Make eyes and a tatoo glow

odastein

So, I'm using this figure that has a "tatoo", or skin decoration. I'd like it, and the figure's eyes, to glow in the dark.

I understand that I should use "uber area light" in both cases, and apply it to the eyes and tatoo. Is that correct? In the case of the tatoo, I assume I should apply the light to the layer that "carries" the tatoo? Is it even possible to apply a light to a specific layer?

BeeMKay

Are you using Iray or 3Delight?

In both cases, you can make the surface itself glow (emission settings of the surface); using geoshells has some good effects. Here's a thread that discusses this for Iray: http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/60941/properly-applying-emissive-shaders-to-make-objects-give-light#latest

Here's an example image frm my gallery; the only lights are a backlight fr the hair, and the emissive from the nails and the eyes.

odastein

BeeMKay said:

Are you using Iray or 3Delight?

In both cases, you can make the surface itself glow (emission settings of the surface); using geoshells has some good effects. Here's a thread that discusses this for Iray: http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/60941/properly-applying-emissive-shaders-to-make-objects-give-light#latest

I'm using Iray.

Why would I want to use geoshells rather than applying the effect directly on the original character? Even after reading the thread you linked to, I'm still unclear about what difference it makes.

BeeMKay

The light effect was better using geoshells, at least in my experiments. If you have darker colours as source (dark tattoo, dark skin, for example) these naturally will not emitt s much light as a brighter surface. Kind of like painting over a light bulb. With the geoshell, you basically turn the surface into a ghostlight using cutout opacity.

But honestly, it's best to just experiment and see wht works best for your desired effect.