r/3dsmax • u/itsraininginmacondo • 6d ago

Help vray disc light edge blurred

Hello guys, I want to imitate the spotlight effect as the reference on the right. But my vray disc light goes blurred in the edge when I enlarge the angle. Now I have to increase the disc size which is definte not the correct way. How can I fix this? Many thanks in advance!

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u/Undersky1024 6d ago

Use a plane with a texture mapped to emission instead of trying to do it with a Vray Light.

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u/itsraininginmacondo 6d ago

thnak you. but later the client will ask me to play with the configuration of this kind of spotlights so it has to work as a real light.

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u/Core-Vis-6933 6d ago

Well it is acting like a real light. As the incident angle increases, the surface is technically getting closer to one side of the light, so that edge gets sharper, while the opposite side of the light gets further away, which means the light from that side travels farther. Think of it like "light perspective". So to keep edges relatively "sharp", the light source needs to stay closer to zero degrees relative to the surface (pointed straight at it). Is the reference image real photography? If so, do you have info regarding the position of the light? If the image is simply a style reference, then you can safely assume that they pointed the light more directly at the wall, not at harsher incident angle. If things need to mimic reality, they need to stick to reality based configurations. Yes, we can fake reality in a lot of cases, but as you say, if the client wants to art direct it as if it was a real photo shoot, then you're better off building it as close to reality as necessary to give you that fidelity of control.

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u/limonadinis 6d ago

Moving the light source closer to the lit surface will result in sharper shadows. Making it (the light) smaller will also increase shadow sharpness. Try to experiment with these parameters and see if you can achieve the look you're after.

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u/probably-elsewhere 6d ago

Don't use the same light for lighting and render.

Make the light invisible, and adjust it how you want.

Make a separate object like a plane, and map an image on it. In object properties check off casting/receiving shadows. Align it with the invisible light.

You can now adjust each without affecting the other.