Having difficulty with realistic lighting

[Kenny]

I have reposted here as it might catch more expect attention

Stargate lights

I have casted clear blue parts that I wanted to evenly glow, however it looks like there is simply a LED behind it.

[Marco Scheloske]

Maybe you could use lightsheet instead?

[Kenny]

Maybe you could use lightsheet instead?

A quick google has reveled it is not cheap. I think I need a way to diffuse the light evenly (and cheaply)

[jwrjr]

There are ways of achieving this.
cheap:
frost the inside of the clear parts using clear flat or sandpaper
move the led back from the clear part
not-so-cheap:
use flat-topped leds

[Marco Scheloske]

Maybe you could use lightsheet instead?

A quick google has reveled it is not cheap. I think I need a way to diffuse the light evenly (and cheaply)

Yes, it isn`t cheap, but it looks really cool - I used it for my "Chevron 7... activated" - diorama: http://www.starshipmodeler.org/gallery8 ... rgate9.jpg

[tetsujin]

There are ways of achieving this.
cheap:
frost the inside of the clear parts using clear flat or sandpaper

That alone won't do much, unfortunately: you have to think about where the light is going and at what point in 3-d space the light is getting diffused. Most of the LED light will still go in one direction - then it will hit one spot on the frosted surface and light will scatter from there. You'll still see a "hotspot" basically.

move the led back from the clear part

That can help, if you have the space to do so... You can increase the amount of effective distance if you point the LEDs away from the clear part, and reflect the LED light off of a matte white surface (assuming, of course, the shadows of the LEDs and any supporting parts inside the assembly don't ruin the effect...)

In the case of a Stargate - where do you put such a setup?

not-so-cheap:
use flat-topped leds

I'm not sure what that accomplishes, honestly... A wider-angle distribution of light? It's possible. (Note that instead of buying a flat-top LED, you can buy a normal LED and file down the lens) There are also LEDs with built-in diffusion: I used some of those on my Enterprise, they're quite effective at getting light sent out in all directions - though that still doesn't give you a uniform glow across a flat surface...

The problem with just widening the distribution of light is that, because of the angle of incidence and increasing distance from the light source, you can still see a noticeable difference in intensity between areas close to the LED and those far away. (Frosting the clear part can help with the direction of the light - since a frosted surface will re-scatter the light - but it will still be of noticeably lower intensity...)

The effect of a uniform glow over a large area with a single light source is tough. You should start by using more LEDs - then do your best to get a diffuse reflection of that light before it reaches the clear part: that's your best bet at getting a near-uniform "glow" look from point sources - unless, of course, you're prepared to increase the number of LEDs so high that you effectively have an area light. (That would be a lot of LEDs. Even 100 LEDs is really just a 10x10 grid - which could quite easily look like "dots") That's where lightsheet is a big advantage - it naturally produces a near-uniform glow, you don't have to jump through hoops to fake it.

[Kenny]

There are ways of achieving this.
cheap:
frost the inside of the clear parts using clear flat or sandpaper

Yes it did a little but as you say I could still see the light spot

move the led back from the clear part

That can help, if you have the space to do so...

Yes, no space in this scale

not-so-cheap:
use flat-topped leds

I'm not sure what that accomplishes, honestly... A wider-angle distribution of light? It's possible.

part of the problem was I couldn't find blue leds like this. and would it work if I shelled out the cash?

Some discussion in the lighting forum has suggested a fiber diffuser

[Kenny]

Maybe you could use lightsheet instead?

A quick google has reveled it is not cheap. I think I need a way to diffuse the light evenly (and cheaply)

Yes, it isn`t cheap, but it looks really cool - I used it for my "Chevron 7... activated" - diorama: http://www.starshipmodeler.org/gallery8 ... rgate9.jpg

That's awesome, i think I have the event horizon/puddle under control it is the chevrons that are being difficult.

Thanks everyone of the ideas, keep them coming

[robiwon]

Have you considered EL wire? Here is a link. This, coiled behind it, should give a nice solid glow with some simple difusion. They have a lot of different kits available.
http://www.thatscoolwire.com/store/item ... %2DLZ%2D3V

[Kenny]

Have you considered EL wire? Here is a link. This, coiled behind it, should give a nice solid glow with some simple difusion. They have a lot of different kits available.
http://www.thatscoolwire.com/store/item ... %2DLZ%2D3V

that's cool looking stuff, and I'm sure it'll be good for many things. Have you used it? does it have to be in the lengths sold or can it be resized?

[robiwon]

I have not used it for any modeling projects. It has the same properties as el sheet. I have not trimmed it at all in the past so I can't answer that. I'm sure others have used el wire and will chime in.

[Beowulf]

Hey, Kenny. I'm fairly new with the wiring and lighting myself. I just finished installing a very generic light kit into the U.S.S. Reliant. I used to exit light bulbs I got from work that are used in aircraft, some basic wire, crimmps, a switch and a 9 volt battery. It's generic but it's working.

One person suggested frosting the clear plastic. Rather, I painted the inside of it with a few thin coats of the desired color of the deflector dish and engineering section. (Duck Eggs blue in this case) I also painted the bulbs themselves so that they were dulled a bit.

It's worked great. Let us know how things work.

[Chacal]

Was the part already cast in clear resin you say? Ideally—and that's what I'd do—the resin should be translucent (that can be accomplished by adding small amounts of filler—ground-up calcite—to the resin), so the whole volume of resin diffuses light.

Also, even though the overall price is a bit greater, go with more LEDs, running them in low power—surface-mount LEDs are very cool for that use—just so there are no few bright spots, just many not-so-bright ones that will eventually blend in with one another.

[modelnutz]

I have to agree with Chacal about the filler idea.

At my last job I had to develop a lighted button for an amplified speaker.
8 LED's behind the button.
4 white for power on status switching to 4 red for overload status.
We were getting hot spots no matter what we did...we tried frosting the inner surface of the button...no good..hot spots still.
We tried forming pockets on the inner surface as refraction lenses..no good..hot spots still.
What we ended up with was a clear resin with 2 to 3 % talc as a filler which was incorporated to diffuse the light.
Worked so well we now have the component ( injection molded) with a 2% talc filler specified.
Might just work for your task-at-hand.

[Sparky]

Karim has already mentioned this and has a link to the effect, but there's some plastic ultra fin filler you can get at craft shops to help diffuse LEDs.

[Sparky]

Its Fiberfill:

http://karimnassar.com/assets/images/mo ... c/mc40.jpg

You can add more LEDs and/or reduce their voltage so they are dim, other wise you will suffer from the spot light effect.