Atrium lighting

[PGD]

So how would you go about lighting a space like this?

I'd really like to step up the quality of my work, but it's not easy is it So I'm experimenting with different lighting setups. These images all have Omni lights placed under the artificial strip lights too, all set pretty low (1.0) but maybe these need replacing with something else?

Lighting tests below. The V-Ray Sun is nice, especially the sharp shadows on the ground floor image, but the burnt out high light/sky isn't.

Light-tests by Phil Grayston, on Flickr

Light-tests-ground-level by Phil Grayston, on Flickr

In photography I'd probably need to blend different camera exposures to recover the burnt out highlights and sky. That and use a Grad ND filter over the lens while taking the shot. The RAW camera file captures a lot of data too, so a lot can be recovered that way..


Now after all that, I've just heard the roof is to be made of poly carbonate and not glass. So the sunlight won't pass through the surface the same anyway: Doh!

[Morne]

Ditch the omnis and replace it with either VRayLightMaterials or VrayPlane Lights. Use the VRaySun - it will render quicker. You can use tone mapping in PS to get rid of the burns or just bring the refraction down a little for the glass. For example if your refraction is now 250,250,250, bring the refraction down to 160,160,160 for example. It will give a slight "tint" to the glass basically just to stop the harsh outside light burning out. (not to be confused with the fog parameter which is for actual "tint")

Or
Render with Reinhard and bring burn down to 0.3 or something.

OR
In VFB enable exposure and bring down highlight burn and increase contrast.

At the moment you have it lit a bit too evenly and your interior lights are too brigth compared to the harsh exterior light.
Well those are just some suggestions anyways and you can do whatever looks good to you

The HDRI on the other hand does give nice color variation on the interior, but all the other points are still valid doesnt matter if you go HDRI or VRaySun

[PGD]

Thanks for that.

I've just switched the Omni's off and replaced them with VrayIES lights - which looks much better. Should I switch to V-Ray plane lights now? The strip lights have a VRayLightMaterial to them already, but it's set quite low just to add the highlight. I understood relying on the material for scene lighting was noisy - is this not the case?

[Morne]

No its not the case (unless you tick "Direct Light" in the material). Ditch the VRayIES lights. Just use the lightmtl with defaults with a value of between 1 and 10 and tick "Compensate camera exposure". That alone should give you enough light for that bottom section. If for some reason it doesn't, use a value of 1 for the lightmtl and add VRayPlane lights

[PGD]

Right, I'll give the light material a better try next.

Here's the result from the IES experiment (which rendered much quicker btw):

light-test-03-IES by Phil Grayston, on Flickr

I also dropped the camera exposure to get more light in there (F8 - Shutter 8.0 - ISO 100) this works, but the roof light is now obliterated. So that needs to go back up, and the internal lights making brighter - right?

How do you recover burnt out highlights with PS tonemapping? I've never heard of this..

[PGD]

Here's the latest image now the architect has added some colour, and a light grey to the soffit's. It's Lit with IES lights placed under the strip lights. Lightmtl on the strip lights set to 3 just to create the highlight strip.


Light-test-IES-with colour by Phil Grayston, on Flickr

Any thoughts on this?


These two are lit with just the V-Ray lightmtl on the strip lights and the V-Ray Sun only. Both have the same Adaptive Image sampler settings.


Light-tests-Irr vs BF Lightmtl by Phil Grayston, on Flickr

What do we think?

I'd say the BF image does look better, but it's pretty noisy. I assume upping the settings to reduce the noise will push the render time up somewhat too..

I'd prefer to see more light washing down the walls too, as per the IES lighting. Is there a reason why I should avoid the IES lights?



I'm not seeing any difference to the burnt out highlights when using Reinhard at 0.8 (as these images) or lower, even much lower at 0.003 the highlight looks exactly the same?

[Morne]

Whats your color mapping "mode" set to?

Also, instead of the IES, try vrayplane light

[PGD]

Colour mapping type is Reinhard, I'm not sure what the 'mode' refers to?

[PGD]

Whats your color mapping "mode" set to?

Found it now It's now set to 'Colour mapping only' - The highlight is now under control

[PGD]

Here's how it looks so far:


Light-test-07 by Phil Grayston, on Flickr

I've stuck with the IES lights with this one. I like the way the light washes down the wall, which the lightmtl doesn't provide. The V-Ray light plane wouldn't wash like this either, I don't think. Is there a reason to avoid the IES?

I think it still needs work. Probably time to look at materials in more detail..

What do you think?

[PGD]

That good ay

[Spikeadeliv]

Looks like a well balanced image to me. Maybe blue (a sky) thru the atrium vaulted glazing ? or a blurred glow, for daylight 'pouring' in (just seen a previous one) looks nice ?

Is it a school ?

If the window frame detail is there, it looks like a curved white roof, with the glow it looks like light is pouring in (something Archi's like), maybe a bit of both, pale shadows to show the winframe detail and a bit of a sky.