When to use Octane Lights?

Newtek Lightwave 3D (exporter developed by holocube, Integrated Plugin developed by juanjgon)

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gamedesign
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Hi All

I was wondering what the pros and cons are of using lights over mesh lights or vice versa.
I seem to be able to get cleaner renders using the scene lights rather than mesh lights.
I am interested to know your thoughts on this.
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oguzbir
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I believe they are the same.
Mesh light is more capable though
Can be driven by texture and custom mesh but a bit hard to manage because of that..
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juanjgon
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Yes, from the Octane point of view they are the same. The Octane lights are only Octane objects using the same emission features that you can find in the node editor. The Octane lights are designed to work with the same workflow used by the LW native engine, using light objects.

Thanks,
-Juanjo
gamedesign
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That is strange because I swear using the lights renders cleaner reduced noise renders quicker than using mesh lights. I will have to setup a test to compare it properly.
gamedesign
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Just out of interest is it possible to add a Unseen by Camera option to mesh lights?
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juanjgon
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gamedesign wrote:Just out of interest is it possible to add a Unseen by Camera option to mesh lights?
You can enable the unseen by camera option in the mesh lights, like in any other object.
https://docs.otoy.com/Lightwave3D/?page_id=445

-Juanjo
3dreamstudios
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By "mesh lights" are you guys referring to adding EMISSION to any objects surface?

If that is the case I would agree that if you have say a lightbulb object with emission on it....it will be harder/take longer for that to get to be noise free. As I would imagine why, it's because that objects normals are pointing in all different directions and the rays fire accordingly. So they are less focused on areas where the light will matter. Maybe only 40% will be headed outside the fixture depending on shade cover or other.... That make sense?

I use emission lights on 2x2 and 2x4 ceiling fixtures alot in Arch Viz...but not always. I will sometimes add emissive property but not have them output any light for the scene. Then add just a few actual lights to light up the scene, saving on calculations etc.... Might only need 4 lights for a room that has say 12-14 fixtures in the ceiling... It's a time saver fake for quick turn arounds....
gamedesign
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Thx for your help
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