Line Light Questions

[Bo Atkinson]

Wanted: vector lines made into lights which illuminate s near proximity to vector-line. Below is 2d hacked version, with low resolution and poor quality.
What software provides easy setups with great effects economically, and with some slider-controls to adjust lighting parameters?

I tried formZ's 2d Wall, to make single surfaces, but that was no better.

 

LineLights.fmz

 

Back story~ I bought into Maxwell and have the 2020 version, but its not installed on this 2013 MAC Pro, (OSX  11.7.5 formZ 9.2.4). I never spent more than a couple of days trying to understand Maxwell's UI, so never used it! Too much of a new language for me to memorize.

Besides My work was always more a builder's geometry, with emphasis on real-world building objects, which I preformed myself, spending most of my time off rendering, and more time researching material science and organic A&E.

I need to get into controlled lighting nowadays, starting with simpler slider-type controls, instead of endless manual settings. How many steps does V-Ray  require for this kind of thing?

 

Edited July 20, 2023 by Bo Atkinson

[Bo Atkinson]

This is more whatI'm aiming for with 3d, (2d hack again).

[R2D2]

Hi Bo,

in Vray you can try out just setting an "emissive" material.

I am not doing renderings but for the screenshot this was setup within a minute:

 

Edited July 20, 2023 by R2D2
typo

[Bo Atkinson]

Thanks R2D2, Does that mean that only surfaces with area emit light? Line-objects or segment-objects do not emit light in render?

Can you please verify if extremely narrow objects which look like plain lines will emit? Do Frame Tool objects with tiny radius emit?

Your image shows much wider objects as compared with plain line-like objects..

Do multi-face objects emit? Without splitting into many separated face-objects? (Z's non effective Line Lights require single face objects)

 

[R2D2]

Frame and sweep work (solids); 1cm radius in example.

(Need render resolution set higher then, to prevent jaggy lines)

A segment or line (zero thickness) won't work I think, but Vray 5 may have other gadgets (i.e. Vray Lights)

[Justin Montoya]

Bo-

VRay can do this for sure a couple of ways. 

One, as R2 showed, with emissive materials applied on surface or 3d objects.  You cannot use plain 2D Lines, however, IF you extrude them and give them a tiny thickness they will be a surface that will work.  VRay will not render plain 2D Lines.  

Another way is to take the same extruded line surface and turn it into a VRay Mesh Light.  This can give you a bit more granular control over the light emission if that is desirable.  VRay Mesh lights can also be easily adjusted AFTER rendering using the LightMix feature in VRay.   So if you need it brighter or darker you can adjust it without re-rendering, or at least you can use it to figure out the correct wattage it needs to look right.  Note, this .1 thick surface is the only light in the room.

 

[Bo Atkinson]

Thanks for adding perspectives.

My short term need might not justify the cost... 

Do people use VRay for many modeling sessions? 

I get caught up with geometry much more than with photo realism.
Does it have an indispensable use, for most projects?

The 2d apps (like AffinityPhoto nowadays), are hard to beat for expedient  presentation finishes like word labeling. Three dimensional text placed on geometry is almost not worth it, unless it was for a sponsored video, but text is tricky for that. It demands a developed strategy.

Previous renderers have been a pain and even the tree modeling software proved too tedious to bother with, when I needed them weekly for schematic type models. This was for proposals to get physical jobs, as I never found steady 3d jobs that fit with rural living.

I'm out of that kind of presentation (hustling), and trying other more meditative kinds of presentation, (but this means no pay;)

Not everything digital is worthwhile for every individual, and this thread helps me see if anything missed is yet to be found.

[bbuxton]

Modo can render lines and curves with emissive materials. Modo is primarily a modeller with some interesting modelling paradigms.

If Modo's renderer is too slow you can add Octane which is an affordable subscription (half the price of VRay) which will also render lines and curves in Modo.

Cinema4D also renders lines and curves and is my preferred application for rendering FormZ projects, but the price is not for the faint of heart.

Blender could probably do it too and has a vast array of modelling add-ons that may be interesting.

Additionally, if you are less interested in rendering and it is better to focus purely on modelling, why not reach out for collaboration? Or just use Fiverr.

 

[bbuxton]

Here are your files rendered in Octane for Cinema 4D after exporting as STEP. The files render exactly the same in Modo and Blender, but the process for getting lines to render is a little different in each app. Cinema 4D can import STEP files directly and Modo can import Step with a plugin. There is a STEP importer for Blender too, but it is not very good. The images below use a noisy emissive shader which needs a little adjustment for the line render to compensate for the lack of surface area. I can reproduce this in Maxwell too if it is of any use.

 

 

Edited July 31, 2023 by bbuxton

[Bo Atkinson]

On 7/31/2023 at 12:49 AM, bbuxton said:

Here are your files rendered in Octane for Cinema 4D after exporting as STEP. The files render exactly the same in Modo and Blender, but the process for getting lines to render is a little different in each app. Cinema 4D can import STEP files directly and Modo can import Step with a plugin. There is a STEP importer for Blender too, but it is not very good. The images below use a noisy emissive shader which needs a little adjustment for the line render to compensate for the lack of surface area. I can reproduce this in Maxwell too if it is of any use.

 

Thank you,

That was all informative and I might carry on with some suggestions later. Your exploration of diverse apps and sources appear helpful. Minimalism is  a recurring approach at this point.

Background still has to go in, but hacking away with 2d "after-tweaking" might suffice. This sort of 2d-morphing approach is proving easiest, and will eventually be explained later.

Beside rendering a navigated video needs intermittent geometry changes, if that works out.

My exploration of V-Ray trial license, mostly yesterday, was quite a struggle as described on formZ's V-Ray forum.

[d_b]

Bo,

I know I'm late to your thread, but I just thought I'd share that RenderZone can do a version of the lights you're after.  I've attached a file which shows how I setup a similar light.  This is what I do whenever I need to show an LED strip light in a rendering.  I've found the keys to doing this are: 1) Keep the radius of the light fairly small, 2) Under Intensity, use "Linear Clamped", and 3) The larger the light (length & size, not radius), the higher the brightness level.  In the attached model, I made a matching "tube" that casts no shadows and receives no shadows, to act as the physical light. 

 

Line-Light.fmz

[Bo Atkinson]

Thank you D_B

Your setup allows the wanted transparency too. Admittedly, I lacked for RenderZone example files and here it was, and it rendered quickly.

[d_b]

Glad I was able to help! 

-doyle