Softbox Light Effect?

[batman911]

Hi,

Is it possible to add an image to an Octane light so I can create a softbox effect which gets darker towards the edges? In the light options I've gone to the Texture/IES tab, chosen the texture, then Texture Type: Color but it doesn't map it correctly to the shape (see screengrab). It seems to need a projection node but there's no way I can see to do this.

Up til now I've been using a square poly and mapping the image to that and then made it into an emitter with the emitter node. This works OK but it's a bit clumsy to work with and also a couple of times I didn't seem to get the same clean result as a normal light.

Can anyone help?

[mikefrisk]

Try using a square plane and apply the lightbox texture to it as emission.

[Lewis]

Try using a square plane and apply the lightbox texture to it as emission.

Sure that will work, but if you read his post more carefully he wrote in the post that he knows about that "workaround" but this Light panel option should also work and it seems broken.

[mikefrisk]

Try using a square plane and apply the lightbox texture to it as emission.

Sure that will work, but if you read his post more carefully he wrote in the post that he knows about that "workaround" but this Light panel option should also work and it seems broken.

Oops, dont know how I missed that.

batman911 - Have you tried using something other than a tiff?

[batman911]

Yes, I've tried all types of file formats, but from what I can see it's just about mapping it correctly. I don't know if this is broken as Lewis says, or if it just needs a projection added. I wonder if Octane 5 will address this, I guess it may be out soon, hopefully?!

[juanjgon]

The texture projection available inside the Octane lights is designed to support the IES files only. This spherical projection probably doesn't work for a plain texture map, as you have found. Currently, you need to use a conventional UV mapped object with an emission texture as material to render this effect.

Thanks,
-Juanjo

[Lewis]

The texture projection available inside the Octane lights is designed to support the IES files only. This spherical projection probably doesn't work for a plain texture map, as you have found. Currently, you need to use a conventional UV mapped object with an emission texture as material to render this effect.

Thanks,
-Juanjo

Hi Juan,
Maybe you should then rename that panel to says "IES Data" only and not "Texture/IES" 'coz this way it's misleading and i would also expect it to load ANY texture.

Also i think in C4D they can use this feature for applying textures for lights so it might be still LW only problem ?

[juanjgon]

Yes, sure. As I've said you can render this kind of lights without problems using conventional geometry and an emissive material, so it is a matter of adding also this feature to the LightWave Octane light object. I only have said that "currently" you need to do it using a conventional object, but I'll try to add this feature also to the Octane light

Thanks,
-juanjo

[Lewis]

Excellet, please do add this feature, i's much easier to add "octane light" than fiddle with creating geometry panels . Both ways have it's merits and usages but this would really be good option for adding texture to "light".

Thanks Juan, you are a star.

[juanjgon]

I have added this feature to the next plugin build. If you select a color or float texture type, the lights will work using a UV mapped shape to allow the use of conventional textures, while the spherical projection is used only if you select the IES texture type.

Thanks,
-Juanjo