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Hello:
I'm experimenting with Revit's various light source options. I have made a simple model of an office that contains a couple of light families. These families employ the "point+spherical" light source definition.
In the attached sample rendering, the lamps cast very sharp shadows on the surfaces of the room. How can I soften those edges?
In the render dialog box, have you copied one of the default "low/medium/better" rendering settings to Custom, and then tweaked the settings? Try it. There is a setting in there for Soft Shawdows, and that might help you out.
Those angles are type parameters of the lighting fixture, when the light source in the family is set to "Point+Spot". Then, in the project, in the view where you want to adjust these angles, go to Visibility Graphics, and under Lighting Fixtures, activate Light Source. See illustration.Quote:
Originally Posted by Munkholm
Thanks Alfredo, should have been more specific :-)
What i meant is, anyone have experience with the ratio between "Field Angle" and the "Beam Angle"
Latest 3 test from above message=
"Field Angle - 90" and the "Beam Angle - 90" = HARD shadows on wall
"Field Angle - 160" and the "Beam Angle - 80" = SOFT shadows on wall
"Field Angle - 160" and the "Beam Angle - 160" = HARD shadows on wall
In all 3 cases, there is a hard octagon shaped spot on the floor...
I think getting soft shadows has more to do with Exposure control settings than the light source angles, but it helps, as you found, that the field angle is wide. I made some tests with the second set of settings you recommended: "Field Angle - 160" and the "Beam Angle - 80" = SOFT shadows on wall", but I also dimmed the light to a 0.5 , and made some changes in the Exposure control settings. Attached is the result; and the settings.
About the octagon on the floor, did you try with a different light fixture? For this test, I used "M_Downlight - Spot - 90 Degree Tilt - 277V".
The "M_Downlight - Spot" family is build with the light source beeing outside the shade... seems to work, just like the initial tests i ran, without a shade... but, where I come from, most light fixtures have the bulp inside a shade, and most certainly not hanging out of the shade :shock:
The conclusion so far, must be to "cheat" and leave the bulp (light source) outside of the fixture, so octagon spots and hard shadows are avoided - And play around with the field and beam angle, until you´re satisfied ;-)
Will that do for an answer fred.3541 ? :beer:
Munkholm:
Thanks very much for your analysis.
I think we can all agree that Autodesk needs to improve Revit's lighting family parameters, setup and rendered output. There's simply too much trial and error involved in achieving the desired results. This frustrates users on tight deadlines.
Also, why not simplify "exposure control"? Users should be able to save EC settings as a style or template that can be applied to multiple views. Currently, this must be done manually.
To soften the light, make the source wider instead of a point source, try a 2"x2" rectangle. Also, make sure you have lots of indirect lighting bounces in your custom rendering settings.