PLUGINS PAGE

What is Global illumination

Global Illumination is a technique to render a scene so that all objects receive a light from every angle. This is used to show extra detail in models that normal light setups cannot show.

Requirements

PlaceOnPoints plugin

Tutorial

Note, clicking on thumbnails will enlarge the image to a full screen preview. (Shift-Click to open in new window)

1.

With PlaceOnPoints you can simulate global illumination thanks to the nature of PlaceOnPoints. PlaceOnPoints clones one object (which includes lights) onto the points of another object.
This tutorial will use a nendo model that was created by the nice folks at www.ggaliens.com

2.
First is to create a large sphere that will cover the entire scene. Also add a floor object and place you objects just above it. Note I have changed colour of the Sphere (SkyDome) to blue, this is not important

3.

Add a normal LightObject and a PlaceOnPoints object to the scene, and add the SkyDome and Light to the PlaceOnPoints object.

4.

The Light object will now have been cloned across the entire SkyDome points. This has caused a problem... there is way to many light and a render will be just pure white. We have to lower the amount of segments of the SkyDome so render times don't hit the roof.

5.

10 segments is a nice number, but there are still a problem. The lights are not spaced out evenly, althought this does not matter, I would like to evenly space out the lights, changing the Type of the sphere to Hexahedron will give a good result.

6.

We don't need to see the SkyDome in our final render so we can hide it. On the SkyDome object (Not the PlaceOnPoints or Light object!) click the dots to hide the object in viewport and render view.

7.

Now click render and take a peek at the results. It turned out all white didn't it? Well it's because each light intensity is way to high for the amount of lights. In our example a total of 56 lights (the number of points on the SkyDome) are being rendered at 100% intensity.

The next part requires experimenting and changes per scene. Change the Light intensity to a low number like 5% and hit render.

The result will probably look 'foggy'

8.

The foggy appearance happens because the lights are not casting any shadows. Changing the Light to cast Hard shadows brings best results but produces shadow artifacts on the floor - and in some areas on the actual model

9.

Change the light to cast soft shadows. This produces a good result with low render times, but the object might not be bright enough. Change your light intensity to find a brightness you like. The model looks flat, this is because the resolution of the shadow is not high enough

10.

Set the Shadow Map resolution to 500x500 or 750x750. I have also applied a nice blue material to the floor and after some more experimenting I lowered the intensity of the light to 5%

11.

We don't need to bottom half of the lights because they are under the floor so we will delete the bottom half of the SkyDome. At this point I noticed the SkyDome had too little points, so I increased the segments to 12 then I made the SkyDome editable and deleted all the points below the floor.

12.

And this is the result after increasing the shadow map to 750x750. As you can see, the model is highlighted nicely from all angles and rendered at a decent speed - under 2 minutes.

Conclusion

This shows you how flexible simulating Global Illumination is with PlaceOnPoints. At any time you can change light properties and all the clones will match. At any time you can size the SkyDome or even change shape and all the light will reflect the changes.

If you render any images with this technique, be sure to send me them so I can see! :)

Email: iangorse@blueyonder.co.uk

What is Global illumination
Global Illumination is a technique to render a scene so that all objects receive a light from every angle. This is used to show extra detail in models that normal light setups cannot show.
Requirements
PlaceOnPoints plugin
Tutorial
Note, clicking on thumbnails will enlarge the image to a full screen preview. (Shift-Click to open in new window)
1. With PlaceOnPoints you can simulate global illumination thanks to the nature of PlaceOnPoints. PlaceOnPoints clones one object (which includes lights) onto the points of another object. This tutorial will use a nendo model that was created by the nice folks at www.ggaliens.com
2. First is to create a large sphere that will cover the entire scene. Also add a floor object and place you objects just above it. Note I have changed colour of the Sphere (SkyDome) to blue, this is not important
3. Add a normal LightObject and a PlaceOnPoints object to the scene, and add the SkyDome and Light to the PlaceOnPoints object.
4. The Light object will now have been cloned across the entire SkyDome points. This has caused a problem... there is way to many light and a render will be just pure white. We have to lower the amount of segments of the SkyDome so render times don't hit the roof.
5. 10 segments is a nice number, but there are still a problem. The lights are not spaced out evenly, althought this does not matter, I would like to evenly space out the lights, changing the Type of the sphere to Hexahedron will give a good result.
6. We don't need to see the SkyDome in our final render so we can hide it. On the SkyDome object (Not the PlaceOnPoints or Light object!) click the dots to hide the object in viewport and render view.
7. Now click render and take a peek at the results. It turned out all white didn't it? Well it's because each light intensity is way to high for the amount of lights. In our example a total of 56 lights (the number of points on the SkyDome) are being rendered at 100% intensity. The next part requires experimenting and changes per scene. Change the Light intensity to a low number like 5% and hit render. The result will probably look 'foggy'
8. The foggy appearance happens because the lights are not casting any shadows. Changing the Light to cast Hard shadows brings best results but produces shadow artifacts on the floor - and in some areas on the actual model
9. Change the light to cast soft shadows. This produces a good result with low render times, but the object might not be bright enough. Change your light intensity to find a brightness you like. The model looks flat, this is because the resolution of the shadow is not high enough
10. Set the Shadow Map resolution to 500x500 or 750x750. I have also applied a nice blue material to the floor and after some more experimenting I lowered the intensity of the light to 5%
11. We don't need to bottom half of the lights because they are under the floor so we will delete the bottom half of the SkyDome. At this point I noticed the SkyDome had too little points, so I increased the segments to 12 then I made the SkyDome editable and deleted all the points below the floor.
12. And this is the result after increasing the shadow map to 750x750. As you can see, the model is highlighted nicely from all angles and rendered at a decent speed - under 2 minutes.
Conclusion
This shows you how flexible simulating Global Illumination is with PlaceOnPoints. At any time you can change light properties and all the clones will match. At any time you can size the SkyDome or even change shape and all the light will reflect the changes. If you render any images with this technique, be sure to send me them so I can see! :)