Daz Shadow issue with the hair

[Lounatick]

Hello there,

I am currently learning about lighting and contrasts. And I am currently facing an issue with the shadows: when I apply a spotlight on the side of my character, the light pass through the thin hair and make the shadow a bit messy on the head. I tried to move the spotlight further (but then I loose some contrast and I don't want that) or use another angle (but the issue is still the same whatever the angle). Is there another solution to avoid this?

 

[eri]

Whoops sorry I answer wrongly thinking spotlight was headlight for a moment .

 

[eri]

Well, I think that its preatty normal I would say .... ? It is casting shadow. Try ghost light just for the fun if it is the same result and then you can see if the spot light is wrong here or you have some other light fighting with the spotlight or someting, or not ghostlight but try different light source to compare.

****Yesterday, I had yellow light that was casting to my character face and I could see it was like cutting/having hard bad looking line on face so I just deleted it.

 

[Lounatick]

Well, I think that its preatty normal I would say .... ? It is casting shadow. Try ghost light just for the fun if it is the same result and then you can see if the spot light is wrong here or you have some other light fighting with the spotlight or someting or not ghostlight but try different light source to compare.

****Yesterday, I had yellow light that was casting to my character face and I could see it was like cutting/having hard bad looking line on face so I just deleted it.

Thanks for the tips I will try that!
Currently I am quite glad with the rendering but this shadow still bother me a little, it gives a weird feeling. Maybe it is also just a tweaking thing... or it is just in my head

 

[eri]

Thanks for the tips I will try that!
Currently I am quite glad with the rendering but this light still bother me a little, it gives a weird feeling. Maybe it is also just an adjustment thing or maybe it is just in my head...
View attachment 4097976

You can clearly see its the shadows from the light as on right side you dont have that much light and no shadow.

 

[eri]

I also think because its the shadow from the spot light it really does not look bad, but if you feel like just try play with different lights if you dont want that shadow.

 

[Lounatick]

I also think because its the shadow from the spot light it really does not look bad, but if you feel like just try play with different lights if you dont want that shadow.

Yes from a bit far away it is not bad, I like it. But on a close-up I really don't like it. So for close-up I will find other lighting solutions.
Thanks for your feedbacks!

 

[Jumbi]

You need a light source with big geometry so that the light gets diffused and the shadows get softer in consequence. Alternatively, I guess that a well-placed fill light might also help reducing the sharpness of those shadows.

But my preference is just some large geometry (rectangle or disc are the usual choices here) on the spotlight that is casting those shadows. You should notice a difference afterwards. By default, spotlights and the rest of photometric scene lights do not include any geometry. They emit from a point. Change that to, say, a 100x100 rectangle, for example, and observe the difference.

 

[Lounatick]

You need a light source with big geometry so that the light gets diffused and the shadows get softer in consequence. Alternatively, I guess that a well-placed fill light might also help reducing the sharpness of those shadows.

But my preference is just some large geometry (rectangle or disc are the usual choices here) on the spotlight that is casting those shadows. You should notice a difference afterwards. By default, spotlights and the rest of photometric scene lights do not include any geometry. They emit from a point. Change that to, say, a 100x100 rectangle, for example, and observe the difference.

Thank you Jumbi, I will try this!

 

[Turning Tricks]

Try changing your spotlight geometry to a Shape DISC and the size to 50 x 50. When you use Point shape and/or keep the size low, the light will be sharper - but when you increase the light size and use a larger shape, then the light will act more diffuse and give you a softer shadow.

Opps - just saw Jumbi already mentioned this. Anyhow, I tend to use the above settings as my 'default' and then adjust from there.

Also remember to turn the Render emitter to OFF as that can create a white disc, depending on where your camera is aimed.

And don't be afraid to play with the temperature settings! Light is complex and the default of 6500 K is way too bright, IMO. Except for things like super bright street lights or a really bright sunny day, I rarely go above 4500 K on my temps. Here's a good chart to give some examples...

 

[Lounatick]

Try changing your spotlight geometry to a Shape DISC and the size to 50 x 50. When you use Point shape and/or keep the size low, the light will be sharper - but when you increase the light size and use a larger shape, then the light will act more diffuse and give you a softer shadow.

Opps - just saw Jumbi already mentioned this. Anyhow, I tend to use the above settings as my 'default' and then adjust from there.

Also remember to turn the Render emitter to OFF as that can create a white disc, depending on where your camera is aimed.

And don't be afraid to play with the temperature settings! Light is complex and the default of 6500 K is way too bright, IMO. Except for things like super bright street lights or a really bright sunny day, I rarely go above 4500 K on my temps. Here's a good chart to give some examples...

View attachment 4099425

The issue is that I still wanted the sharp shadows around the body but not on the hair, to keep a sharp contrast because I find it interesting.

That's good to know, thanks for the chart! It will definitely be helpful. I am always doing it "on feeling" but I am a bit colorblind so.......

 

[osanaiko]

The issue is that I still wanted the sharp shadows around the body but not on the hair, to keep a sharp contrast because I find it interesting.

You could render twice with a small and large size spotlight emitter, then use layers in image editing software to overlay them. Using a blend mask will allow you to adjust how much of the under/overlay image is used in different parts of the result image by drawing with black/white/gray, so you could use the sharp edged shadows for most of the area and the soft edge only on the face.

Example for photoshop:

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