Silverwing Quick-Tip: Octane Distant Light Hack

Made Using C4D 2023.2
Octane 2022.1.1
My Patreon:
/ silverwingvfx
Distant Light Setup Scene:
drive.google.com/open?id=1Dut...
Thanks to albertoblasi.com/
For the Interior Scene!
Hello everyone.
A bit of delay but its finally here. This weeks quick tip. Due to the Easter holiday next week there won´t be a quick tip April 9th. I am on vacation the week after so I am not too sure if I can make it there. At the very least quick tips will continue April 16th at the latest.
Thank you very much for watching.
P.s. leave a comment if you have any good Idea for a future quick tip / tut.
00:00 Intro
00:33 Building a simple Scene
01:00 Using the Daylight (Not Recommended)
02:16 Building the Distant Light with Nodes
06:00 Making the Distant Light Movable
08:00 Making multiple Distant Lights
08:40 Makin the Shadow Harder or Softer
09:55 Bonus Round More Light Goodness
11:45 Patreon Announcement
12:19 Outro

[@FLXD]

I can’t help, but think and laugh about how many renders are out there were made in “the bathroom”. At this point, the question has become too philosophical and we’re all just fellow plumbers :)

[@SilverwingVFX]

Ha ha ha. Very philosophical indeed. I can tell you that at least half of my render use it 😇 Speaking about being repetitive ha ha. Also I have this favorite tillable dirt / grunge map that I made about 10 years ago. And It´s in almost every material I have made 😁🤣 Also I am not sure if Maxime is proud or embarrassed by now 😅

[@FLXD]

@@SilverwingVFX Yeah! That HDRI is great. I also use it on a daily basis, but I’m trying to break that addiction 😂 It’s just too good. I don’t know about Maxime tho. I can’t imagine casually saying “many people use a photo of my toilet for their work and they love it” :)

[@Murathanaksoz]

this guy helps some much people and it comes from his heart. very giving person. good man. thanx for all

[@SilverwingVFX]

Hey there. Super nice seeing you here. Hope you solved at least some of the mb problems 🙌 Cheers and a great Day to you!

[@Stiegosaurus]

Really like this look. It's got quite a bit of art directable stuff which is so key. Seems to really translate visually

[@SilverwingVFX]

Thank you very much for your comment. In the meantime Octane actually has a "distant light" It's called Direct Light. kzbin.info/www/bejne/b4OZXnmKe7iiZ9E Though the method I am showing here might be more art directable... maybe 😇 Again thank you for your nice feedback and a awesome weekend to you 🙌

[@imakegreateggs]

Love you.

[@SilverwingVFX]

❤️

[@ThomvanVliet]

After all these years, you're actually the first one I signed up for on Patreon. Here's to hoping you achieve your goal!

[@SilverwingVFX]

Wow thank you so much Thom. Its a great to hear that. I have not set Goals yet 😇 But my goal is to basically make tuts and work on spare time stuff full time!

[@lodesign5911]

thanks , good one :)

[@SilverwingVFX]

I struggled a bit to find a good idea. So its nice to hear you liked it ✨

[@dhidavidhuys8487]

Thanks!!

[@SilverwingVFX]

Thank you 🙌

[@Mac_Daffy]

I am a proud new Patreon! 🎉

[@SilverwingVFX]

Ohhhh thank you so much. That was very fast 🙏🙏🙏

[@cars103]

so incredibly valuable again! thanks a lot!!!

[@SilverwingVFX]

Thank you very much. Great to heat that 👏

[@zotake]

Great tip as usual! Thanks for all you give us.❤

[@SilverwingVFX]

Thank you for watching my content 👏🙏

[@georgeluna6217]

As always the best content out there related to C4D and Octane!!! I am getting so valuable information form your videos and I am souper happy to join your Patreon for 1st time. You 100% worth it. Many thanks again Silverwing 🙂

[@SilverwingVFX]

Hey George. Thank you so much for your kind words. Phantastic to hear that! I am very greatful for your support 🙏😊

Thank you for your knowledge and good rest on these Easter.

[@SilverwingVFX]

Thank you very much. A good Easter time to you too!

[@ForgingMind]

Thank you again and have a good Easter.

[@SilverwingVFX]

Also thank you for your continues support. Very much appreciated and happy Easter to you too!

[@itsknowone]

Thank you! Sending your videos/patreon to everyone I know!

[@SilverwingVFX]

Thanks so much. You are the best. Highly appreciated!

[@theentropeek]

Thank you for sharing this valuable information with us.

[@SilverwingVFX]

Thank you for your comment and your support 👏

[@henningricke]

Ha, Awsome! Thanks a lot for this tutorial. I got the feeling it might have been my post on Facebook that inspired you. In that case I feel deeply honoured! 😄

[@SilverwingVFX]

Hey Henning, it indeed was you! Thank you so much for the inspiration to do this tut 🙏🙌 The honor is mine 👏

[@amisheetrit2119]

Thanks for that Rapahel! Have a great vacation !

[@SilverwingVFX]

Thanks so much. I am sure I will enjoy my vacation 🙌

[@binyang9530]

I particularly enjoyed your tutorial

[@SilverwingVFX]

Great to hear that 🙏

[@imonline8051]

Thank you!!!

[@SilverwingVFX]

You're welcome 🙏🙌

[@griptopia]

i came up with something similar about 2 years ago, but this blows my dodgy / crap idea out the water! thank you for sharing, Your creativity and the way you have embraced nodes. AMAZING!!

