Vehicle Volumetric Lights

[ddustin]

Here are 3 images of a crash case we are working on.

It is supposed to be a night scene.

 

We use volumetric lights on the vehicles because it helps indicate the lights are shining.

 

There are also non-volumetric lights to illuminate the road.

 

My question is:

How do you eliminate the banding visible at the point of emission?

 

From the head on view (bottom picture) it looks great. (head-on, bad pun )

 

We are using Volumetrics with Z buffered shadows for render considerations.

 

There was another thread where someone recommended using geometry with transparency and roughness to simulate this type of thing.

 

Any thoughts?

 

Thanks in advance for any advice.

 

David

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[MMZ_TimeLord]

Two things I can think of David...

 

1. Are the volumetric lights the same size as the headlights involved?

 

2. Are the volumetric lights in the same position as the heatdlights on the model? (or are they out in front of them?)

 

My limited experience with volumetric lights shows that (like my flashlight in my TAoA:M exercise here) if you make the light the same size as the modeled source and place it just behind the lens or just in front of it, it should look fine.

 

Here's the flashlight model I used with the lights attached.

 

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Flashlight_w_Lighting.zip

[ddustin]

Two things I can think of David...

 

1. Are the volumetric lights the same size as the headlights involved?

 

2. Are the volumetric lights in the same position as the heatdlights on the model? (or are they out in front of them?)

 

My limited experience with volumetric lights shows that (like my flashlight in my TAoA:M exercise here) if you make the light the same size as the modeled source and place it just behind the lens or just in front of it, it should look fine.

 

Here's the flashlight model I used with the lights attached.

 

[attachmentid=20664]

Jody,

Thanks for the response.

1. No they were not the same size, but that has been rectified.

2. They are constrained together.

 

I'll check out the model.

David

[trajcedrv]

You should check quality setting of the volumetric light... better quality -> less bending - > longer renders...

[ddustin]

Jody,

Both my lights are kliegs and have been added in the chor instead of bones added to the model.

As far as I know it doesn't matter if they are added in the chor.

 

The volumetric light has the intensity turned way down so you can just see it.

 

Making sure they were the same size helped a little but the banding is still there.

 

The co-joined lights are positions right in front of the glass lens of the headlights.

 

Any other thoughts?

David

 

You should check quality setting of the volumetric light... better quality -> less bending - > longer renders...

 

Quality fixed it THANKS.

 

Quality was at 200%, increased it to 500% and it's good.

 

David

[jpappas]

Hi,

 

I saw this banding on a recent animation I did. But here's the thing, yes, there is a Quality setting if you create a Light and turn Volumetric on. But if you just create a new Volumetric Effect (instead of a Light), like Volumetric Dust, Mist or Steam, the banding is pretty bad and there is no Quality setting. I wasn't sure before, but now I'm thinking this is a bug. Can anyone verify this? If so, I'd be willing to file a bug report.

 

The picture shows the properties for both a Volumetric Effect and a Light with Volumetric turned on.

 

-Jim

[jpappas]

Well, I did create a bug report for this, I'm pretty sure it's a bug as the Help system says there should be a Quality setting on these Volumetric Effects, just like Lights have.

 

-Jim

[Kamikaze]

Jim,

 

Thanks for reporting this, I'd been scratching my head on this one for some time, that's as far as I took it those, scratching that is...

 

Mike

[Dhar]

I never thought of using Kliegs, I simply used Rim lights in this:

 

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