LightCaps to Keyshot pro for zbrush

[Wilzah]

Hey guys,

I’m tinkering away making hundreds of renders of the same thing, a viking helmet - and I cannot work out why sometimes if I add a lightcap - it will go over to keyshot - and other times makes no difference…

For example - I have a nice render of the helmet - but no matter what i play with - I cant seem to get certain areas lit well enough, so i thought - ok - i’ll make 1 lightcap in Zbrush - to specifically light that area - I have managed to get it to work, sometimes only and don’t understand why

I know that materials may be part of it… [if matcaps are applied to faces - they wont be affected by lightcaps being moved around the model].

Any advice on this ?

Will.

[Altea]

I personally would not try to send the lightcaps to Keyshot. The value of Keyshot is his realistic lighting engine (at least relatively realistic compared with Zbrush) . Lightcaps are certainly not at the same level and I doubt they are even compatible.

What probably you are getting in Keyshot are materials rather than lightcaps. Lightcaps add specular everywhere and I guess you like that effect in the helmet, but you will get a lot more realistic effects using the metal materials from Keyshot.

[Wilzah]

Thanks so much for the reply Altea,

I did work out how to do it in the end - heh, but it took hours of madness haha.

I agree and understand that Keyshot is not meant to have direct light light sources in the way 3D max would for example, and it does indeed rely on the HDRI environment spheres which surround the object when sent over to Keyshot for lghting. We do indeed have the benefit of adding in ‘pins’ to further cast light upon the model - which are tweakable - but folks like me are irritatingly obsessive and want to be able to do what really shouldn’t need to be done… - I probably should have went to school instead of learning through experimentation lol.

anyway - the lightcaps will go over if you duplicate the model - and resend with lightcaps involved.

I learned this from an Asian guy on YouTube - he couldn’t get a change of matcap or material to go across, he ended up turning both zbrush and keyshot off - reloading both - reloading his head and changing it from red wax to skin - so it looked better - went across no problem.

but - if he sent it to KS as red wax with polypaint, then corrected the skin material - it wouldn’t take it in KS, just stayed the same.

I messed about with this saving - closing - re-opening and it worked
then i realized one can simply duplicate - then light - and send - so problem solved - even if it’s not meant to be done … it can be.

I am tinkering again - and realizing that the HDRI environments can indeed light the model realistically and sufficiently - I just like the idea of blasting in some weird intense and more directed blue light from the side if i want to … so all is well, and thanks again

P.S. I have a picture of said helmet on my currently being built first ever website eheh - if you are interested in seeing what it did - then it’s www.meschene.com

[Altea]

Was that red light included in the lightcap or is a Keyshot light?

[Wilzah]

Hehe, i’ve been away a long time, sorry Altea.
The red light is in Zbrush, I found it’s possible to light a model from various angles and colours, then render in keyshot. If you don’t see any light, the duplicate the model in Z - and re-render.

Hey presto - means you can light darker areas in zbrush if the desired result isn’t quite there in keyshot.