Lighting an Exterior Daylight Scene - Photographic Rendering with V-Ray for SketchUp - page 126

A camera-matched exterior
If we are asked to work on a project that requires dropping a rendered building into
an existing day-lit photographic plate, then all of the observational skills that we have
discussed so far become even more critical. Today's effects-savvy audiences will of
course instantly notice any discrepancies in the lighting and perspective matching of
our renders.
On such a project, the reference photo (or photos) that we work with may well end
up being the actual plates that we need to use in the final shots. If that is the case,
I would strongly recommend that (wherever possible) we go ahead and visit the loc-
ation in question, gathering reference shots and making observations of our own.
There really is no substitute for the personal touch when it comes down to success-
fully creating work of this type.
SketchUp, of course, is capable of handling the perspective matching part of this
process very nicely, which means that we can focus the majority of our attention on
the lighting aspect of the shot so as to get it just right.
Again, a big requirement for this type of shot will be the need to pay particularly close
attention to the settings for shadow density and color. Many times it can be these
aspects of the lighting setup that ultimately let the shot down, leaving it looking any-
thing but photographic.
Defining our exterior daylight setup
In the SketchUp scene that we are using here, we are of course trying to create a
generally appealing architectural visualization render, which in most people's minds
would typically equate to a bright, warm-looking sunny day. So that is what we will
shoot for, specifically aiming for a mid-afternoon feel to the render.
This will require warm tones in the overall coloration of the image as well as a meas-
ure of softness to the penumbra or edges of any directional shadows coming from
the sun. To give everything a nice solid feel, we will also want the occlusion shadows
to be fairly obvious, but without being overly or artificially strong.