OTOY Forums

Two examples of indoor scenes lit from a single imagemap (it's the standard Poser startup image map OfficeFoyerBG_512.jpg). A HDR map will give an even better result.

This is an indoor render (just a test render), which is lit from the candle mesh, and the light is going through the candle glass casing.

Interior shot - this time with a single HDR imagemap. No poser lights, no emitters.

The lighting on this render was a large emitter "one sided square" prop left and behind the camera, and a smaller "one sided square" prop off to the far right. This was more of a studio light setup.

I understand what you are saying about the lights in Octane. Using HDR's would be best, but I have not figured out how to make those yet. I just got HDR lighting studio and it's a nightmare to figure out. I know you can create HDR's in Octane too, but I haven't figured it all out.
I will experiment a lot more before I make any more judgements on the software. But I just wish it were easier to understand.

In Poser, we have the "Spot Lights". With these lights, we can adjust things like "Angle End" and/or "Angle Start".
Is there a way, to do this in Octane, or via the Plug-In, as well?
Specifically asked, can I adjust or control the angle of the light cone, of an emitter (or an emitter, made from the Poser lights, via the provided script), just like a spot light can do? So that I can kind of "aim" at a certain point of an object or in a set up, instead of lighting up the whole scene.

In Octane you would set this up is up as a photographer would. In general, it is very hard (in the real world) to have a focused spotlight - you need a real spotlight for that. If you are rendering a stage for example, where you need a spotlight, I think that will be challenging with Octane. I ran a quick test, and you can put a sphere inside open ended cylinder, and then block one end of the cylinder, so the light only escapes out the other end. Parent the 3 props together so you can move and rotate then as one. Then set the sphere ambient_color to white and ambient_value to 10 and run the Octane plugin and the sphere will be an emitter. However it will not give a focused beam of light - light will escape off to the sides - because in reality I think a spotlight uses various lens' to focus the light - and that is not easily possible in Octane.

So in summary, I think you would only need to do the above if you were rendering a scene which uses real world spotlights - otherwise use the more flexible Octane lighting in the previous posts above.

I have issues with the way the lighting works in Octane. I'm not satisfied with the limits of the lighting. Making the lighting profile transfer from Poser to Octane in realtime would be a HUGE boost for this plug in. Lighting models in the plug in leaves me with a headache. Perhaps this is an issue you should address for the updated versions. Lighting a scene in Poser and having the ability to see the lighting effect on the object in realtime in the plug in window, would allow much more flexibility in the workflow.

The first question is....have you watched the 3 videos listed in the 1.00p forum thread in this forum. They cover a lot of the lighting systems in Octane and address your concerns. Making the lights update from Poser to Octane DOES happen - just turn auto refresh ON in the plugin. The emitters created by the script are parented to the Poser lights - so as you move the lights, the emitters move too. This works well for point and spot lights - not for infinite lights (use the Octane sunlight for infinite lights anyway).

The Poser lighting info doesn't transfer, so you need to make the adjustments manually in the plug in, which is just more steps in the process and doesn't give the same results. Color, intensity, and shadows would be good, if they transferred to Octane from Poser directly.

The Poser lights DO transfer. Shadow properties will not, since they are determined by the emitter size, so simply scale the emitter to get the shadows you need.

The next version will potentially convert the Poser infinite light to the Octane sunlight too - and the sunlight will track the position of the infinite light.

I find the Octane Render interface to be confusing and less than comfortable.

I will be doing the next release the first week in Jan - and changing the UI a little. If you have suggestions for improving the interface, pls let me know!

I understand what you are saying about the lights in Octane. Using HDR's would be best, but I have not figured out how to make those yet. I just got HDR lighting studio and it's a nightmare to figure out. I know you can create HDR's in Octane too, but I haven't figured it all out.
I will experiment a lot more before I make any more judgements on the software. But I just wish it were easier to understand.

For image based lighting - simply load an image (like OfficeFoyerBG_512.jpg) into the "environment texture". This is all covered in the tutorial videos. Don't make your own HDRs. Go to [url]render.otoy.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=146[/url] and download the free ones there.

Well, I really need to make my own HDR's and here is why. I'm working on a film, which is now in post production. It's all CG work and I want to have the lighting match the scenes of the live action. Reflections from the HDR's will make the shots more believable. In some cases, normal HDR maps will work fine. But in those instances where the digital lighting must match up with the real thing, I need to make HDR's.

I have watched several videos on use of the software. I understand most of the principles, but I'm just not getting the same results. I must be missing something. I will keep learning and trying it all.
Thanks for the info.

Well, I really need to make my own HDR's and here is why. I'm working on a film, which is now in post production

Ah, ok.

If you are not getting the results you are looking for, pls feel free to post samples renders here (or email then to me) - someone will most likely be able to assist.

Paul