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Emitter Power vs. Watts
Posted: Fri Feb 21, 2014 5:15 pm
by vortex3d
Is the emitter power just a reference number or wattage?
It would be awesome to have presets for real light sources.
Re: Emitter Power vs. Watts
Posted: Fri Feb 21, 2014 5:32 pm
by t_3
vortex3d wrote:Is the emitter power just a reference number or wattage? It would be awesome to have presets for real light sources.
afaik it means the wattage;
btw, "efficiency" means the luminous efficiency of the light source - the default is set to around that of an incandescent light bulb.
be aware that octane scales the light intensity with the object - what is just not like it works in real world. how accurate this in the end mimics real world light sources is then a completely different question; i.e. many lamps use a reflector of some sort, which you would need to also have to duplicate them, and so on.
and you probably need to also take the imager numbers (exposure, fstop, iso) into account.
... i'd rather go with the desired effect but trying to use numbers from a list - but since i already have a values database (for ior, cauchy b and light color), another one for common light sources would not hurt. afair i have once begun such a list, but then had other things to do

Re: Emitter Power vs. Watts
Posted: Fri Feb 21, 2014 6:03 pm
by vortex3d
t_3 wrote:vortex3d wrote:Is the emitter power just a reference number or wattage? It would be awesome to have presets for real light sources.
afaik it means the wattage;
btw, "efficiency" means the luminous efficiency of the light source - the default is set to around that of an incandescent light bulb.
be aware that octane scales the light intensity with the object - what is just not like it works in real world. how accurate this in the end mimics real world light sources is then a completely different question; i.e. many lamps use a reflector of some sort, which you would need to also have to duplicate them, and so on.
and you probably need to also take the imager numbers (exposure, fstop, iso) into account.
... i'd rather go with the desired effect but trying to use numbers from a list - but since i already have a values database (for ior, cauchy b and light color), another one for common light sources would not hurt. afair i have once begun such a list, but then had other things to do

Yes, I can get the desired effect by visually adjusting the power value, but I often wish there was way to build my own emitter presets so I don't have to guess every time. This could also be similar to the live materials db, where the community adds light source settings.
Re: Emitter Power vs. Watts
Posted: Fri Feb 21, 2014 6:11 pm
by t_3
vortex3d wrote:Yes, I can get the desired effect by visually adjusting the power value, but I often wish there was way to build my own emitter presets so I don't have to guess every time. This could also be similar to the live materials db, where the community adds light source settings.
for you own use you can still add simple value presets to the values menu (the tiny button next to each input field); since these are separated by node type + pin name, you can quickly build a list of often used values for the 3 emitter node types (means they will not populate "power" pins for other node types)...
Re: Emitter Power vs. Watts
Posted: Sat Feb 22, 2014 2:54 pm
by vortex3d
t_3 wrote:vortex3d wrote:Yes, I can get the desired effect by visually adjusting the power value, but I often wish there was way to build my own emitter presets so I don't have to guess every time. This could also be similar to the live materials db, where the community adds light source settings.
for you own use you can still add simple value presets to the values menu (the tiny button next to each input field); since these are separated by node type + pin name, you can quickly build a list of often used values for the 3 emitter node types (means they will not populate "power" pins for other node types)...
I see.
However, after a value has been stored, it can't be removed, replaced or edited.
The button remains orange FOREVER!
Did I miss something or does this belong in the bug report thread also?

Re: Emitter Power vs. Watts
Posted: Sat Feb 22, 2014 3:03 pm
by t_3
vortex3d wrote:I see.
However, after a value has been stored, it can't be removed, replaced or edited.
The button remains orange FOREVER!
Did I miss something?

yes - it's not exactly obvious i must admit: CTRL + right mouse button click removes an entry. it is described in the help entry for that button; click the help button next to the viewport button in the main pane header and any element where the mouse cursor has a "?" added to it; might uncover a few useful hints also for other ui elements btw.
ps: i hope to get some tutorial vids done this year, and of course the manual waits for completion also...
Re: Emitter Power vs. Watts
Posted: Sat Feb 22, 2014 3:06 pm
by vortex3d
t_3 wrote:vortex3d wrote:I see.
However, after a value has been stored, it can't be removed, replaced or edited.
The button remains orange FOREVER!
Did I miss something?

yes - it's not exactly obvious i must admit: CTRL + right mouse button click removes an entry. it is described in the help entry for that button; click the help button next to the viewport button in the main pane header and any element where the mouse cursor has a "?" added to it; might uncover a few useful hints also for other ui elements btw.
ps: i hope to get some tutorial vids done this year, and of course the manual waits for completion also...
Ahhh, thank you!
Sometimes I rely too much on the hint bubbles and forget the plugin doesn't use them.

It would be nice to have that help displayed in the status bar on hover.
Re: Emitter Power vs. Watts
Posted: Sat Feb 22, 2014 3:13 pm
by t_3
vortex3d wrote:Ahhh! Sometimes I rely too much on the hint bubbles when I hover over an option.

i decided to keep the help assigned to the "what's this" help integration only, as tooltips tend to get overseen, apart from that there would be an awful lot of them popping up all the time, and last but not least disabling them in the ds preferences will also disable them in the plugin.
in addition i plan to integrate this help with the online manual(...), so you can look it up directly from there. and finally this will also link to node type specific explanations - about meanings of values and usage...
Re: Emitter Power vs. Watts
Posted: Sun Feb 23, 2014 1:41 am
by vortex3d
t_3 wrote:vortex3d wrote:Ahhh! Sometimes I rely too much on the hint bubbles when I hover over an option.

i decided to keep the help assigned to the "what's this" help integration only, as tooltips tend to get overseen, apart from that there would be an awful lot of them popping up all the time, and last but not least disabling them in the ds preferences will also disable them in the plugin.
in addition i plan to integrate this help with the online manual(...), so you can look it up directly from there. and finally this will also link to node type specific explanations - about meanings of values and usage...
I see. I suppose that will also speed things up a bit, and since every little bit helps, the less bloat the better.