Jump to content
AutoDesSys

Best way to create a backlit logo


mjlarson21

Recommended Posts

With render zone if you can select the back face of object & use derive face tool to create face(s). Make faces into an area light. Check glow & use glow light options for effect your want. You will have to experiment with controls to get what you want. Check manual on are lights

Attached file may help.

Personally I would do it in photoshop using an alpha channel around isolated object or copy.

 

 

 

Glow.fmz.zip

Link to comment
Share on other sites

And if you're using Maxwell, you can duplicate the back faces making sure the normals are pointing towards the wall and apply an emitter material.

I recently uploaded something similar here (the signage sign). The great thing about using multi light in Maxwell is you can change the strength of the light after the render is done.

 

Des

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I wish that FormZ Renderzone would have emitter lights. Maxwell's emitters can be used in any glowing surface needs.

Renderzone's area lights do not work great if logo is complex and curved. Material's properties reflection glow option just makes the object/surface brighter and do not emit light to close by surfaces.

 

I use illustrator to make 2 vector logos; one larger which is placed behind the main logo and then apply glow and various types of lights depending on the logo used.

Emitter light option would solve this rendering challenge.

 

Kimmo

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Kimmo,

 

If you want to increase the brightness of an Area Light, increase the light, not the Glow.  Or if you need the area light to more closely follow a complex shape, increase the Quality.

 

They are not the fastest rendering light types, but they should work well if you use the right settings...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The new Thea render plugin does emitters and is very fast!  Basically an emitter is a material with light properties.  So any object or face that you color with that material will be an emitter light.  In the case of 3d logos, you can just select the back faces of the 3d logos and apply the emitter texture.  

 

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Justin, you've been around FormZ a long time. How do you think the new Thea plugin compares to the Maxwell solution.  I spend too much time on the Maxwell side trying to get the result I need, and when I tried Thea with Sketchup, I was very impressed.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

mjlarson21,

 

If render speed is a an issue, and you don't have Thea, using a transparency map is the way to go.  While this is technically a 6.7 file, this is how I still do backlighting for logos.

 

When I first started out of school about 16 years ago, our computers sucked and we had to learn to fake a lot of effects.  This is one of the effects I still use today.

 

This is also why I need to check out Thea.  One of the many things on my to-do list. :)

 

-db

Backlight.zip

post-11846-0-25391300-1467213445_thumb.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Justin, you've been around FormZ a long time. How do you think the new Thea plugin compares to the Maxwell solution.  I spend too much time on the Maxwell side trying to get the result I need, and when I tried Thea with Sketchup, I was very impressed.  

 

 

Hi Andrew-

 

I like that the Thea plugin is FAST (CPU + GPU) and is much easier to setup and get quality renders using it's mostly default settings.  It still has more settings than I will likely ever understand, and it is even more an issue with Maxwell as well.  I wish they had a 'simple' mode that would do many changes to quickly develop a rendering style that works for the project.  Something in the vein of Keyshot, but that could be further expanded into the options if need be.  Not everyone is going to be a camera geek who understands all of that technical jargon they use to label the various settings.  Actually, Vray sort of has this, and once it get's further developed, may be the easiest to setup, next to RenderZone which should be praised for it's simplicity.  If it had emitters, progressive rendering, and GPU acceleration, it would still be a player in the future.

 

I think it's important to remember who the end user really is here.  Personally, I'm a Designer, a creative with a lot of computer hardware experience.  I like to draw, and sculpt in 3d.  I'm not a Photographer.  I don't want to spend weeks trying to learn about cameras lenses and light refraction.  It's not part of my job.  I don't want to reinvent the rendering wheel.   I want to use proven techniques that are fast to implement.  Either by using 'simpler' settings, or by using some default scenes that could be loaded and integrated.  I just need to be able to show my concept designs accurately enough to sell them.  100% realism is not the goal here.  I'll likely never render to level that I 'trick' my audience into thinking it's a photograph from real life.  That said, I do need to be able to show modern textures and lighting techniques.  LEDs are everywhere, and being able to represent them with simple emitter lights is extremely important for speed in day to day workflow.  Sure, alpha channels can fake it fine, but they are much slower to create and set up than just using proper emitters which are also more accurate.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Maxwell Backlight:

 

1. Make a copy of the rear faces of the logo (Derive Face Tool), and move them slightly toward the wall so they don't intersect with the solid logo. (Alternately, you can just Unstich the faces from the logo instead.)

2. Assign the faces an Auto-translated Emitter Material (default emitter settings are fine, but I changed the output to "Luminance" so all the letterforms would appear the same intensity, regardless of surface area.)

3. Click render :) Adjust the exposure to suit while Maxwell renders.

 

The only "optimization" I made was to set the logo and wall materials to "Matte." I used the same pixel dimensions as Anton's test above (800x535).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...