Softbox lighthing (as close as reality)

#1

Hey guys,

I’m trying to recreate some jewelry photography ligthing setup in Maxwell render and I don’t know how to make a softbox shader…

I’ve learned that most spotlights and dishes in jewelry setups are aimed at a sheet of translucent mylar between the light source and the subject so the reflection on the object goes from 100% to 0% with a smooth gradient.

Regular softboxes use some white translucent fabric material to diffuse the light.

Here’s some examples
http://gemphotography.com/
http://www.akelstudio.com/blog/jewelry-photography-3-lighting-setups-for-your-inspiration/
http://www.tabletopstudio.com/documents/jewelry_photography.htm

I know that some people use HDRI files from real studio lighthing but it’s not always possible to do it like that. Do I need to make a single sided SSS material or is it possible to do it only with opacity ?

I know it’s faster to just use 2d planes with some gradients on it, but I’m aiming for imperfections in my reflections.

I’ve seen that Modo got this cool kit
http://www.luxology.com/store/SLIK/

But I need an unbiased and physically correct renderer like Maxwell for diamonds and other complex materials.

I’ve also heard that diamond photographers use special led lights because it makes more “fire” (diffraction and colors) in the diamond itself. Is that because the light is perfectly white ? Or is it because led doesn’t emmit on the same wavelenght ?

#2

I don’t know if you’ve looked at HDRs taken of individual photography lights like can be found part way down the page here: http://www.hdrlabs.com/sibl/archive.html but I’ve used them before and they’re pretty handy.

To light a softbox like physically, you’re probably going to have to look into the translucency of the material. No point doing SSS in a material that doesn’t really have thickness.

I’d imagine photographers would use LED lights because you can get lots of small bright sources and thus more reflections and refractions bouncing around your gems.

Why does the renderer need to be un-biased? VRay, for instance, can handle dispersion quite capably. Maxwell will work well for sure, but it takes so long to render and there isn’t really anything to tweak to speed it up.

#3

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