Corona clean lighting

[Gabiru]

Hello, ive been using corona for like 1 month. Ive been loving it, altohugh my boss loves clean lighting renders where there is no sun but just light, the problem is that i cant reach the result that he wants to, ive tried severous hdris, only sky map (without sun), sun, daylight system, etc,.. but i cant find how to do it.
how to do such a lighting like this? there is no sun and the scene has much lighting


heres another reference of the result that i want to achieve.


hope you can help me, nice renders for everyone :)

[TomG]

Can you share an example of what you ARE getting? That would give people an idea on things to change that would help. Thanks!

[Gabiru]

this is a preview of a project that we are working on, its to yellowish i know

[maru]

That could be easily a matter of post-processing. Have you tried tweaking the VFB post settings, such as contrast, highlight compression, and others?

[Gabiru]

ive tried it but never reached that realistic point, i dont know what else to do :/

[Gabiru]

my boss often says "i want sunlight not sun rays" i assume that she wants corona sky map only and not the actual sun, altough sometimes i dont have enough light on the scene it ends to dark in some spots, and not much variation.

[Designerman77]

Hey Gabiru,

I remember that this type of lighting gave me sleepless nights at the beginning until I realized that in most cases it is simply brute-force post in PS, Lightroom, etc.

If you look at photos... you will almost never see such "idealistic" lighting.
As ligt travels in a room, it will always decrease... significantly.

So, don't make yourself crazy trying to achieve the perfect look in 3D.
With photography its the same. Your Raws mostly look dull, grayish, etc. But then comes post... and ahaaa... wonders happen. :)


However, one can get close to this look by pumping up exposure, so you flood the room with light, use a bit of highlight compression and filmic highlights on a relatively high amount (0.5+) .
Cranking up compression reduces your dynamic range a lot... not nice... images get flat then. Use it as minimal as possible and better push up the filmic.


Hoping it is helpful.

[mferster]

I am fairly confident that they are also using large flat planar flood lights outside the windows flooding light into the scene and not relying on exclusively on an hdri or sunless skydome to achieve this look.

Then it's just a matter tonemapping and/or luts.

[Gabiru]

here is another example that my boss likes, yea i kinda believe that to achieve this result i have to work around with plane lights instead real lighting, but im not sure if thats correct

[cgbeast]

Add corona rect lights in the windows...see if that works.  Or find a overcast hdri that gives you some decent ambient lighting.

[Designerman77]

Artificial lights in front of windows is a NO NO... I once read in a Corona forum. :))))
On the other side... photographers sometimes use this technique in reality, too.
However, I don't like to fake light like that. Maybe some reflection "boards" in the room here and there help.

Also be aware that the angle of your HDR sun plays a big role.
To steep... only super bright at the windows. Too flat... long shadows are projected on your walls.
HDR sun angle from 35 - 50 degrees is nice and fills your rooms with light.

[TomG]

Well, an HDRI or Sky is easier to sample than individual light sources, as lots of clever things can be done to speed that up. And in this case, I believe the desired lighting can be achieved by using an HDRI or Sky, so that would be the optimal way to go.

Placing lights in windows where there is no environment lighting (sky or HDRI) and where portals aren't used shouldn't be any harder to sample than any other light sources in the scene (but not as fast as env lighting), so if you need the result for artistic decision and you are ok with slower render times, then go ahead - combining that *with* portals or env lighting as well is likely to slow things down more though, and that is the real no-no.

[Gabiru]

well i see that a good discussion is going on, and with a lot of different opinions and techniques, i admit that im even more confused at this moment ahahah :)

[JViz]

it's fairly simple. whether you use plane lights on the windows or a coronasky in the environement slot, you will get more or less similar results, planar lights might give you more control but in my opinion, they add a level of complexity you are better off without.

go physical as often as you can. meaning use what the world uses. use a coronasky map not planar lights. next, add a colorcorrection on top and desaturate it until you get that white and clean light you want.

now expose your scene to the correct level. compress the highlights (reasonably), 2 as a maximum. adjust your exposure again. don't worry about the dark areas that might be in the scene.

save that image as tiff 16bit. then use cameraraw to add contrast, lift the shadows and reduce the blacks, reduce the highlights and increase the whites. those are the rule of thumb but you can change them as you want.

there are other methods but this one is the simplest- to an extent.

[JViz]

if you send me your scene I can set it up for you in a recipe that almost never fails. for that look at least. I would be glad to help