Lighting Controls and Channels

I have found myself completely immersed in the lighting portion of nXt. As such, here's what I find and questions I have.

Adding lots of lighting slows down a rendering a lot. Oh well, I guess that's the way it goes.

I keep working on the light definitions and I'm having some questions regarding "editing" a light and setting "object properties." How are they related and how are they not related. i.e.: one can set the field and beam angles in "object properties" but not in "edit light." Which one of these should be used when?

Lighting channels: I could use more like 12 or more channels easily...7 is too few. There is not enough control over complex lighting schemes and doesn't allow for the opportunity to study various options (on and off of certain groups of lights during rendering). For me as an architect, lighting can be one of the most important parts of the building design, As such, the opportunity to gain more control would be welcomed with open arms.

I love the fact that the lighting channels are now available with-in the rendering window.....fantastic opportunity to fiddle with the lighting and such while the rendering is processing. How come raising the "sky" slider higher makes the building darker?

The "sun" slider is not as sensitive as I'd like. Going from 1 to 0 is a bit too much of a jump when working on night scenes....can a .25 increment be included at he 1 to 0 end of the scale?

Threw in a file just to give an example of the kind of building I'm currently studying.

Chris

044a-Boutique Hotel Left Front-Interior Lights.jpg

Al Hart said:

"I keep working on the light definitions and I'm having some questions regarding "editing" a light and setting "object properties." How are they related and how are they not related. i.e.: one can set the field and beam angles in "object properties" but not in "edit light." Which one of these should be used when? "

Lights are very complex, (unfortunately), because we have so many ways to create them.

If you use our light bulb wizard, for bulbs, spot lights, ceiling lights, etc. then you can use the 'Edit IRender Lamp' right click to edit it. In the 3D warehouse model Boothy created for us for the Lighting Channels tutorial, he used a circular ceiling light in his pendant component. So it can be edited by opening the component for edit and right clicking on the ceiling light.

If you use Object Properties to turn a surface into a light source, then you have to use Object properties to edit it.

If you use the Material Wizard to make a material work as self glow or as a light source, then you have to use the material wizard to edit it.

This is much too confusing, but we aren't sure how to improve it. One thing Rich and I want to try is some way to select or highlight all the lights in a model, and then provide an easier way to edit them. We would probably make a list of lights, and then know which of the various methods should be used to edit it.

Replies

Render Plus October 21, 2010 at 9:55am

Give it a try.
Christopher Alan Krupp October 21, 2010 at 9:52am

Al:

It does not, there is however an icon that looks like a picture. It's called "insert image". There's another that's called "attach a file". I assume insert image would be right? I use Firefox.........there are actually many more icons there than you show in your example

Chris
Render Plus October 21, 2010 at 9:31am

Christopher Alan Krupp said:
Al:

Please enlighten me as to where the icon is. What's it look like, etc. Send me one of your fabulous pic's with the icon circled.

Chris

Does this appear above the text area when you are starting a post, or making a reply?
(Some firefox users are unable to see it sometimes)
Christopher Alan Krupp October 21, 2010 at 9:27am

Al:

Please enlighten me as to where the icon is. What's it look like, etc. Send me one of your fabulous pic's with the icon circled.

Chris
Render Plus October 21, 2010 at 9:27am

Christopher Alan Krupp said:
Thanks for all of your input Al....jump on that developer's butt! He has nothing better to do anyway. Isn't he always hole up in the cluttered work area 24/7?

If the phrase:

"One of our users just loves the lighting channels. Could we jump the channels from 8 to 16?",

qualifies as "jumping", then I guess I did. (However if it qualifies as being exceedingly polite - than perhaps that matches my personality better.)
Christopher Alan Krupp October 21, 2010 at 9:25am

Al Hart said:
If you use the icon at the top of the edit window to include your file, rather than adding it as an attachment, everyone can see it better:
Christopher Alan Krupp October 21, 2010 at 9:24am

Boothy:

Fantastic information.....don't know why I didn't think of that.
I'm starting to think that it would be best just to make lights of my own that are nested components and to not use the light maker in nXt

For linear or odd shaped lighting I'm already making components of the proper shape and turning them into lights anyway.

Thanks,

Chris
Boothy October 21, 2010 at 8:04am

Not having a direct visible way of editing lights\channels - the real secret is to plan out component\group structures of light fittings to make `mass`editing easier and quicker.Make sure the fitting design includes lamp element within a nested component so when you edit a lighting element in the same component all the rest of same component change at the same time

Boothy
Christopher Alan Krupp October 21, 2010 at 8:02am

Al Hart said:
"I keep working on the light definitions and I'm having some questions regarding "editing" a light and setting "object properties." How are they related and how are they not related. i.e.: one can set the field and beam angles in "object properties" but not in "edit light." Which one of these should be used when? "

Lights are very complex, (unfortunately), because we have so many ways to create them.

If you use our light bulb wizard, for bulbs, spot lights, ceiling lights, etc. then you can use the 'Edit IRender Lamp' right click to edit it. In the 3D warehouse model Boothy created for us for the Lighting Channels tutorial, he used a circular ceiling light in his pendant component. So it can be edited by opening the component for edit and right clicking on the ceiling light.

If you use Object Properties to turn a surface into a light source, then you have to use Object properties to edit it.

If you use the Material Wizard to make a material work as self glow or as a light source, then you have to use the material wizard to edit it.

This is much too confusing, but we aren't sure how to improve it. One thing Rich and I want to try is some way to select or highlight all the lights in a model, and then provide an easier way to edit them. We would probably make a list of lights, and then know which of the various methods should be used to edit it.
Christopher Alan Krupp October 21, 2010 at 7:58am

Thanks for all of your input Al....jump on that developer's butt! He has nothing better to do anyway. Isn't he always hole up in the cluttered work area 24/7?

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