Explaining the Lights

Lighting is very important in the rendering in CV11

External Lighting - Lights vs Sun

External light to a room can be achieved in two ways.

1. Using the Sun which can only come into the room in the direction it has been set at.

2. Using the Lights and directing them thru the windows to throw light into the room from each window.

It is always good practice to set up your Room with Windows, Textures and Lighting before we start creating our Kitchen

 

When we open the Lights on the side panel there will be one internal light (blue) and the sun (orange) randomly positioned on the plan

  • For the purposes of these instructions we are going to turn off the internal light
  • Select the blue light by using Left Click
  • The side panel changes with the properties of the internal light
  • The first property allows us to turn the light on or off
  • Turn the light off

The Sun

b)  Orange light on the plan denotes the Sun.  The direction of this should be moved to illumunate the room as it would in real life

  • Either grab the handle at the front of the Sun and drag to the direction you wish the Sun to shine in
  • Or change the Horizontal Position for the Sun on the Properties Side Panel - in this case to -180.0
  • Change the Vertical Position of the Sun to -20
  • Change the Brightness to the maximum Brightness

c)  Select Photovision

  • Select Archtectural
  • Select Preview Archtectural
  • This clearly shows the light filling the room

Note:  I added the Light Editor to show the correct settings for this image

The sunlight gives great illumination and shadow on the floor.  

This is restricting in the amount of light and where it shines.

Now we will explore the option of using the interior lights to add dimension to the 3D

Now, turn off the sun as shown below

Internal Lights

By using Internal lights to illuminate the room, we get a more even subtle light

d) Blue lights as highlighted on the plan - can be selected as 'Spot', 'Directional' or 'Bulb'

  • Left Click on the light - choices of light are shown in the left hand selection panel
  • Select the colour of the light - mostly 'White Light' to give nice clear light
  • Always set the 'Brightness' to full - on the right hand of the slide bar
  • Always set the 'Softness' to the least - on the left hand side of the slide bar
  • Move the light to a position a reasonable distance from outside the window
  • Go to Photovision > Architectural > Preview Architectural

As you can see - the light distribution is much clearer and more subtle.

Note:  I have added the Light Editor box to the image to show all the settings

In the Preview below, you can see I have moved the light closer to the window which gives a much wider span of light in the room

Rule of thumb for this type of lighting is to have one light per window in the room

In this illustration below, I have added another window and for the purposes of this instruction, have shown you the Light Editor box to show where the lights have been positioned.

Below, I have added a base unit to show the effect of the shadow from the light of the window.

We can now see not only the gloss level of the floor, but the shadow that is being created by the cabinet being put in front of the window

NOTE: Less is more in the case of lighting!!!

This is a Daylight Render

For a Night Time Render, we have two options available.

  • A Bulb Light shining down
  • A Directional Light shining down
  • Go back to the Light Editor and turn off the external lights
  • Add a new light (1)
  • Position the light above the cabinet (2)
  • Create the settings as shown (3 & 4)
  • Go to Photovision > Architectural > Preview Architectural
  • Now you can see the shadow created at the base of the unit

Now you have the idea, it is time to add a scene outside the window to make your room seem realistic!!!