Archive for the ‘Poser’ Category

Back in part 1 of Vue Lighting Rig #16: Three Point Lighting I said I’d work through renders from some of these different rigs. Tonight I’ll cover two of the variations.

Both of them place the key light at 30 degrees to the horizontal and 45 degrees to the subject to be lit. The fill is placed at 90 degrees to the key, at the subject’s eye level and is horizontal. In both cases I’ve turned shadows off on the fill and the back light. The relative power of the lights in both rigs is:

• Key: 100%
• Fill: 60%
• Back: 40%

The first rig has the back light placed directly behind the subject and it is horizontal.

The next image is the same rig but without any back light.

You should be able to see there isn’t a lot of difference between the lighting of the two figures. This is because, while it may work with real world physics, with a computer simulation using a poser model and standard vue texturing a horizontal back light has little or no effect.

The second rig tonight places the back light almost vertically above the subject. It is pointing down at an angle of 10 degrees to the vertical from behind. A simple render with the back light set to a power of 500 and no other lights shows this one will have some influence on the subject:

Now with it turned back down and the other lights turned on:

All of the above images were made using Poser 7 and Vue 6 Infinite. The figures skin texturing was enhanced using SkinVue.

Read:
Vue Lighting Rig #16: Three Point Lighting- Part 3

I’d planned on starting on some more lighting rigs this week but with a heavy cold all last week I’ve just not got them ready yet. So for now here is a quick recap of theatrical rigs I’ve shown so far.

Vue Lighting Rig #1: Single Spot Overhead

Vue Lighting Rig #2: Single Spot Slightly to One Side

Vue Lighting Rig #3: Single Spot Slightly Behind

Vue Lighting Rig #4: Single Spot In Front

Vue Lighting Rig #6: Two Spots Slightly to the Side

Vue Lighting Rig #7: Two Spots 45 Degrees From the Side

Vue Lighting Rig #15: Two Lights from the Side

Vue Lighting Rig #8: Spotlights at 45 degrees from the Front and Back

Vue Lighting Rig #9: Two Spotlights from the Front

Vue Lighting Rig #10: Three Spot Lights

Vue Lighting Rig #11: The Godspot

Vue Lighting Rig #13: A Four Light Rig

Vue Lighting Rig #14: Another Four Light Rig

The other two rigs not covered here were: Vue Lighting Rig #12: Modern Christmas Lights and Vue Lighting Rig #5: Halloween Special

All of the above images were made using Poser 7 and Vue 6 Infinite. It could have been made using any version of the current versions of Vue 6 including Vue 6 Esprite or Vue 6 Easel.

This weeks follows on from last weeks four light rig. This week the lights are again at ninety degrees to each other. The lights have been rotated so we now have a light pointing straight in from the front, one from behind and one from each side.

This rig gives us a lot of control over the amount of light provided for visibility (now all from the light from the front) and modelling (from the lights to either side. With the side lights roll now purely one of modelling they can be brought in to light the actor at quite steep angles thus reducing the amount of light spilled to the sides.

The light from behind adds highlights, reduces the lighting’s flatness and separates the actor from the scenery and backdrop.

Many of this rig’s real world disadvantages are the same as last weeks rig. It uses four lights in the rig and four dimmers if each light is controlled separately. In a small theatre may be hard to justify over a three light rig.

Although this rig has better control of spill there are still four shadows cast in different directions with the danger of them falling on scenery, props or other actors.

From a rendering perspective a four light rig is only a fraction slower to render than a one light rig so this has little effect on the decision of what kind of rig to use in an illustration intended to simulate stage lighting.

All of the above images were made using Poser 7 and Vue 6 Infinite.

With improved power supplies, lighting desks that can control more lights in larger theatres it has become possible to use more lights to light an actor. This allows a lighting designer to go from the standard 3 light rig to four light rigs.

This weeks rig has four lights set at 90 degrees to each other. As with the previous three light rig the front two lights are angled so as to stike the actor from the diagonals. Now though these lights are mirrored by two lights behind.

While this rig doesn’t improve on the general illumination provided by the three light rig it does give improved highlights around the edges of the actor. Separation from the background is not quite as strong. There is now quite a lot of light spilling both backwards and forwards onto the stage. Four shadows are being cast in different directions with the danger of them falling on scenery, props or other actors. For computer graphics this rig can give better lighting of a models hair because of the extra side light.

Next week I’ll show you another four light rig that has several advantages over this one.

All of the above images were made using Poser 7 and Vue 6 Infinite. They could have been made using any version of Vue 6 including Vue 6 Pro or Vue 6 Easel and any version of Poser since Poser 4.

I’m taking another short break from my ongoing progression through the common basic rigs used for lighting an actor to look at a few effects rigs that can be used for seasonal pictures. Tonights rig, the Godspot, can be used to evoke the presence of God, that a deity is observing the scene, that, to light an angel or to indicate a character’s angelic qualities. It can also be used to foreshadows a deus ex machina ending or in recent productions to simulate an alien abduction.

