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DanGrover
10-21-2008, 05:47 PM
Hi guys,
Wasn't sure if this should go in Lighting or Texturing, but because of the sort-of pun in the title I thought I'd put it in here.

I'm working on a short animated film (using Max and MR) whereby we'll need to see a lit light-bulb. It'll be in this decrepid, disgusting old apartment where the occupant has no lamp shade or anything. It'll be an old-style incandescent, ozone-burning variety, not a flourescent or energy-saving one.

So I've been thinking about various ways to do it. It's hard to find reference due to the retina-burning that typically results from staring at light bulbs - the problem is that I want it to really give off a mean glare without blowing it out too much. The reason we like lampshades is obviously that they bounce light around, difusing it, making nice soft light and so we don't have any really bright objects to stare at - this guy doesn't have this luxury!

So I'm asking advice for the best way to actually have the bulb itself lit and how to shade it to make it look realistic - I'm thinking of perhaps having an Omni glued to the model of the bulb, but for it to exclude the actual bulb itself, and to have the bulb fully self-illuminated, maybe even with some positive incandescence. Also, maybe render the bump itself separately, then glow the hell out of it in post?

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated,
Thanks!
phix314
10-22-2008, 06:34 AM
I've tried this before, and the only way that I was able to come close was to do so in passes.

Model the inner geometry of the bulb, and just give it a plain white shader... in Max probably something with a high incandescence, but not actually giving off light. Then model the glass, render em out in passes, and do the glow in comp. Of course add lights in the scene to give the impression of it being self illuminated... but the actual glow/effect would be in sold in post.
DanGrover
10-22-2008, 04:50 PM
I've tried this before, and the only way that I was able to come close was to do so in passes.

Model the inner geometry of the bulb, and just give it a plain white shader... in Max probably something with a high incandescence, but not actually giving off light. Then model the glass, render em out in passes, and do the glow in comp. Of course add lights in the scene to give the impression of it being self illuminated... but the actual glow/effect would be in sold in post.

Thanks very much for the input!
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