Back for More Lighting Questions.......

[ed_the_atom]

In between a number of Assignments I should be doing....I played with revamping the ZBrush Nutta (procrastinating).......so I thought I would see how it was looking before I finished the thing so I took it into corel.......RESULT MORE DOG DROPPINGS.......the lighting ain't right, nor good! Probably would have had more luck with it in Microsoft Word!

To me it looks like used cow lunch......what (apart from living) am I doing wrong with this lighting business. In Zbrush it looks fine......this was baked, and merged. It seems if I don't render, or don't render and bake.....the pics seem fine.
Any advice?

Reposted.....still not finished but lighting is better......I actually have a better znutta in the works.....looks nuttier...and better modelled......


http://www2.zbrushcentral.com/zbc_uploads/user_image-1030205260kez.jpg

EDIT>>>>>>>>Strange, it looks somewhat better as a jpeg here than on Corel photopaint? Maybe I should have a good look at the coral colour setup......and it was a psd file, not bitmap.


Testing...........ambient off 3 lights....and 10 gdi.......Colours look flat on my computer outside Zbrush.....tried all adjustments in 5 art programmes.

So test it here....as there seems to be one hell of a difference.....and I tried a grey border......pic not much, just a test....


http://www2.zbrushcentral.com/zbc_uploads/user_image-1030196909rhk.jpg

One layer, flat render.


Thanks filament, winged one and pusghetty(great stuff got me on the right track) I gotta read the manual. Mentat...I can't explain what I'm after....but think I am on the right track now, but yes will be interested in 1.5 info.
:) Thanks for the vote of confidence Deevee.

EDIT......... Nope that one didn't retain the zbrush look at all.....and I didn't save the zdoc.

Found the problem I think....testing for comparison here....

http://www2.zbrushcentral.com/zbc_uploads/user_image-1030201315utv.jpg


Another one.........2000 times better in zbrush...............arrrrrrrrrggggggghhhhhhhhhhh! Nope this one okay now, although good version on my computer still.


http://www2.zbrushcentral.com/zbc_uploads/user_image-1030200572diy.jpg


Well with the lighting tips......thanks guys....and with Rhoms input.....god I should have known what you said rhom....it wasn't the monitor setting though, corel was displaying the bloody print settings.....geeze.......I set that a year ago.......we are talkin' moron here. Thanks rhom :tu:

[Ron Harris]

very interesting Ed....I am not guru but it looked ok to me. The only thing I noticed was the red stroke on his chest and the pink on the hat, looks good though... :tu: :tu: the poor guy has rat droppings for brains though... ;)

[Mentat7]

Ed I hear that MS Word does a mean job on .zbr files :D :p :D

I am not sure what you are trying to accomplish with the lighting. Can you explain what look you are after? I usually do not bake unless I am going to apply the fiber brush. I render then export the file as a .psd or .bmp then bring it back in as a texture and fill a new layer with it with flat material. Then I edit it with the paint tools. As far as lighting goes if you can point me in the direction you are wanting to go I can put together a few things for you to try. After 1.5 is released we can go into it in even more depth.

[filament9]

Hi Ed.
How many lights were used in the scene? As well, where are you placing them?
I try to follow "studio" lighting techniques. A main light, and one or two fill lights.
Typically, I'll drop the value of the fill light(s) to about half the main lights value.
Glow, and point, lights are terrific for adding that extra bit to a scene. Using them, I'll spent quite a bit of time toying with the settings. Increasing, or decreasing the radius impacts the effect dramatically (try using a color other then white - easier to see where the light strikes the model.)
As well, I'll decrease the Ambient light setting to zero, and use Global lighting.
Anyhow, enough of my rambling on
;)
It does sound like a good idea, though, to have a peek at Photopaints color settings. Good place to start off.

[Rafael Hernandez]

I really like this one Ed. Your faces look good by themselves but they truly shine when you see them in a completed illustration. I can't give you tips about lights since I know litle but I think this light set up works for the character of the image.

[WingedOne]

A lot of what I was going to say, filament9 had said already, but anyway, here's my 2 cents.

Like filament9 said, sometimes it's better to go with lights of different colors rather than white. Also usually, in the a lot of the things I do, the color I end up using for the fill light is the complementary color of the main light. Also, play around with the shadow rendering/settings. You'll have even more control of the shadows after Monday, however. :)

[PusGhetty]

Hey Ed,
Filament9 and Wingedone both are correct.
I thought I might elaborate for you a bit.
Here are some images to visualize how it works.

A. in this image I used the "KEY" light. This is the main light that shines on your scene. This light should be whatever intensity you want the main light to be... I suggest you do not go over 1.0, as this is 1.0=100% lit.

http://www2.zbrushcentral.com/zbc_uploads/user_image-1030169031icd.jpg

B. In this image I use the "FILL" light to get rid of harsh shadows, Wingedone is correct in that this light should be a complimentary color(opposite sides of the color wheel are complimentaries) of the Key Light. This light should have a low to medium intensity value... softening the shadows and giving more form to the shapes and models.

http://www2.zbrushcentral.com/zbc_uploads/user_image-1030169101vse.jpg

C. In this image I use the "Back" light to add to the three dimensionalism. This light shines from the back of the object. This light can be as intense as you want and should just silhouette the darker side of your image.

http://www2.zbrushcentral.com/zbc_uploads/user_image-1030169133agm.jpg

The beauty is that these lights are almost ready to go in Zbrush! You just have to activate the third light.
p.s. like Filament9 I always turn ambience down to zero.
Take care Ed,
Hope this helps ya out some more,
Michael

[DeeVee]

I am certain with you drive it will not be long before you have it all straightened out to your satisfaction :ex: :D

[rhom]

Pretty cool lighting explanation Pus.I like the look you've got going there ed.You probably know this already but there is a list of monitors and its fairly long,in Corel Photo Paint (somewhere in under general)by selecting the monitor you're using
the program re-orients your colors (somewhat)to your particular monitor-it made a difference for me.

[ed_the_atom]

All fixed thanks everyone for the input......now I'm off to read the manual :rolleyes:

[rhom]

Us morons gotta stick together.

[filament9]

Glad you've got yourself on the right track ed. rhom's right: we need to stick together, all us morons floundering about in this techno world :D