[@SilverwingVFX]

Hey, as long as it worked! But thank you very much for the praise. Glad you learned something 🙌

[@davehedgehog9795]

Going to watch this tomorrow :D

[@SilverwingVFX]

Have fun. I hope you get something useful out of it 🙌

[@Tomydurand]

Thank Raphael!

[@SilverwingVFX]

You are very welcome!

[@prymexxxx]

Happy to be a patreon :)

[@SilverwingVFX]

Wow thank you so much. Means a lot to me! Thank you for being one of the first!

[@imkavindu]

You're the best!

[@SilverwingVFX]

Thank you 🙏🙌

[@babysteps1]

Very clever RR, bravo! again...

[@SilverwingVFX]

Thank you very much. Appreciate that you found it clever 😊

[@babysteps1]

@@SilverwingVFX im on the patreon to show my thanks for all you do for our community

[@SilverwingVFX]

@@babysteps1 Thank you so much for your generosity and helping me and the community. Appreciate it very much 🙏🙌

[@Gromic2k]

Cool, danke. Endlich kann man auch mal was zurückgeben ;)

[@SilverwingVFX]

Ha haaaa supper nice 🥳 Und Du warst der erste... zumindest laut meiner Tabelle. Dankeeee!

[@Xraider70]

Nice tips ! Thanks very good as always ! Btw maybe you can add your Patreon in the description to have a easier access to it :D !

[@llennoco]

The simpler way is to use the spotlight texture. The hardness and light size can be controlled on the node directly.

[@SilverwingVFX]

That´s also a very cool method. Did not think of that 👏

[@llennoco]

@@hdo-gd5tj Add a spotlight node, set direction to world space. You can then either set the direction on the node or use an object data node to bind it to the direction of another object/ empty/ null/ locator (not sure what the C4D term would be) that you can use as your widget to direct the light as you would a directional light in other renderers.

[@edmungbean]

This is really useful, but it does underscore how inadequate the light types are in Octane. I find the IES lights extremely hard to work out (i.e. using an IES generator to make a thin beam because the volumetric spotlight is frankly bizarre)

[@SilverwingVFX]

Quick tip: If you want a spot light., create a small area light and connect a "Spotlight Distribution" node to the lights distribution input. I support your claim. I think they are working on it. And as far as I know Distant Lights as well as Area light directionality is coming.

[@mograph_shop]

did similar thing as an asset some time ago 😅

[@SilverwingVFX]

🙌👍

[@user-ez9rw5lm5w]

I am the firstI am the first to comment, I often watch your tutorials, very good tutorials, I learned a lot, thank you very much

[@user-ge3ot5ei9k]

Amazing！ I have a question, How to soften the shadow on this basis

[@SilverwingVFX]

Just make the light source bigger. (Higher scale number e.g. 0.1 instead of 0.001) This makes the shadow softer 🙌

[@mansujeon]

Hello silverwing! I think I will finish college soon and get a job. And I want to say thank you from the bottom of my heart for helping me get a job. I'll get my paycheck soon, I'll subscribe to your Patreon soon, and I'll support you. I know that trying to post a video every week is a daunting task. However, seeing you do it consistently gave me a strong passion and determination. I live on the other side of you, but I truly respect your will. THANK YOU!!!

[@SilverwingVFX]

Hello and thank you so much. This comment made my Day ❤️❤️❤️ Though it is you who made it! Through your effort and consistency. Maybe I helped a little. But ot is due to your ambition where you are now. So congratulations for finding you way and finishing collage soon. I know from Experience how hard it is to earn good money, so please keep it to you or at least consider it carefully. I only would like people who can really afford it to pledge. Cheers and all the best for your future ✨ Greetings from Germany around the globe, Raphael

[@dermotfaloon_streetmonkey]

Neat idea - I always just have light set to disk in a centred null pushed waaay off in the distance. But power is always a struggle. Is it possible to pull those node controls right into the C4d viewport interface - that would be neat.

[@SilverwingVFX]

Hi and thank you very much for your comment. Yes, this is indeed possible to have those controls inside of the C4D Interface. You could connect the Rotation to a spline for example so you can rotate it around and it would always point in the lights direction. It should be as simple as linking the rotation values of the object to the ones of the projection inside of the environment shader. Hope this helps.

[@thibo9474]

Hi Raphael, is it possible to make a tutorial on Sbsar material in Octane? Would love to use my substance material with my favorite render

[@SilverwingVFX]

Hey there and thank you very much for your comment. To be honest, I don´t really know id using a native Substance file is possible with Octane C4D right now. I usually export BPR textures with the Metalnes Rough workflow and OpenGL Normals. Since I usually work rather procedurally and not with substance in my shading workflow. I am probably the odd one out here.

[@georgeluna6217]

strange that I can not find the gradient generator 🤔

[@SilverwingVFX]

Hey George, thank you very much for your comment and your patience waiting for my answer! The Gradient generator node came into octane around Octane 2019. So if you are using versions from before, it will be not there unfortunately. There is a OSL that has almost the same options. Its called "gradient.osl" and is found in the Pattern OSL category. Hope that helps!

[@georgeluna6217]

I am using the last version but nothing comes up when typing for the gradient generator

[@georgeluna6217]

@@SilverwingVFX Checking the file you shared didn't get what the noise expresso is doing.. :)

[@SilverwingVFX]

@@georgeluna6217 Its just some stuff I did to make the animation look a tad more interesting. Its connected to the noise inside the Environments "Material". It constantly increases the number on the the C4D Time slot to make the noise move.

[@georgeluna6217]

@@SilverwingVFX that's genius actually :D