UK
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Re: Light & textures - rendering examples of this and that.
Thank you Cec, for these tutorials, fascinating so far and looking forward to more. Out of curiosity do you know if the is a setting for non directional light, i.e. no sun just an all over even light so that no shadows at all are created?
Denmark
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Re: Light & textures - rendering examples of this and that.
do you know if the is a setting for non directional light, i.e. no sun just an all over even light so that no shadows at all are created?
Completely without shadows is not possible, but if you copy these settings you should come close:
When you select Enhance external brightness , Sunflow will use the sky image as a light source (Image based lighting – IBL. If you set the time of day to midnight, only the light from your sky image will be used to light your image. If you apply a white texture ( not colour ) to the sky, your image will get a neutral tint. If you use a blue sky texture, your image will get a blue tint ( like mine ) – and so on...
Netherlands
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Re: Light & textures - rendering examples of this and that.
@Cecilia You seductress!! For close to ten years, I've been happy using my "cloudy sky" as the universal texture for all my photo renders. Now, I feel tempted to stray into the unknown, but oh-so exciting, world of light and textures.
@Enko Thank you for broadening my horizon and making photorealism attainable for the illiterate.
@Oka A big thanks to you as well, for explaining the art of horizon-scaping.
@Emmanuel Oh master of the dark art of programming, thank you for making all this possible.
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Hans
Denmark
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Re: Light & textures - rendering examples of this and that.
[...]to share all your secrets!
Everything I know is based on information given to me by generous people. Here we are given this wonderful program for free. What sort of person would I be if I didn't try to give something back?
Singapore
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Re: Light & textures - rendering examples of this and that.
Am I the only one who thinks that the sun brightness in sh3d is way too weak? Look at my rendered photo below:
Isn't it too dark?
As a workaround, I used Photoshop to increase the brightness to the level I think would be ideal. See photo below:
Bigger and closer light sources give softer shadows – smaller and farther light sources create sharper shadows.
Cec
I tried using light panel as the sun substitute. The panel, set at 100% intensity, is placed outside about 2 meters away from the window. The problem I have with light panel is the missing shadow. If I decrease the size and/or move it further away, I can't get the same level of brightness I want.
Light panel is fine but I lost the shadow effect casted by the early morning/late afternoon sun?
Denmark
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Re: Light & textures - rendering examples of this and that.
Aperture, shutter speed and ISO is what normally controls the exposure. Unfortunately none of these parameters can be controlled when making snapshots with the SH3D camera.
Yes, bigger and closer light sources give softer shadows – smaller and farther light sources create sharper shadows. So when you place a panel light @ 100% only 2 meters away from your window, your shadows WILL get soft.
First of all; I don't think your image is too dark Of course, the gallery background is not adjustable, so the smaller the image, the darker it is perceived. Secondly; the camera is an absolute observer, whilst our eyes are dynamic observers. So when your snapshot is viewed against a white background, your eyes are automatically adjusting the white balance and the light to the brightest area. Any normal exposure will seem a bit dark when viewed against a bright white light.
The gallery does not offer us the most favourable surroundings for viewing. Using Photoshop to adjust the brightness to match a white background is often necessary when posting small images.
Isn't it too dark? 
