Table Lamp [WIP]

[dspace]

Simple render, big improvemnet..way to go!

[rclub24]

Here's how this project is progressing.

First off I modeled a coffee table and window and rendered at Low+....

Lamp and Table.jpg (115.56 KiB) Viewed 8376 times

Straight away you'll notice the darkness of the scene is a bit silly [Fundamental Mistake #1]
So I added an Omni Light but still I wasn't happy, then came [Fundamental Mistake #2]. Something as simple as a ceiling, it prevented the light escaping and this was the result....

Lamp and Table[Omni Added].jpg (160.64 KiB) Viewed 8378 times

I know the scene is very barren and lifeless but this is helping me greatly to learn the nuances of this fantastic program.

Any criticisms or advice is gladly welcomed [BEWARE - SUGGESTIONS WILL LEAD TO QUESTIONS]

[Ecuadorian]

Ok, I'll take the risk.

In real-world photography, a scene like that, with only the lamp as the light source, will also give the same effect: If you set the camera exposure so the lamp looks good, the room becomes too dark; if you rise the exposure so the room looks good, the lamp becomes overexposed.

That's why most of the time in TV sitcoms, movies and even in still photography you use fill lights to help:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Softbox
Ever heard of a Gaffer? He's one of the guys in charge of designing the illumination for a movie. They don't simply rely on what comes "naturally".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaffer_%28filmmaking%29

Now, there are ways to improve a scene's "light balance" without resorting to such methods, but I'll wait till you first digest this info.

[rclub24]

Okay Miguel, I've digested and now I feel a little sick!

Do i need to make a soft box or do i need to edit the Omni Light to add better effect?

Also who's the Gaffer around here?

[Ecuadorian]

Not necessarily. The most used type of light in TV and movie sets are spotlights.

Some more examples of what I posted before from TV sitcom "Friends". You never guessed there were so many lights pointing at the performers, huh?
http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/sitcom3.htm
A few more...
http://www.thinkaboutit.jumpstartyourmi ... l_View.gif
http://www.johnnyjet.com/images/Picforn ... hTVSet.jpg
http://www.flickr.com/photos/treetop_ap ... 447442190/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/44711882@N00/2613152458/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/downrighti ... 892350330/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/drashid/3739424348/
Well, enough about "fake lighting".

As I said, if you want to go for "natural-only" in high-contrast scenes like this one and still attain a more-or-less balanced illumination, there's also a trick for that.

First, save your rendered image as an .hdr
Second, download and install the free app Picturenaut, and open your .hdr there
Select menu Image > Tonemapping and play around with the options. The second tonemapping mode, "exposure" is similar to Twilight's default. The rest are there for you to experiment and discover.

[rclub24]

So more Omni Lights is needed to create better lighting.

Is it because my model is not in an enclosed space, like a room would be, that the one omni is insufficient to give a realistic look?

And if i 'Enclose' my model the render time will increase because it is calculating every photon on every surface? Is that correct?

Thanks Miguel for all the info, last question....

Can PS perform the same functions as Picturenaut?

[Ecuadorian]

Your best bet is to try the "with/without enclosure" yourself.

I don't have PS, I only use GIMP. But from what I've read it seems that indeed the latest versions of Photoshop CS can do that.

[Fletch]

without leaving Twilight...
first be sure you've enclosed the space so that the light can bounce all around all 'six' faces of the room.
second, try the Camera Tab's exposure controls -
try Linear Tonemapping option and
try Simple Tonemapping

Adjust things for a while... but with Easy 1-7 avoid adjusting exposure down... exposure going "up" is no problem... I would concentrate in this scene on the "gamma" parameter