CompuServe Thread

#Replicating Light Conds.

6 messages in this thread
#76015From: James LockJan 13, 1994 10:12 AM
We are often called upon to produce an animation of an outdoor scene, a road or highway, where one question is – what did it look like to the drivers and witnesses? I am trying to determine the best way to replicate the ambiant light conditions. I can place the spot at the approximate angle of the sun but that is not really a great way to do things as there is no exact duplication of intensity, … I am looking for information that will help with this. So far I have not found anything that I can use. So… I am asking for help. Does anyone have a technique for this or is there some reference material source I could obtain? James L.
#76076From: Gus GrubbaJan 13, 1994 2:33 PM
The way to do this would be using a photometer and gather values in lux (using a diffuse filter). Later, you could develop a scale that allows some sort of conversion into 3D Studio's light values. This is an interesting project. Maybe John K Jordan could "jump in" and give his ideas (where is the mad scientist when we need one!).
#76106From: James LockJan 13, 1994 4:30 PM
Gus, That may be a good start. Most of the time we are trying to reproduce the conditions from several years back. We often have photographs to work from as well as NOAA information on sunrise, temperature/dewpoint… But I am not satisfied we are doing things as wellas possible. The problem is, I am not sure HOW to do things the best way. I am hoping this thread will generate some interest and some good positive and negative feedback. JL
#76145From: John K. JordanJan 13, 1994 7:40 PM
>>photometers, luxes, filters… As conditioned as I am to "jumping in" whether I know anything or not <G>, I have no idea what's going on here. (The previous message must have been a casualty of my recently developed read, slash, & burn policy for crisis management.) JKJ PS: there are some real mad scientists here – funding has evaporated for some major nuclear reactor work. They should have learned software, instead. <g>
#76196From: Gus GrubbaJan 13, 1994 10:57 PM
Hey John, this is the message that started it all: ———————————————————————- ——– We are often called upon to produce an animation of an outdoor scene, a road or highway, where one question is – what did it look like to the drivers and witnesses? I am trying to determine the best way to replicate the ambiant light conditions. I can place the spot at the approximate angle of the sun but that is not really a great way to do things as there is no exact duplication of intensity, … I am looking for information that will help with this. So far I have not found anything that I can use. So… I am asking for help. Does anyone have a technique for this or is there some reference material source I could obtain? James L.
#76386From: John K. JordanJan 14, 1994 7:30 PM
>>reproducing lighting… Generous Gus, thanks for taking the time to retrieve and repost that. That does sound interesting. My first thought is it seems impossibly rich with variables (atmospheric conditions, diffusion due to cloud cover etc.) One problem would be how to balance the ratio of ambient to other lighting (sun, etc.) in 3DS. But how could you go back to the scene later and duplicate what the conditions were that day? If you could, then your light meter would make this doable. It seems one could calibrate the 3DS lighting/gamma values to a set of scanned photos easily enough. Then if a photo of the scene at the time of the incident existed, it could be analyzed and 3DS could be adjusted to match (that view). But the variables!, even the photographic ones. One could immediately use your most excellent SUNPATH IPAS to place the sun exactly at the time of day. Besides that, my poor brain is stuck in low orbit. PS: you'd better get SENSATIONAL_SOLAR_SYSTEM.PXP ready in case NASA calls and wants to re-enact that mars probe thing from the driver's and witness' viewpoints. <g>