heyas; here's my eagle pic again. i got an idea from mike (hi mike! sorry i called you a goof. (at least the last 3 times, anyway ;) )). so i took out the sun and put in a volumetric spotlight instead. now i can beam these beams right down on the birdie. so, it looks as if they're going where/how i want them to go... um, but what on EARTH is that huge black spot in the corner!?!? its not outside the volumetric cone; its not centered on the light... there's nothing to cast any shadow there. i turned everything invisible except the eagle. (and didnt render invisible stuff). and i turned the atmosphere from volumetric to normal. the spot appears either way. ::sigh::

That's what I get for reading posts out of order. :x The black spot is awfully circular, I mean like a specific circle shape. So it has to be something the program is doing and I wonder if it's in relation to the spotlight. Is the spotlight shining on the camera at all, or maybe close to it? Maybe try increasing the focal length and backing the camera away until you achieve the same framing, then see if the spot is still there?

heyas; okay, messed with this and did some experiments. here's what i think is going on.... if the camera is in the spotlight's light cone, AND the light itself is out off the edge of the picture, you get this occluding disc thingy. why? i dunno. it even happens with the quad spotlight. so i'm back where i started. i have to use the sun light to get this angle, and the angle is all okay.... but how do i strengthen the light/dark contrast? oy.

Wait, wait. Why do you have to use the sun? I understand the spotlight can't be shining on the camera, but can't you just move the camera out of the light's cone? The only way I know to control contrast is to fiddle with the [Ambient vrs Sunlight] and the ambient [Uniform vrs. Sunlight] settings. Oh, and the general [Dark -- Light] slider. But heck, you already know about those. I have no idea yet how those settings affect things in a volumetric atmosphere. I put a scene together today and tried out a volumetric atmosphere for the heck of it; all the shadows/contrast remained the same, but the sky washed out badly, so I switched back. Still, the contrasts didn't seem to change from it, so maybe those settings still work the old-fashioned charm. :)

Bloodsong.. I kinda like that render as a graphic....I know it isn't what you are thinking of at this time.. however, save it and take a look at that pic after a while and just let it charm you.

d'oh! you're right, varian, i'm so stupid! all i gotta do is render the scene bigger than i want and crop it in photoshop. duuuuh. still, it's an annoying bug. can i email e-on about it now? ;) (where's mike? quick! run in and tell me how much of a goof i am! :) )

No cropping needed. Just back the camera up, out of the spotlight's light, then increase the focal length until the scene is again framed the way you want it. And yes, write E-on! ;) And, I agree with Diana, that it actually looks quite nice the way it is, even though it's "wrong."

heyas; that wont work, varian, if i zoom in, then the lens/eye is back in the cone. i THINK. i didnt actually try it, though. anyway, ran into some other problems trying to finish this quickie, two-second vue scene! i put the cone light on, i got the streamers, i backed the camera up.... then i turn the sun off, and there's no bloomin' sky. if i put an infinite light back in the scene, the lighting becomes all screwy. if i crank up the ambient, same thing. so i'm back to being stuck with trying to use the sun and make the streamers more prominent. i already turned the ambient very dark, and even OFF. no go. the shadows, as i mentioned, can't go darker than 100%. i dunno how to make the humidity higher. fog isnt right. haze isnt right. i should just render the dumb thing and punch up the contrast in photoshop! and i emailed e-on about this, and some other bugs i found.

duh, i forgot to tell you the update. the update is.... above, i said the camera has to be in the cone, and the spot light has to be outside the picture frame for the black spot to appear. this is incorrect. the only requisite is that the camera be in the cone. i did try one of those 'figures in the laser light tunnel' scenes, with the volumetric cone pointing right at the camera (actually, i think i used the quad for that one.) made it a blue colour, turned on the dust, turned down the ambient everything and all... pointed the spot at the camera, and ugh! one big black circle, no cool volumetric stuff.

Okay, so the bottom line is to keep the camera out of the cone. ::taking notes for future use:: ** i dunno how to make the humidity higher ** To increase the humidity, just pour about 6 ounces of water over the monitor. Don't try for more than that, or else it just leaks all over the desktop. ;> (p.s. anyone actually taking this advice is going to severely regret it!)