Help with lights in Aslan Court, please
SilverGirl
Posts: 856
I bought the Aslan Court environments and was super excited that they came with lights. However, when I load the lights, I see them listed in the scene... but they apparently don't actually provide any light? My renders all keep coming out dark.
I've poked around everywhere trying to figure out how to turn them on, and the tutorials I found on Google were all for making your own lights (which isn't what I want to do; I want to use the ones embedded to make it look like the promos!)
Could someone please explain what I'm doing wrong? Preferably in very simple terms?
TIA!!
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Comments
Aslan Court 1 or 2 or 3 ?
The original Aslan Court 1-3 are 3DL, those lights don't work with Iray
The original versions;
https://www.daz3d.com/aslan-court-1
https://www.daz3d.com/aslan-court-2
https://www.daz3d.com/aslan-court-3
Iray addons;
https://www.daz3d.com/aslan-court-1-iray-addon
https://www.daz3d.com/aslan-court-2-iray-addon
https://www.daz3d.com/aslan-court-3-iray-addon
I have all three, with the Iray add ons for two of them (planning on getting the other one later).
I couldn't get them to turn on in either version, though I'm just starting out with digital art, so probably I just don't understand how/where the setting is. I'm finding the learning curve rather steep. Good thing I'm stubborn.
The Aslan Court 2 and 3 Iray Addons include "New Iray Light Prop and Preload", make sure you are loading those instead of the older 3DL ones.
Regarding the Iray versions, Aslan Court 1 can load the entire set with lights ON (ASL1 ! Pre All With Lights) or OFF (ASL1 ! Pre_All). You can select the ceiling lights and turn them ON and OFF with the appropriate material preset (ASL 1_S_Light and ASL1_C_Light_On), or all the others with a script (ASL1_Gr_W_Light_Select) and turn them all on of off, or one at a time, in a similar way (ASL1_Gr_W_Light and ASL1_Gr_W_Light_On)
Aslan Court 2 loads the set with the ceiling light only (ASL2 !Pre_All). The rest of the lights are loaded separately (Inner and Corridor Lights, ASL2 !!Pre_Lights). The thing is, the ceiling light is OFF and there is no way to turn it ON, and the others are all ON by default. You can turn them OFF (ASL2 !Light_Select, then ASL2 Light) but can't turn them back ON. It appears that the material presets to turn the lights ON are missing. The thumbnails are in the folder, but no .duf file. The package actually does not have them, so it isn't a case of "available but not installed", or bad filenames.
For Aslan Court 3, the full (ASL3 !Pre_Full) or half (ASL3 !Pre_Half) set loads with the ceiling lights OFF. The rest of the lights can be loaded separately (ASL3 !!Pre_Lights Full, ASL3 !!Pre_Lights Half), and load ON by default. The ceiling lights can be selected (ASL3 !C_Light_Select) and turned ON and OFF (ASL3 C_Light_On and ASL3 C_Light). Similarly for the rest of the lights (on the columns: ASL3 !Light_Select then ASL3 Light_On and ASL3 Light).
Got all that? Aslan Court 2 Iray will require a help ticket to get the missing files.
Oh wow... thank you for that detailed response. (I've submitted a help ticket for the AC2 issue... it's oddly comforting to realize that the issue for that one, at least, wasn't me).
I did manage to get all the lights turned on, which is definitely improving the look of the scenery, but my figures are still rendering very dark (see attached). Is there some other setting I'm missing, or do I need to add my own light for that?
Thank you again so much for helping me.
Increase Cm2 factor in rendering settings. I use 8 or 10 for indoor scenes
Those lights are not that bright, and it is an indoor scene with only a few skylights. Your eyes would adjust to dim light, effectively changing the exposure. So, adjust the Tone Mapping, with Exposure Value, or cm^2 Factor. Either one will make the scene brighter. You could also play with some of the other settings, too.
Note: you only get the Tone Mapping node once you start rendering, or use Iray Preview, but you probably noticed that already. (Using 4.21, not sure if that is one of the things that changed in 4.22. Parameters vs. Properties...)
You need to load one of the pre-load from iray - Promos folder as there'll be preset of Render Settings. Then tweak Exposure Value as needed...
Okay, so my saga continues...
Increasing the cm^2 worked great for the background but still left my girls pretty shadowy. (However, it entirely fixed the same problem on a different interior background!)
Increasing the exposure (and thank you for that screen shot!!) finally made my girls visible... but everything else was so washed out it looked awful. Which is what happens with increasing exposure, I realize, but I hadn't figured it would be *that* bad...
While you wait for the fix, you can make your own lights ON presets if you wish. Use one of the Promo loads (totally forgot about them!), select the Ceiling Light, and simply Save As... Material Preset. Save it to the same folder as the other Material Presets with the same name as the orphaned thumbnail file (ASL2 C_Light_ON). (You have to enter a filename first, after navigating to the original asset folder). In the ensuing dialog, uncheck everything, and expand the "clight_bulb" entry. Locate the Emission group, and check it so that all sub-elements are selected, then accept. This will save just the emission settings for the light bulb. The regular material preset will set all the light fixture's surfaces back to their default, and light bulbs off.
If you are saving with thumbnails (there are apparently options for that in 4.22) it should show up as ASL2 C_Light_ON.duf.png, It will not be the same as the original thumbnail, which is ASL2 C_Light_ON.png. The new one (duf.png) has priority, but you can safely delete it and the original will be used instead. If you mess up, just copy it from the zip file.
Do the same for one of the other corridor lights, naming the preset ASL2 Light_ON.duf. You can later apply it to any selected corridor lights.
Wow you folks are amazing with the instructions. Thanks so much! The head-shaped dent in my wall will not be any deeper. :)
If you meant a "washed out" like in screenshot 1 down below.... the quickest way is just setting Enviroment Mode to Scene Only, as in sShot 2.
And there're quite a few properties you may tweak in Tone Mapping to make some dramatic VE or subtle change..
Here's what it's doing... (this is with Environment Mode set to scene only and the exposure increased so the character detail was visible)
Oh... do not decrease Exposure Value too low. As what I said above, just add a spotlight in front of the figures, that's a better way and that'll do...