With a single spot no more than ten degrees from the vertical to the front of the actor it is very similar to rig #1 (Vue Lighting Rig #1: Single Spot Overhead) or (Vue Lighting Rig #4: Single Spot In Front). Usually a single powerful spotlight is used to light a single actor or a small, huddled group although lighting several characters scattered across a stage in this way separately at the same time can be very effective too. A light with a hard edge and as narrow a focus as possible is desirable to increase the effect. Ideally the light should be as high as possible so that the beam’s vertical edges are as close to being parallel as possible. A very bright, white light is usually used and artificial smoke may be required to give the beam clear definition.

To achieve this effect in Vue a single spot light with a high power setting should be placed at least four or five times the height of the figure to be lit above the figure. The light should have volumetric lighting turned on. For the demonstration picture below I used a power setting of 1500 and a volumetric brightness of 0.5 .

All of the above images were made using Poser 7 and Vue 6 Infinite. They could have been made using any version of Vue 6 including Vue 6 Pro or Vue 6 Easel and any version of Poser since Poser 4.

Last weeks entry in my ongoing series of theatrically inspired Vue lighting rigs is one of the most commonly used rigs: Two Spotlights from the Front. Tonight’s rig is an improved version of that rig which adds a third light behind the actor to add a little back light.

During the development of theatrical lighting the two light rig became popular because it provides good illumination of the actor, modelling and area control. Backlight was outweighed by the cost effectiveness of a rig that used only two lights.

However to give a more natural look light needs to fall on an actor from all around. This can be achieved by adding a third light directly behind the actor. It can shine at as little as 20° from the vertical. In some smaller theatres or when there are a lot of lights in a rig and space is tight an almost vertical downlighter may be used. The new rig had all the advantages of the two light rig and the added bonus of the backlight.

Compare it with last weeks image:

Hopefully you should see that there are highlights on the shoulders, hair, and arms. Here is a rendered the same image with just the backlight with a high power setting. I’ve tweaked the image in photoshop to emphasis where the light falls.

For a slight variation I’ve added a very slight volumetric effect to the back light in this image but reduced the lights brightness. Rather than separating the figure from the background by adding highlights around the edges the volumetric effect picks them out.

Using a three light rig has very little impact on render times compared to using a one or two light rigs.

For a variation on this rig the backlight may be hung slightly to the side.

All of the above images were made using Poser 7 and Vue 6 Infinite. They could have been made using any version of Vue 6 including Vue 6 Pro or Vue 6 Easel and any version of Poser since Poser 4.

Tonight’s Theatrical lighting rigs is one of the most commonly used solutions to the question of how to light an actor. It has been in use for at least seventy-five years and was first described by Stanley McCandless in his 1932 book A Method of Lighting the Stage.

Even the best funded production has a limited number of lights available. So a rig which is effective and only uses two lights is extremely useful.

Two lights are placed so that they light the whole of the actor. They are placed to the front and the side of the actor.

With this rig you get visibility from the light coming from the front. With the lights being to the side you also get modelling. So long as they are high enough above the actor the shadows cast don’t become too large and don’t fall on to scenery or the cyclorama. They must however be mounted low enough so that light reaches the eye sockets, mouth and teeth.

All of the above images were made using Poser 7 and Vue 6 Infinite. They could have been made using any version of Vue 6 including Vue 6 Pro or Vue 6 Easel.

Last week’s theatrical lighting rig for Vue, Two Spots Slightly to the Side, placed two lights at steep angles to either side of the actor. This week’s rig is very similar except the lights have moved out so they are now at roughly forty five degrees.

As the light now comes from an increasingly lower angle the shadow cast on the stage lengthens and a larger corridor is selected across the stage. There is now a greater chance of light falling on scenery. More of the face is now lit with more light reaching the eyes, mouth and teeth.

A variety of similar effects can be achieved using a pair of lights angled at between thirty and sixty degrees. As the angle lowers more light reaches the eyes past the eyebrows and the shadow under the nose lightens too. One shortcoming of this rig is the tendency for a dark central line to appear down an actor’s face where the lights meet. There is also the obvious shortcoming, as with last weeks rig, that two lights produce two shadows.

All of the above images were made using Poser 7 and Vue 6 Infinite. They could have been made using any version of Vue 6 including Vue 6 Pro or Vue 6 Easel and Poser 4, 5 or 6.

This week I’m taking a break from working through the most common forms of theatrical lighting to bring you a Halloween special. This lighting rig is a popular lighting technique used in theatre and once popular in film and television although now more often seen in parody.

A light source shines from below and close to an actor’s face casting shadows from the chin, cheeks and nose upwards. The eyes are often left in deep shadow. The overall effect is disturbing and unnatural.

On the stage positioning a light like this can cause some difficulty. A bright torch held by the actor or a prop concealing the source may be used. Spill light often needs to be avoided or the effect can be spoilt.

This effect can be very dramatic and the colour of the light can have a big effect on the mood created. A powerful white can turn the face in to a mask while less power can make it ghost like. Blue light gives a cold icy look. Red is demonic and devilish. Green can be sickly and is often used for witches brewing at a cauldron.

All of the above images were made using Poser 7 and Vue 6 Infinite. They could have been made using any version of Vue 6 including Vue 6 Pro or Vue 6 Easel.