Just finished rendering fresh images for a revised version of my fourth theatrical lighting rig tutorial.

This is another rig using a single point light.  This its behind the figure so it shines on both the top of their head and the bottom of their feet.

With a single light source behind an actor no light falls on any of the facial features. Some light does fall on the top of the head and the shoulders creating highlights.

This rig is simple and quick to render. When used in a theatre the shadow cast on the stage is small but is longer in length than the first week. The actor’s shadow is cast forward on the stage avoiding the backdrop and any scenery behind them.

With a little haze the actor is effectively separated from the scenery behind them.

Since the actor’s face is in deep shadow strong colours and bright volumetric lighting can be used effectively to create dramatic effects. This second example shows the use of both these lighting techniques.

This theatrical lighting rig is a variation on a single spot light directly overhead.  The light has been moved slightly to one side and angled so it shines on the figure including both the top of their head and the bottom of their feet.

This rig shares the advantage that it is simple and quick to render with the Single Spot Overhead rig. The shadow cast on the stage is small but is longer in length than the single spot overhead. There is more chance of a shadow falling on the scenery. The effect of the lighting is quite dramatic.

A figure lit in this way has more of their form revealed and some light may now reach the eyes and the mouth on the side the light falls on. While it is still not a great rig if you want to see a performers expression it may be used if the aim is to create a mysterious mood.

All of the images were made using Poser 7 and Vue 8 Infinite. It could have been made using any version of the current versions of Vue since Vue 6.

In an effort to make this site a bit more of a Quatro and less of an Austin 1100 I’ve painted gzip go faster striped down the side of all the html, css and js files it serves up tonight.

My apologies to anyone who was trying to download anything directly from impworks.  I managed to knock out the download handling so all the links were broken.  It’s up and running again now.

I’ve added pages for two of the Vue tutorials that were previously lost in my blog to my tutorial pages tonight:

• Cloud Layer Sculpting in Vue
• Punching Holes in the Sky

I’ve also changed the rather empty front page of my Vue section to include the latest post from the Vue News Blog and the latest 3 pages added or updated to the section.

The latest issues of Ragnarok (The Magazine of the Society of Fantasy and Science Fiction Wargaming) arrived by post today. An interesting mix of articles including Daleks, Zombies, SF Armoured warfare, Fantasy Naval and Luna Exploration alongside the regular rules and miniature reviews.

My article, The Panzerfauste Song Book, takes up more pages than I thought it would. If I’d realised how long it is I’d have split it in two!

The SFSFW’s been busy on the WWW today launching the SFSFW blog and SFSFW twitter to go along with the existing SFSFW web site and SFSFW Facebook page.

impworks Twitter Background

I decided to have a go at making a twitter background using Vue on Sunday night for my Twitter page. After making a series of quick test renders using preview mode to test in Twitter I settled on the layout above which echoes the skyscraper image on the impworks web site. The render at 1800 by 800 pixels took just over an hour to run with custom settings in Vue 7.5 Infinite. I did a little bit of colour correction in Photoshop Elements and then saved it out for the web.

I’d love to know what you think of it.

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