24 replies to this topic

[Nstocks]

Hi,

I'm working on a night scene, of which needs a lot of work!

I've created a streetlight, using a spotlight but it needs improving.

I've added noise and reduced the brightness, but something is still missing. I think the top of the light needs to be wider, so it's not so pointy but I don't see how i cal scale the top without scaling the bottom as well.

The overall night time lighting isn't really working well either, partly because you can't see the lampost at all, only a dark outline.

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated


thanks

Edited by Nstocks, 24 July 2011 - 11:39 AM.

[HSrdelic]

Night scenes are difficult to get right. You can always cheat

I would suggest creating a infinite light with very low value to add some slight lightness, and for the top part of the lamp light use another light. Other than that I think your light source should be visible, and if you want to skip using GI you can create helper lights all around scene.

Cheers

[Nstocks]

Yeah, I've read that they are fairly difficult :(.

The main focus will actually be on the large building just off centre in the screenshot I posted. It will also be heavily lit with neon 'strands'....

I have already turned off GI and placed 2 omni lights, with a slight blue tint (as nights are never 100% black in colour).

I'll test out your feedback tomorrow.

Thank you.

[Nstocks]

I've added a 5% infinite light to each streetlamp... the shadows look 'dirty' so I know there something there I need to work on. Also I seem to have lost all detailing on the main building after using infinite light...

I've uploaded a screenshot and the scene file. Perhaps is somebody has a few moments to spare, could you take a look at my overall lighting?

(note that the streetlamps are not the only visible light source, the neon strands around the main building is the focus in this scene.) I've also noticed that I should reduce the brightness of the streetlamps in the background...

Thank you very much.

C4d file

Edited by Nstocks, 25 July 2011 - 07:31 AM.

[base80]

personally i add a big dark blue omni light and a moon type light in yellow that do the general illumination of the whole scene

[Nstocks]

How would you change the streetlights if any?

The reason for using a huge spot light was so that the background buildings were not seen as much. I found that using a omni only, made each building stand out, which isn't ideal really.

[BigAl3D]

Here's my attempt at street lights using your light pole.

Main differences:
1. Each pole has 3 light objects. One for l for illumination, 1 for visible cone and 1 for omni glow.
2. Added luminance material to lamp lens.
3. Your light cone is too defined. Street lights are NOT spot lights.
4. I forgot to do it, but I'd add a base of some kind to your light poles.
5. Since all your light are probably the same, why not use Mograph to place them? Then just adjust the original to change.

I'm not the best around these parts, but I think this looks pretty good. Hope this helps.

Attached Thumbnails

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Attached Files

•  Street Lights Test.zip   65.8K   35 downloads

[therealpepe]

This might help. On max but the principles are the same.

My link

[salvatore]

Hi
I would use red/yellow light combined with a blue for the ambient.
have a look at my Saloon scene.

salvatore

Attached Thumbnails

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[Nstocks]

Here's my attempt at street lights using your light pole.

Main differences:
1. Each pole has 3 light objects. One for l for illumination, 1 for visible cone and 1 for omni glow.
2. Added luminance material to lamp lens.
3. Your light cone is too defined. Street lights are NOT spot lights.
4. I forgot to do it, but I'd add a base of some kind to your light poles.
5. Since all your light are probably the same, why not use Mograph to place them? Then just adjust the original to change.

I'm not the best around these parts, but I think this looks pretty good. Hope this helps.

Thank you so much, that's loads better! Do you think I should adjust the brightness of the lights further down the scene or down the street or is C4D intelligent enough to kinda work out that object in the distance naturally appear darker? (like in depth of field, the further ways the object the smaller it look)... I just don't want the main focal point to be the street lights.

Not sure if you looked at my scene lights, but what would your opinion be on a overall light? Would one omni do the trick? (with a yellow/blue tint at suggested)?

I've completely new to C4D so I don't know what a mograph is, which is why I didn't use it.... I'm researching it right now!

Thank you

[BigAl3D]

@Nstocks

You can see in the scene file I posted that I added an infinite light to the scene with a blueish tint. You just have to point it in the right direction.

Mograph is the best thing in 3D. As you can see in my file, there's just one group that includes the light and its pieces, and I've set it for 5 clones (copies) in a straight line. You can also draw a spline that follows your road and change the Cloner to Object mode, even and adjust the amount.

As far as making the lights darker with distance, this is only true if it's foggy. Light don't really get dimmer to the eye, just the strength of the illumination goes down. Like astronauts being able to see lights on the Earth. Still bright to the eye, but no shadows or anything like that.

[Nstocks]

How would I add a -night- sky without adding more lights? How do I make an image so that it appears spherical?

[BigAl3D]

Two ways. Add a Sky Object, find an image of the night sky and apply it. Second, you can Create Sky, set your coordinates and time of day. It's a little tricky but once you get the hang of it.

[Nstocks]

I've used a 360 degree sky from cgtextures.com but it's very poor :(

I know this will sound lazy but where would one find some good sky images for such a scene? I'm googling away but there isn't any good night skies!

Would learning the co-ordinate method yield a better result? I can get the co-ordinates quite easily, it's just knowing what to do with them

Thank You

[Baltra]

Hi,
Personally I would do what the other members posted .. Try and use "Create Sky" ... set your location and time of day, and under the details tab > show stars ... there are some settings you can play around with. To answer your question .... Hyperfocal design sells some night sky HDRI's ..... However I have never used them. Maybe some one else here on the board has.
Hope this helps.

http://www.hyperfocaldesign.com/night-skies-2

[BigAl3D]

You know, what I said sounds much easier that it really is. I'm struggling with it too. Would be a great tutorial.

[Nstocks]

Hi,
Personally I would do what the other members posted .. Try and use "Create Sky" ... set your location and time of day, and under the details tab > show stars ... there are some settings you can play around with. To answer your question .... Hyperfocal design sells some night sky HDRI's ..... However I have never used them. Maybe some one else here on the board has.
Hope this helps.

http://www.hyperfocaldesign.com/night-skies-2

I've located a sky preset within the content brwoser. I'm now playing around with that, I can't seem to scale it though ?

EDIT: Added an image. I really need to get this done tonight! Thoughs on the sky? The start are turned on, however I can't see any of them. I've turned the clouds off but they are still not there.

Thank you

Edited by Nstocks, 27 July 2011 - 09:49 AM.

[kalab]

The sky looks more like a ceiling than an atmospheric sky. Also, why is every single house light off?

[Nstocks]

I've now changed the sky. It has sole atmposhere and stars. I think this one looks much better and more subtle. The focus of this render is only on the main (textured) building. There are other lights that surround it however, so it will be lit more. The other buildings are simple massing buildings, for context only.

I value your opinions!

Also, how do I change the camera to render my scene with? I've added a camera but it keeps rendering with the default one.

Thank you

[BigAl3D]

Find your Camera object in the Object Manager. There's a little square icon with a dot in it. Click that until it's white. Same result if you are in your Perspective view, Cameras, Scene Camera then select your new camera.