Creating Customised IES web lights for Vray or Mental Ray
by Jamie Cardoso
The following tutorial assumes that the user has a basic knowledge of creating and using “VRayIES” and “Photometric” lights parameters.
While “Photometric” and “VRayIES” lights are used to load the IES web files, the following tutorial will focus mainly in customizing IES web files through the use of “Creator IES” software, as opposed to general photometric light functionalities.
This ingenious piece of software was created by Karba, and can easily be found and downloaded from here. I personally couldn't find more details about the creator/Author.
Professionals frequently choose this software to create unique IES light patterns that differ from the commonly seen/used by most artists/visualisers.
Please note that, in real projects users are advised to ask permission to the designated lighting designer before using this artistic approach!
The “Creator IES” dialog provides users with the unsurpassed ability to create IES web files “from scratch”, or by simply editing a loaded one. Its dialog box consists of two representations of the light pattern:
Curve editor graph, and picture thumbnail.
The Curve editor depicts a graph of the IES light pattern (i.e. red line). The entire length of the curve represents different parts of the light pattern, which can be easily edited by simply clicking and dragging (upwards or downwards) on any part of the curve.
The adjacent picture thumbnail depicts the resulting image from the curve editor shape, in real time. The “before and after” images below highlight how the “Creator IES” software can easily and intuitively create an IES web file “from scratch”.
Below are some of its core parameters:
Area of editing = This function sets the type of editing by simply dragging its target slider either to the left, or to the right.
The default value is 1.0. Values below 1.0 yield sharp light patterns when the curve graph is edited.
Values above 1.0 yield softer light patterns when the curve graph is edited.
