the actual light being produced. If you have the same vray sky in both slots set to the default intensity it wont make any difference...or maybe I missed something you said earlier
                          That's right, but if your GI Environement is checked in the Vray Rollout by mistake (without the map in the slot), it typically produces images like the first one that was posted in this thread. Obviously that was the "mistake" pshupe68 made.

                          But everything seems to be sorted out now
                          Philippe Steels
                          Pixelab - Blog - Flickr

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                          • #28
                            Ar I see now
                            Regards

                            Steve

                            My Portfolio

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                            • #29
                              Ah - I see now as well! Thanks guys! I should have that unchecked! It's funny though because I started from default and it was checked! I'll have to make a point of looking at that next time I set up a scene. Thanks again.

                              Regards Peter.

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                              • #30
                                That looks really nice!
                                Ben Steinert
                                pb2ae.com

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