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First time I've created anything with Daz, I don't really like it, but I'm here to learn.
Any suggestions for improvement as well as discreet praise would be much appreciated.
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- Apr 28, 2018
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Don't beat yourself up, this actually really good for a first run. The only thing I'd work on is the lighting. The lighting seems unnatural for a nighttime setting. But the rest is actually good, the DOF, the posing, expression. Keep practicing and you'll become very proficient in fairly short order I think.
- Jan 13, 2020
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- Apr 26, 2024
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Thank you so much for your encouraging words! Can you give me some tips for the lighting? I wanted a night phone flashlight look.
- Apr 28, 2018
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Someone on Twitter wanted a Panam version of my latest render.
- Mar 18, 2019
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Depends what they are going for, Id say the lighting works fairly well if it's a flash from a camera, but yeah it definitely needs more work if it's supposed to be street lighting.
- Sep 13, 2017
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Well, if it's from a flash from a phone or camera it makes more sense certainly. But as for helping with lighting I can tell you how I position mine and what kind of settings I use. It might give you some tips or a place to start and discover your own style. Now bear in mind that I'm no specialist and god knows there are artists in here far better than I am, but I can tell you what works for me. So here goes:
There is a lighting setup that is fairly common and work well in a lot of situations, I call it the three light setup... (Don't really know if there is a name for it). It consists of placing 3 lights around your subject like this:
Some people don't deviate from this formula, and for most simple projects it works ok, but you shouldn't set your lighting practices in stone and experiment and see what works best for your project and your vision. This is what this light setup looks like, it's good when you are in a hurry or lighting is not important to you, but could be improved upon I think. Here's what it looks like when rendered, Well lit for an indoor setup:
The lights I've used are directional lights, so you can control from which direction the light is coming from and also I have a tendency to setup a light slightly behind the subject, it makes the contour of the subject pop out in my opinion. But those are just pure white lights, here is one that has more of mood lighting indoors:
I've use three lights here too, but I've positioned them differently to suit my scene, one on each side and in front of the subject and one on top illuminating the scene:
And here is the result:
Now besides positioning the light is only half the battle. You need also to setup each light to serve your purpose. Each light have have a lot of settings but those you might use the most are Color, Temperature and Intensity. Color is fairly self explanatory, you change the color of the light to anything you like, blue, red, yellow or any in between. I usually don't touch much the color but if I do, usually stay in the yellow-orange range (For a sunset for example). Temperature has a lot to do with color also, but to my eyes looks more natural. It's a setting (in the light tab or sometimes in the surface tab) that is on a sliding rule. Colder setting make your light go in blue-white range all the way up to pure intense white light. Warmer setting make your light go in yellow-orange range all the way to intense red light. That one I use a lot to set mood lighting in my renders. In the render up there the I've set my temperature setting to 2000. It gives off a nice yellowy-orange light. As for intensity (Called Luminance in Daz), it is also fairly self-explanatory, it just make your light brighter or darker depending on your needs. This I use when I need to setup a light farther away as to not show directly in the render, so I just position it farther away and bring up the intensity.
Also, as you can see in the capture of my viewport, I've highlighted some other light sources in the scene. In most environments you'll have light sources that you can play with and change Intensity, temperature and color. It can give off nice effects if you use depth of field or add to the mood in the scene.
Finally, there is a tool I sometimes use that can spruce up your lighting:
https://f95zone.to/threads/ecvh0s-cinematic-render-resource-kit-for-iray.13510/
It's fun little tool that can tweak some settings with the lighting in your scene like Brightness and exposure. Color Profiles, like if you want your scene appear to have slightly blue, yellow, red tint (There's a bunch of colors) and there also the Style setting that will focus on the blacks and whites in your render. You can focus more on the black to achieve a more somber atmosphere or focus on the whites to have a bright mood.
With all that being said, I hope it helps, or give you a starting point to improve your own lighting style. Remember that parctice makes all the difference. Don't be afraid to play with it. You don't know how many renders I F*cked up playing with lighting but it was a learning experience. Keep that in mind and I'm sure you will get better and better!
So I hope you have a nice weekend and happy rendering!
- Apr 26, 2024
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Thanks for the quick and detailed reply!
The 3 light setup seems like a smart thing to highlight the characters silhouette!
The tricky thing is probably doing all this without the light looking fake/unrealistic. So I guess I gotta practice that XD.
Light is basically 50% of how good the end result looks like isn't it?
- Sep 13, 2017
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My pleasure my friend, us Daz3d artists got to stick together!
Yes indeed, much of the end result is directly affected by an effective lighting. It's not the only thing but yes very important! I also find that attention to details when positioning and giving expressions is important. I try to make to poses/expressions as natural as possible and try my utmost to avoid clipping. you know, body parts poking through clothes or finger poking through the model, things like that. Much of the work to make great renders is meticulous work. As you get more experienced you'll become more productive and be able to avoid those faster!
- Jun 4, 2019
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