lighting and/or settings help

[cholme@me.com]

I have been using Indigo for a few years now and love it. There is one constant issue I can't seem to solve. Ever render seems to be dark and grainy, regardless of my lights and camera settings. I have a 10' x 10' room set up with black background I put several light sources with a lumen setting of 3000 each. In the real world this should be enough light to illuminate the scene for either 100 or 400 ISO... but my scene seems dark and comes out grainy.

Can't seem to upload the SketchUp file.

Any ideas?

[Zom-B]

Hey Chris,

start a render and save that scene as PIGS so we get all the needed resources for that scene like meshes and textures

The Sektchup file would be also great since Skindigo wizards can check it out easier then only the Indigo export...

Also think about upgrading to Indigo 3.8, since you seem still to work with an ancient sketchup exporter 3.6.28.3

[cholme@me.com]

The PIGS file is too large for me to post, it keeps freezing.

[Zom-B]

The PIGS file is too large for me to post, it keeps freezing.

So use some filehoster

[cholme@me.com]

Good idea. Here they are:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/raya858u307o ... VA6Ua?dl=0

[cholme@me.com]

Also think about upgrading to Indigo 3.8, since you seem still to work with an ancient sketchup exporter 3.6.28.3

I think I am actually only a little behind. The SU exporter currently on the site is 3.6.28.4... they are separate versions Indigo Renderer and the Exporters.

Or am I missing something?

[bubs]

We tend to use the latest beta versions (which is what Zom-b is referring to) they are really very stable at the minutes with very little ( if any) bugs for most things. If you're having issues with something in particular with the betas post about it in the relevant thread on here and the devs will fix it pronto!
The latest skindigo in here http://www.indigorenderer.com/forum/vie ... 17&t=13333
The latest indigo is here http://www.indigorenderer.com/forum/vie ... =1&t=13352
You should see some pretty good improvements...

[bubs]

Had a quick look at your scene and I have a few suggestions;
1. Don't use materials with a brightness greater than 80 (your enclosing box is currently at 100)
2. The wood materials should be phong to look more realistic
3. The wood textures are a little low res, try to get some higher res - check cgtextures etc...
4. I know ISO 400 is still OK but raising the ISO will add grain, just as in a real camera. Try using the EV adjust, or changing the F stop to a smaller number to brighten the scene.
5. (This is the main one from this scene) Your lighting setup is WAY over complicated for this! you have actual modeled bulbs inside conical reflectors, none of which you ever see... I would definitely opt for one of the following for lighting;
A. Simple flat planes with emitter material (try putting each light on a separate layer for better control)
B. As above but use an .ies file to define the shape to the light emitted. watch this tutorial if you don't know how to use / find these https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyiPtWeoTKU
C. Delete your surrounding box (except the ground plane) and use an environment map. You can get plenty of studio lighting examples if you google "studio lighting hdri", and as it is only for lighting and not visible, they wouldn't even need to be high res.

Hope this helps!

[Oscar J]

4. I know ISO 400 is still OK but raising the ISO will add grain, just as in a real camera.

Really? Why am I always the last to know.?

[Headroom]

4. I know ISO 400 is still OK but raising the ISO will add grain, just as in a real camera.

Really? Why am I always the last to know.?

You aren't. I did not know that either!

[Zom-B]

4. I know ISO 400 is still OK but raising the ISO will add grain, just as in a real camera.

Really? Why am I always the last to know.?

You aren't. I did not know that either!

No no no noooooooo: Not true!
Its only (!!!) a tonemapping value that doesn't interfere with rendering at all!!

[bubs]

Ok... Sorry...just assumed it would...

[pixie]

Ok... Sorry...just assumed it would...

Well, it at least should, even if by faking noise, otherwise we don't have a real camera do we?

[cholme@me.com]

No no no noooooooo: Not true!
Its only (!!!) a tonemapping value that doesn't interfere with rendering at all!!

So where is the grain coming from, if not the ISO? and how do I reduce it?

bubs:

Thanks for all the input, I will play around with my lights... I know they are over-complicated.

I have some of the Arroway textures but haven't played with them much... don't quite get the bump and reflective maps yet.

[cholme@me.com]

bubs:

When you say not to use a brightness of more than 80... where is that controlled? I think I am missing it.