Light Source

[choronr]

I'm trying to spread a light source such as to have it reflect on clouds like you see when lightening strikes. Also, the light source is too grainy even with atmo samples set at 64.

Any ideas would be appreciated. 

[Henry Blewer]

A one sided disk object might work. It would be luminous. Having it one sided might make it invisible to the camera.

Perhaps an array of lights would work, but I am not sure how to do this.

[choronr]

A one sided disk object might work. It would be luminous. Having it one sided might make it invisible to the camera.

Perhaps an array of lights would work, but I am not sure how to do this.

Thanks Henry. Not sure about this either. Will keep experimenting.

[Dune]

You could also (theoretically, I just thought this out) copy the cloud nodes you want to light, then set/restrict the area where you want it lighted (in the cloud settings or by using a soft circular simple shape), and make the ambient color white/bluish (1 or even higher). You could use the same density fractal for the second replicated cloud layer. Never tried it, but it should work.

[Oshyan]

I'm not really clear on what difficulties you're having, aside from the noise. The setup is pretty simple, just as you describe really. Just create new light source, bump up the strength quite a bit, and position it up by the cloud layer. Raytracing the atmosphere at default settings and AA4 controls the noise pretty well. Attached is a quick example TGD.

- Oshyan

[choronr]

Thank you both, Dune and Oshyan. My main problem was with the noise. I will refer to the .tgd Oshyan and try the settings on my project. I like the oval shaped spread of the reflection on the cloud that you achieved - mine just appears circular.

Really appreciate your help guys.

[choronr]

Followed your .tgd settings Oshyan; but, the results didn't work out. The light's strength needs to be reduced. I certainly would like to get the elliptical reflection on the clouds as per your example.  See my image compared to yours.

[Oshyan]

The shape is merely coincidental, due to light source positioning and perspective. What happened when you reduced the strength of the light source in your example?

- Oshyan

[choronr]

The shape is merely coincidental, due to light source positioning and perspective. What happened when you reduced the strength of the light source in your example?

- Oshyan

I reduced strength by 1/2; but, it looks the same except a little dimmer.

[Oshyan]

The numbers for light strength are quite large. You'll need to experiment to get the right light strength for your needs. If the *amount* of light is good (on the surrounding environment, clouds) but the brightness of the light source itself is too much, you might just want to turn off Glow In Atmosphere. It will still light up the clouds, but you won't have the big, shining light ball around the light source.

- Oshyan

[choronr]

The numbers for light strength are quite large. You'll need to experiment to get the right light strength for your needs. If the *amount* of light is good (on the surrounding environment, clouds) but the brightness of the light source itself is too much, you might just want to turn off Glow In Atmosphere. It will still light up the clouds, but you won't have the big, shining light ball around the light source.

- Oshyan

Thanks Oshyan, yes, I've tried that - now, it is just a matter of finding the right light strength to pull off my objective ...we'll see.