All Rim Lights NOT created equal...

[Kelley]

I'm trying to make headlights on a truck using two Rim lights. However, to work, they need to be Volumetric lights so I can see the projected light cones. From the moment I turned on 'Volumetric', they were out of sync. I cannot get the light on the left [our left] to throw a beam as far as the right. Last night the left looked more like a yellow plastic cone and the right had dark banding in it. Both are more well-behaved this morning. I'm looking for something like the light on the wall [streetlight] which, in itself, is was an adventure of chasing numbers. Seems even the size and shape of the Rim light has a huge difference on how the light projects.

 

Is Volumetric lighting an effect generated on-the-fly? Is there a 'seed number' involved. If so, and I get a light that I like, can I 'Bake All Actions' to fix it in place? Can it be then saved and re-used?

[frosteternal]

It looks like the shorter one may be partially occluded, thus creating a shadow in the beam. I can't say for sure with the image. Make sure that the lights are exactly lined up with what you wish to align them to (check the coordinates)

You may also want to change the contrast, unless they are in really heavy fog, those light cones wouldn't be nearly so clear. If you want to get the effect of the light "blowing out" the exposure around the headlights, add some glow/flare along with more subtle volumetrics. Also, you may have more control if you use separate no diffuse/no spec lights just for the volumetrics, or just for the flare.

Bake all actions will not have any bearing on this situation.

Nice model, by the way.

[KenH]

If you change all the settings in the master rim light, then they'll have to be the same. No?

[Kelley]

If you change all the settings in the master rim light, then they'll have to be the same. No?

'The Master Rim Light'? I'm assuming you mean the one in the Objects folder? Here's two shots at it. I set the values in the Objects and then pulled them into the Choreography. In the first, the Rim lights and the headlights overlap in order to get rid of the dead space between the model's headlight and the beginning of the light cone. In the second, I re-sized the Rim lights so they did not overlap at all. In the last we get to see the the full effect of 'Volumetric Light Hell". Not only do the truck lights not match, but the light from a motorcycle [the MC is turned off] which has always been a soft volumetric, has erupted in 'full glare/burnout' and another overhead light, which I do not recall being volumetric, has become so. [in this shot, it's cropped out at the far left] I'm probably mis-remembering, but I include it to show how the lights can differ from each other, and change from one day to the next. Not always, but often.

 

Is it possible, by 'Baking All Actions', to fix the value on a light and re-use it?

[frosteternal]

Is it possible, by 'Baking All Actions', to fix the value on a light and re-use it?

 

Use Keyframe Copy/Paste on the lights to make the values the same. Make sure you do not key the position/orientation (turn them off in the keying option lower left part of screen) Also, make sure the "A" (animation mode button) is turned "Off" This will make the values constant.

Baking the actions is not relevant to this situation, but if you have settings apparently changing (like the motorcycle light etc) perhaps there are keys set for them by mistake. Use the timeline to check for this.

Good luck!

[KenH]

This is something I'd like to experiment with. Any chance you can delete all the objects/images in the project and save as the project (after embedding all) and then post it here?

[Kelley]

This is something I'd like to experiment with. Any chance you can delete all the objects/images in the project and save as the project (after embedding all) and then post it here?

I take this to mean that I'll be deleting the models, and their textures, and just sending on the lights themselves as they stand?

[mtpeak2]

Drag and drop the camera and lights from your chor into a new chor and save the new chor as a file, no project needed.

[Kelley]

This should do it. Thanks.

THE_CORNER_STRIPPED.prj

[KenH]

Kelley, the width of the rim light in the objects folder (which is why the project was needed) is about 1600cm! Five cm is the default. That either tells me that the scale of your models are huge (which could account for slowness?) or you might be changing the settings in the light instances.....which could be why they're not matching.

Anyway, here's what I get from dragging in two instances and adjusting the settings in the "main rim light". The volumetrics was already set to ON by you.

[Ganthofer]

I didn't see you mention anywhere if you were using multipass. I notice that when using multi pass, with the light as part of a model, it shifts the light from where you center it in the modeling window (appears to be affected by the width setting). Haven't done any further investigation at the moment. Just a thought.

[heyvern]

Make certain you don't have "stray keys" on one of the shortcuts in the chor. I've done that a bunch of times. Thought two things were identical... there was a keyed value off somewhere or on frame zero. Wild guess.

 

-vern

[Kelley]

Thanks Ken. That did it. I have no idea how those numbers got there. I didn't know you even could set values for lights in the Objects. And 'Width' was set at 600+ on my laptop. No wonder things were acting different.