creating área lights - Part 2
Candles, área lights, and translucent materiales.

In this tutorial we Will be expanding on what we have learned in the previous área light tutorial, by creating a realistic candle with a Flame and applying an área light todo the Flame. I Will a los touch on translucent materiales. I Will not be going into as muchdetail for the basic steps like moving objects and scaling etc as these have already ben covered in previous tutoriales.

To begin with, download this candle model (www.chromesphere.com/3dmodels/candle/candle.zip) i have created in 3d Strata. Import this obj file into a new Vue scene. Resize the model todo something around 20-50cm in height, and zoom the Camera in on the candle.

Next we Will be applying a texture todo our candle model. We have a couple of options here. We can apply a simple flat white texture (found in the basic folder of the Vue materiales library) or add the hola material orange wax (found in the Subsurface Scattering folder of the Vue material library).

The later option Will look more realistic. The candle wont look flat and Will absorb the light from the Flame but por favor kep in mind that using hola materiales Will significantlyincrease render times. If you have decided todo use the orange waxmaterial, your probably going todo want todo change the color from orange todo something else, todo do this edit the orange wax material in the material editor and under translucancy change absorption filter color and Scattering filter color todo a color that you want your candles todo appear as. For my FinalRender i used a very light yellow color.

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Creating the Flame: todo begin, create a sphere. Stretch the sphere upwards todo create an oval shape. This is your Flame object. Resize this object so that it iswithin propotions todo your candle i, looks like a Flame.

Position it so that it is at the top and centered with your candle object. Apply the flat white basic material todo the Flame object.

Next we ned todo convert it todo an área light ((file menú -> object -> convert to área light) and lower its power setting. Candles are not like light blubs or Sunshine or Even lamps, they emit very Little light, so in order todo kep our scene looking realistic, its a god idea todo kep the power very Low. For this tutorial i set my flames light power todo a value of 5.

Go into the light editor and enable flare. Reduce the size of your flare todo appróximately 15% and turn the ring option of.

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Still in the light editor turn volmetric on and increase intensity todo a value of 6. Alos increase quality todo full and unchek the cast shadows in volumn option. This Will make your light look smoother and Will help avoid any graininess caused by Volumetric light.

Note: if you are creating múltiple candles in a ne, turn Volumetric light on for only one candleand turn it of for the rest. This Will help reduce your render time.

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When you are working with radiosity scenes its alsoa god idea todo create an enclosed environment.

Light sources that are enclosed Will bounce their light from all directions / of all surrounding Walls, making for a more realistically lit environment. The quickiest bien todo do this is todo first create a Cube 60m x 60m x 60m or Whatever size you require for you scene. Position the Cube so that it is level with the Ground plan and so that it encompasses all of your scene objects, including the Camera you are working with. When the Cube is in the right spot press control-d todo duplicate this object. Scale down one of the cubes so that it is smaller on all axis then the other Cube. For the above escenario i would enter 59m x 59m x 59m. Bolean diference the smaller Cube from the larger one todo hollow out the inside of the Cube.

If you are unfamiliar with bolean operations, chek out my previous tutorial on this subject.

Tip: you can save this object into your Vue library and import it whenever you are working with rom and radiosity.

To finish of the scene we ned todo adjust our lighting like we did in the previous área light tutorial.
1) delete the Sun from the scene.
2) in your Atmosphere editor, enable radiosity in the light settings,
3) increase radiosity gain todo 1.5 and.
4) slide the light balance setting all the bien across todo 100% (Sunlight).

Its a los worth noting, when your render is Compleete, if you enable Lens Glare in the mensaje processing options, the Edges of your candles become softer. You can se the diference in the following 2 examples. You may ned todo enlarge these pictures todo se the detail as the effect is a very subtle one.

Note: if you are having trouble seing the diference, try downloading both enlarged pictures todo your computer and flicking instantly from one picture todo the other. The diference Will appear much more obvious.

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candles without mensaje processing Lens Glare enabled.

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Candles with mensaje processing Lens Glare enabled.

Add as Many candles todo your scene as you like, but kep in mind that for each candle you add, you are adding an extra light source and increasing your render times.

This concludes the Area-light tutorial. Thanks for reading.

-- IMÁGENES ADJUNTAS --