Lighting rigs made with VR and photography in mind
Showcased in epiTemplateLite, a scene/tool optimized for Creators, with an interface for VR and desktop, and a selection of multiple performance/quality levels. epiTemplateLite is aimed at creators so that they can quickly incorporate this system into their scenes, giving them control of the lighting rigs on the desktop, or with a tablet in their VR hand.
What this package is
- These are multiple lighting rigs for different performance levels.
- They are designed to light the subject model in 360 degrees so that you can walk around in room scale.
- They are designed to be color neutral.
How to install
- Place the included var file in your AddonPackages folder under VAM.
How to use
- Add empty SubScene atom at the subject models feet (for the default scene, x=0, y=0, z=0).
- Load one of these.
- Because the design is in 360-degrees, you can simply rotate a rig to get a different aesthetic.
- The "4SpotsWide" preset covers a wide area and should work with most scenes out-of-the-box. If you want to use a smaller number of lights and forgo the environment to improve performance, link the epiLight SubScene's position to the main character's chestControl. That way, even if she walks an infinite distance and you only use 2-3 spotlights, she will be well-lit 360 degrees. A demo scene with this method is included.
This pairs well with epiGI
There are head, chest, and abdomen versions of the main lighting rigs for ease of use.
- All 10 setups have corresponding "chest" versions. Place it on the chest (around 1400 Y position), lock it's position to the chest and it just works.
- All 10 setups have corresponding "head" versions. Place it on the head (around 1730 Y position), lock it's position to the chest and it just works.
- All 10 setups have corresponding "abdomen" versions. Place it on the abdomen (around 1130 Y position), lock it's position to the chest and it just works.
Because these lighting rigs are neutral, they are similar to using flat listening monitors in a recording studio. You can tweak details like the final skin color tone better with these. You can add color to the lights after you're done editing the look. For example, you could pick opposing lights, make the weak one a bit more teal, and the brighter one a bit more orange, to give the scene some color contrast.
You lock the position (not rotation) of these lighting rig subscenes to the character, she's properly lit all the time. If you want the best performance, you turn off the room and the floor, add a slate atom for physics but hide the material, and you only have a female character on screen.
360 degrees lighting for room scale VR
Credits
MeshedVR for the original 3-point lighting rig for VAM and the hair used in the demo scene.
KittyMocap for the animation in the walking demo scene.
Everlaster for the Lumination plugin which makes editing lighting rigs so much easier.
NoStage for the hair in the demo scenes.
License
The animation by KittyMocap in the walking demo scene is CC BY-NC-SA. That is why the package also is CC BY-NC-SA. If you're a Patreon creator, you can still use my lighting rigs (CC BY-SA).
Demo Videos
The first video uses 4 points wide (the new rig). The lights are fixed in place thus the environment doesn't get a variable amount of light depending on where she is, the prop shadows do not move when she moves. But this requires more GPU power. It's a new light rig designed for those who create videos with VaM and need to light everything in a wider area.
The second video uses only 2 spotlights that follow her chest position. It runs fast and still lights her in 360 degrees. It's designed for those who use VaM in VR and need the best performance. It's best to use it in an empty room which also improves performance anyway.
The rest of the lighting rigs fall between these two. If I use 4 lights, I dim the exposure. If I use 2 lights, I don't touch it. 4 spots following the chest position, or 4 spots wide fixed in place are the sweet spots for me. The third video uses a such a rig (4 spots).
Video credits:
• ReignMocap for the animation.
• SuperSamoth for porting the art assets to VaM.
• TGC for porting the environment to VaM.
• Molmark for the statue textures.
• Epi.Suki look credits for the last video.
Additional performance tips
If you don't see any performance difference between 2-spots and 4-points, your performance is CPU limited.
a. If you get great performance, just go with the best looking setting possible.
b. If you get insufficient performance even with 2-spots, try lowering physics related settings. Switching soft physics and advanced colliders off for a dance scene can double or even triple your performance. Using clothing and hair presets that look good without having to enable sim physics can further enhance your performance.
In the end, you can get something that actually looks better (because it uses better lighting) but also runs faster by finding the optimal setting for your setup and the scene.
The same goes for the room. Mirrors and similar reflective surfaces are rarely worth the performance cost. Instead of a room that looks mediocre but has reflections on the floor, you can have a room that looks great an runs better because it forgoes reflections.
If you are very CPU bound, and the scene is designed around soft physics in a way that the lips do not look right if you switch soft physics off, upgrading might be your only option. Game physics engines, especially older ones like the one in VaM perform better with CPUs that have high single thread performance. Instead of a CPU with 24 threads but lower single thread performance, go with a CPU that has 8 cores but better single thread performance.
