ok this is my first light rig :)

[Oddgit]

i was going for photorealism of bolter rounds from a game called warhammer 40k
any pointers, there are 16 lights in the scene. should i add more change any settings?

[Tiletron]

The lighting looks ok, but I'm a little concerned about the reflectancy on the bullet casings. Even if they are meant be mirror-like, they shouldn't be completely reflective, as brass exteriors for bullets have a small amount of smudge.

There needs to be a balance between the metals on objects like these: if they are too reflective, they lose their authenticity of appearing like a real bullet... but if they too blurred, they appear just like a bare model, without any interest to them. Try adjusting the seetings for the image-map (or whatever you used) so that they are still reflective, but not so much that they seem to refract like a polished kettle.

By the way, it's nice to know I'm not the one from the 'dying breed' who love WH40K.

[riki]

If you want to make it look more real, try adding a subtle grunge map to dirty things up a bit.

[mattclary]

The casings themselves don't look bad, but the bullets are too reflective, especially the lead tip. Lead should be rather dull. Looks good overall! Also, make the hollow tip deeper and possibly wider. It's actually a hole in the tip, not just a depression.

[Doran]

I'm not trying to pass myself off as an expert on firearms but isn't there supposed to be a small flange on the casing that holds it steady against the breach as the shell is expelled?

[Oddgit]

thanks for your input :)
for the frunge map that is an excelent idea :)
the shinyness on the tip bugs the hell out of me.
they are ant exactly hollow tiped, they are self propelled rocket assisted timed delayed bolt rounds from the .75 caliber bolter of the game warhammer 40k, so i an make the top look what ever i want to look like :) but i did try the real hollow tim penthod and couldnt get it too look correct :(
hey doran there are 2 types of cases well 3 if you want to get down and dirty but they are straight or "necked" i am assuming you are refiring to the "neck" as the flange, pistol and submachien gun rounds dont have the flange, liek the 9mms, .45 and .44mags all are straight, my .270 win on the other hand it necked :)
oh for a grunge map, could i get away with using a porcedural shader? i have the ifw set, but i am willing to paint one.
i have a few other questions...
when i set up caustics to render, so i can have that cool metal reflection look i just get a nasty burnout, not an actual casutic reflection and i only have one light set to do caustics.
and the other question is, can lightwave do aniscopic(sp) rendering? i meand dose it have the ability to render those cool metal flaws that machined and brushed metal parts have?
any good tutorial on that?
oh and should i add more lights because of the weird shadows on the ground?
i have so many questions i just want to get the grunge and reflections done right now, thanks for all your input :D

rob
http://homepage.mac.com/oddgit/

[sidewing]

I like the bullets and shells!

instead of using multiple spotlights with soft shadow, try 1 area. The shadow is unrealistic.

[Zarathustra]

Yeah, You don't need all the lights casting shadows. Every bullet has a 'shadow flower' with 16 petals. That's not very photoreal.

If you're just doing a single image, why not have a go at radiosity?

[Oddgit]

everyt time i have tried radyosity i have not got the results i wanted, i could never get soft shadows and the ground was blue.

if i turned off shadows on most of the lights i would still get som soft shadows? say i turn all but 3 off. woudld that work?
heh im at work right now so i cant test it yet :(

[Zarathustra]

The softness of the area light shadow can be varied by the distance from the target.

There's also Overcaster (the spinning lights trick).

You could parent 2 spotlights to an area light. Have one at say 50% casting a shadowmap and the other at -50% (negating the cast light of the first) with no shadow. Then turn off shadows for the area light. Cheap way to make an area light have a shadowmap shadow.

G2 has a problem dealing with area light shadows (they say it's a NT bug) so I've experimented with all the above. I made a few tests keeping my area lights but applying a low intensity Monte Carlo simply for the shadows. Here is a test:
http://www.magicanimation.com/test/MC-Head-&-Eyes.jpg
Real subtle, but you can see the shadow behind the ear is nice and soft.

[mattclary]

I'd give the are alight a go. Probably get almost as good effect as radiosity.

[Solid Image Art]

Zarathustra -

Can you post a layout screen shot showing where you placed your two spotlights in relation to the area light? I'd really like to see it.

I am aware of G2's area light issues, but your clever work-a-round really holds some impressive results.

Dan

[Zarathustra]

I didn't have to place the spotlights anywhere. Just clone your area light and make the clone a spotlight with shadowmap. Futz with the cone angle, if you need to, then clone the spotlight. Turn shadows off on the last clone and make the intensity negative.

Does that make sense?
You'll have:
1) area light
2) cloned area light, now a spotlight, with shadowmap
3) cloned spotlight with negative intensity and no shadows


The link I posted earlier was an image using area lights and low intensity Monte Carlo, not spotlights with shadowmaps.
What I described is basically what happens in Overcaster, minus any spinning.