Another question. I figure it belongs here. I’m using mental ray for Maya and I have one spotlight emitting photons. I want that same spotlight to use raytrace shadows. The problem is that I can’t change the settings. I want soft shadows but whenever I change the light radius and shadow rays to values other than their defaults the shadows go away completely.
Lighting Challenge #8: Haunted Hallway
mer
#82
Beautiful image and lighting!Did you use Ambient occlution?The chair in the lower part of the image looks perspective distorted ,you could use some ‘spherical’ lens distorsion(slightly fish eye lens shader or do it in post )to improve the ‘straight lines’.
@Meteoro,
The right part of the image looks a little too dark.
@Diabolos
I just love the blood texture!I noticed a minor inconsistency,the last ‘blood footstep’ near the stairs is done by his right foot ,on the first step the ‘footprint’ is done again by the same foot(right one).Of course this is not ‘wrong’ it could be the case of an old man going up the stairs ,‘one step at a time’, it just drew my attention when I first saw it…
The area under the staircase could be a little darker.
@Jeremy,
I think the lighting around the window area is a little too bright,the wall around this area is almost washed out/over exposed IMHO.Do you use a tonemapper or did you just use correct gamma ?
@chickenktsNice idea adding water on the floor,But yeah the stairs are kinda too clean compared to the rest of the image.You could some ‘green mold’ on the walls where they meet the water.
@KahlanAmnell
(for your new entry)
Nice render , although the lighting is a little ‘flat’ and the whole image is kinda dark.
cheers
ashurao
#83
hi all,
I’m new on the forum, and probably my english is not so good.
It’s my first posting on a lighting challenge. I’ll do my best. It’s the way to progress.
I’m using Cinema4D 9.6. In this scene, I’m looking for frightening atmosphere.
I one square paralell spot light, with volumetric and adaptive shadows. One spot light to brighten up the scene.
I’m applyin ambiant occlusion and used Zblur to add grain.
The monster is import from Makehuman.
PDuff
#84
Here’s my first try. Just blocking out the lighting. Everything is just a pure lambert. Still needs a ton of work. Criticism is appreciated. Thanks.
jeremybirn
#86
First, turn off GI until you get your shadows the way you want. Make sure your radius is appropriate for the scene, not too huge, you have raytracing on, you aren’t in a render layer with any special setting and the light is in a good position not getting blocked by any nearby geometry.
-jeremy
Diabolos
#87
Hey, thanks guys for the comments…
- changed wall texture
- added sky texture
- lightened moonlight changed to light blueish
- move blood trail to match up with stairs
nverdon
#89
Hi all. thanks for this new challenge jeremy 
just a little attempt to take part in the challenge.
I’ve seen beautiful pictures, congrats
KahlanAmnell
#90
Nverdon: Great wall texture dude. However i think the overall composition is to dark. Try adding an ambient omni light behind the camera
Blackravensky
#91
Good work everyone, some of these pieces look very promising.
Here is my contribution so far, Im relatively happy with the lighting…but I am not happy with the room. It looks like, well, an empty room. If anyone has any suggestions as to what would add a bit more interest to the scene, im all ears. 
meanlebh
#92
Some really great looking renders are showing up! Congrats everyone.
I decided to try a few different scenarios, so here is my second attempt. Going for a moonlight only scene. It definitely needs quite a bit of work still, but this is what I have for now. Comments/Crits/Suggestions are much appreciated (I have always struggled a bit with moonlit shots). Thanks.
-Brian
[IMG]http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k102/meanleybh/lighting%20challenges/B_Test_Comp-1.jpg[/IMG]
PDuff
#93
Here’s an update. Changed the angle a little bit because I was losing the bump on the floor. Still a few things untextured and I still have to do alot with the ceiling light.
Comments welcome. Thanks.
Meteoro
#94
@jeremy, I like your last update, very good textures imho and I like the glow. Thanks for this challenges btw.
@nverdon: very interesting picture!. I like it very much, good textures. maybe just a little less saturation on the stairs wall could make it better.
Jeremy and meanlebh thanks for your comments. the beams are not from the sun. they are from the moon (moonbeams :-)). I made it softer and more blue.
Here is an update (working with textures right now).
SLarrimer
#95
Hi eveyone! I’m really impressed with everyone’s work here. This is the first lighting challenge I’ve tried to participate in.
So far nothing’s textured, and there’s still some areas where I’m not happy with the lighting. Hopefullly I’ll have some time to work on it next week. Critiques are welcomed.
Leotril
#96
Hi
This shapping up really good … a lot of great entries 
Its cool how u can get into the mood and stuff just like in a movie with fog and everything its cool :twisted: can anyone upload the file for maya 7 plz ? … i think ill give a try on january or something i like that scene a lot…
Later
jeremybirn
#97
KahlanAmnell - Welcome, that’s a good start. The composition right now has the shade of the hanging lamp melding with the archway behind it, to produce something that looks like a pointed-top archway. If you fix that tangency somehow, it’ll improve the scene. Also, it looks as if the shadows aren’t working on the sunlight, and it lights the far corner under the stairwell where it should be dark.
ashurao - Welcome! Maybe you could find ways to make more of the scene interesting, or zoom in on the area of definition? Anyway, keep going with it!
PDuff - Good start. It looks a little too ambient (evenly lit) and could probably use more contrast and definition. I don’t really see any light coming from that lightbulb.
Huv - That’s great! You’ve really given a grand sense of scale to the scene!
Diabolos - Nice background image now, but the moonlight on the floor still looks purple, not cool like the view out the window. The wall texture isn’t up to the high standards you set with that blood trail texture, maybe you should find some reference images for old walls or peeling paint and work from those. Thanks for posting the info about how you made the blood trail!
nverdon - Welcome, good start! The bounce light is a little confusing to me, it seems as if the warmer light in the lower right corner might be bounce light from the sunbeam, but if that’s the case it should be more above the sunbeam. It appears that the lightbulb is turned on, but I don’t see any light from it in the hallway.
Leotril - The obj file imports fine into Maya 7, give it a try!
SLarrimer - Welcome! Keep going with your scene!
Meteoro - Nice. The moonbeam could be made more blue like the sky there, and softer as you said. DO you know what’s making the lightbulb look like that?
meanlebh - Still a nice scene, but it seems as if the light doesn’t decay much over distance. Having really bright highlights right in the foreground edges of the frame seems to flatten things a bit to me. Maybe the hole in the wall doesn’t need to look that deep?
Blackravensky - Welcome! That’s a nice scene! Maybe around that center archway the top of the arch shouldn’t be lit that much brighter than the moonbeam beneath it? Unless that light is coming from somewhere? The composition is almost there, but cropping off half of the lightbulb looks awkward to me, maybe you could tilt up a little and frame the whole lamp?
-jeremy
MooseDog
#99
boy, this IS a challenge
hope my effort is going in the right direction. lightwave render, cc and slight blur in post. rendered out the volumetrics separately so as not to wait several days (j/k!) for a finished render, then added them in post.
jeremybirn
#100
MooseDog - Good start! It looks as if you are getting a lot of contrast from your texture maps, bringing surfaces from light to dark with the dirt, but not as much contrast from the lighting. Maybe the texturing could be made more consistent, bringing texture even into the center of the wall panels, and then more of the scene could be defined with lighting. The foreground left side especially looks like it has some light and hard-edged shadow that aren’t needed.
-jeremy