Toolkit 2 - Maya: Photometric Lights

   Photometric lighting work though IES files (manufacturer illumination specifications files that enable real world lighting), which can be downloaded from elslighting.com and rendered through IES viewers before placing into arnold. (these viewers show what the lighting look like when in use before placing to maya, and can be downloaded online). 

  On the IES viewers, the red outlined area shows the volume that the light illuminates and the rate of decay through real life simulation.

Outlay

  Arnold Photometric lights have two indicators, the first being the lighting direction and the second is the rotation. 

Duplicated Lights

  For preferences, we imported the IES file in to the Photometry box and connected the manufacturer's specifications. From there, we changed some attributes in the lighting settings. Mainly bringing the Exposure up to 6, whilst the samples and radius to 3 (giving a softer lighting). Once completed, we duclicaped 3 times and point snapped to the other light fittings. If needing to change the exposure at a later time, this can be done in the channel box. 

Original Settings

  Enclosed spaces are quite noisy, so settings will have to be changed in the Arnold render too. For our next render we brought up the Camera (AA) to 5 and the Diffuse, but brought the Diffuse back down to 4. Arnold lighting is hardware intensive, so getting the best results with as little sampling as possible is best for reducing render timings. 

Improved Setting.

  Once a test render has been completed, changing the exposure can be done as required to increase or reduce light. 

Final Render