Hey guys, I'm trying to get litle handier in Cararra, and if anyone is in the mood for some input, I would appreciate it very much!

I just made this outdoor/urban lighting study, and would love some critique on refining it.
http://www.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/index.php?image_id=1792149

I will try to add soft shadows. Someone suggested changing the coloring of the shadows a tad, but I can't seem to find where to do that.

I have realistic sky in the scene, but I also have a 'sunlight' light in there. I've been tinkering with various brightness, ambient and light settings, but it's mostly tapping in the dark kind of effort at the moment.

Thank You!!!!

Conniekat8:

I'm no expert, but try this and see what you think.  Change the sunlight to a distant light and make sure it is oriented so the shadows fall where you want them.  You can easily slide the shadow intensity up and down on this light (unlike the sunlight).  The sunlight works in coordination with the realistic sky, so it is modified by adjustment of the sun when you edit the Atmosphere/Realistic Sky (you should play with this too, it's pretty cool).  I do not believe you can adjust the shadows, other than they might be less sharp if you have an overcast sky.  This is basically full sunlight, so the shadows are harsh.

The distant light is like an infinite light in poser.  It doesn't matter where you aim it, but the orientation of the arrow like symbol will determine the direction and hence the shadows.  Their strength is highly adjustable via the shadow intensity.  You can also play with the shadow bias under the Effects tab for this light.

Hope this helps.

Klebnor

By the way, love the stormchaser.  I followed your progress in the forum and bought it when it came out.

Klebnor

 Using soft shadows and decrease shadow intensity will be fine, I think.

Quote - By the way, love the stormchaser.  I followed your progress in the forum and bought it when it came out.

Klebnor

Oh, oh, Thank You! :)  I'm glad you liked it.
And Thanks a bunch for the lighting tips :)

I was making another render today, again in Cararra... and soft shadows were driving me batty. I tried settings from 0.2 feet to 10 feet, and the shadows wouldn't go 'soft'.  Similar thing was happening on the lighting study, I set soft shadown, and still get hard edges.  (I'll try another with 100 feet)

Really puzzling, because last week when I tinkered with Cararra, shadows were behaviong the way I thought they were supposed to.   I'm sure it's a user error.  LOL, yes it's frustrating when I don't know where all the littel settings are and how they play together.

Connie:

Try a spot light on an interior scene and play with the light cone under the effects tab.  Use the edit button to access the options.  You can come up with some really nice moody effects.  Be sure to play with the half angle on the general tab to expand and contract the beam.

Playing with range and range falloff also gives some nice control.

Putting a bulb light under water creates a nice effect as well.

For the lights that allow it, the shadow intensity allows fine tuning of the shadow effect.

Compared to poser, I can play with the lights in Carrara for hours.  And I don't have to wait hours for the renders!

Klebnor unten den Menschen

Oh I hear you on Poser, I have a hate/hate relationship with it and use it when I have to.
Cararra on the other hand... well, my first 3D program was Bryce, so Cararra is much more intuitive to me, and a much better renderer.
I still crank up all the render settings to the max, so I have to render overnight.

Ok, ok, I need to hurry and finish my current RL work project so I can play....  :biggrin:

Quote - > Quote - By the way, love the stormchaser.  I followed your progress in the forum and bought it when it came out.

Klebnor

Oh, oh, Thank You! :)  I'm glad you liked it.
And Thanks a bunch for the lighting tips :)

I was making another render today, again in Cararra... and soft shadows were driving me batty. I tried settings from 0.2 feet to 10 feet, and the shadows wouldn't go 'soft'.  Similar thing was happening on the lighting study, I set soft shadown, and still get hard edges.  (I'll try another with 100 feet)

Really puzzling, because last week when I tinkered with Cararra, shadows were behaviong the way I thought they were supposed to.   I'm sure it's a user error.  LOL, yes it's frustrating when I don't know where all the littel settings are and how they play together.

Soft Shadows of Distance and Sun Lights require large Light Radius values. At least 1500-2000 inches or 125 -166 feet. Usually I like to be around  200-250feet in medium scale scenes.

Or---- whatever?   Did I find some Poser stuff in the Carrara Browser?

Brian

connie, very good scene.  in case the others didn't mention this, there are
some non-intuitive ways of modifying the shadow appearance.  post screencap
of full render settings for more info.

One other thing that controls shadows is the ambient lighting (from pitch Black to none).  Try adjusting the ambient light slider and inserting a different color.  It is found  in Scene where you see Ambient, Atmosphere, Barckground, Backdrop, and Physics.  Ambient lighting plays a part in how much shadow you have.  For example, a completely black shadow as in a vaccuum of space=0% to a total overcast sky, no shadow=100% brightness.  Jan

Thanks guys, lots of great advice here.  I'm hoping to get to tinkering with this scene again this weekend... and post improvements.

One minor correction on mine--just checked it  100 Percent=minimum shadow--Jan