Scene Light Rig Comparison

Compare four deterministic light rigs on the same 3D concept.

Renderloom scene, render recipe or Form Studio JSON

{"format":"renderloom-scene","version":1,"name":"Terraced forms","recipe":{"format":"kerfwise-render","version":1,"source":{"format":"kerfwise-form","version":1,"name":"Terraced forms","units":"mm","grid":100,"snap":true,"objects":[{"id":"part-1","name":"Terrace 1","tag":"Objects","color":"#d6c5ab","profile":[[0,0],[2200,0],[2200,1800],[0,1800]],"height":300,"x":-1100,"y":-900,"z":0,"rotation":0,"visible":true,"locked":false},{"id":"part-2","name":"Terrace 2","tag":"Objects","color":"#b5c5b6","profile":[[0,0],[1800,0],[1800,1500],[0,1500]],"height":300,"x":-900,"y":-750,"z":300,"rotation":0,"visible":true,"locked":false},{"id":"part-3","name":"Terrace 3","tag":"Objects","color":"#789b90","profile":[[0,0],[1400,0],[1400,1200],[0,1200]],"height":300,"x":-700,"y":-600,"z":600,"rotation":0,"visible":true,"locked":false},{"id":"part-4","name":"Terrace 4","tag":"Objects","color":"#3e6662","profile":[[0,0],[1000,0],[1000,900],[0,900]],"height":300,"x":-500,"y":-450,"z":900,"rotation":0,"visible":true,"locked":false}],"scenes":[{"name":"Overview","camera":{"azimuth":-45,"elevation":32,"span":3548.2671827245476,"target":[0,0,600]}},{"name":"Plan view","camera":{"azimuth":-90,"elevation":90,"span":3548.2671827245476,"target":[0,0,600]}}]},"camera":{"azimuth":-45,"elevation":32,"span":3548.2671827245476,"target":[0,0,600]},"settings":{"width":480,"height":360,"samples":4,"seed":1,"lightAzimuth":-100,"lightElevation":55,"softness":0.12,"ambient":0.3,"exposure":0,"background":"#f3eee3","ground":true,"transparent":false},"materials":{}},"notes":"Four levels for comparing grazing light and material finishes.","shots":[{"id":"shot-1","name":"Overview","camera":{"azimuth":-45,"elevation":32,"span":3548.2671827245476,"target":[0,0,600]}},{"id":"shot-2","name":"Plan view","camera":{"azimuth":-90,"elevation":90,"span":3548.2671827245476,"target":[0,0,600]}}]}

Tile width (px)

More options

Tile height (px)

Samples per pixel

☁ Sign in to save to your Google Drive

Try an example: Compare terraced forms · A finer small comparison

More about this tool

How it works

Keep the camera, object colors and geometry fixed while comparing soft key, side, high-key and grazing light. Download a four-tile SVG contact sheet and an editable Renderloom scene, then refine lighting locally.

Four renders keep geometry, camera, materials and sampling seed identical. Only light direction, elevation, softness and ambient light change.
The shared local concept renderer uses orthographic rays, direct light, sampled soft shadows, short-range ambient occlusion and one metal reflection. It does not execute MoonRay or load external renderers.
Each tile is 32–96 pixels per side and one or two samples. The complete comparison permits 65536 pixel samples. Colors are display sRGB; output is a compact raster represented by SVG rectangles.

Sources

MoonRay render outputs (OpenMoonRay)

Part of Renderloom

Renderloom 3D scene & material studio

Shape a scene. Find its light. Keep every idea editable.

Open Renderloom

Compare four light rigs on a 3D concept

Keep a scene and camera fixed while comparing four deterministic lighting recipes.

What it is for

Scene Light Rig Comparison makes a compact contact sheet from a Renderloom scene, a Kerfwise Render Desk recipe or a Form Studio project. It helps you compare the effect of direction, elevation, softness and ambient fill before committing to a larger local render.

The four tiles use the same geometry, orthographic camera, object colors, material finishes and sampling seed. Only the light rig changes. The calculation uses the existing usefulweb concept renderer rather than a remote service. Download the editable scene to keep working in Renderloom, where precise object editing, saved camera shots and higher resolution previews are available.

Worked example

Leave the Terraced forms example selected. Use a tile width of 64 pixels, height of 48 pixels and one sample per pixel. Calculate to render Soft key, Side light, High key and Grazing light.

The four tiles together use 64 × 48 × 1 × 4 = 12288 pixel samples, and the contact sheet measures 152 × 168 pixels including the labels. Soft key gives a balanced starting point. Side light emphasizes changes between vertical faces; high key fills more of the shape. Grazing light uses a low elevation and can make shadows and contact between levels easier to see.

Download the comparison SVG, then choose Open in Renderloom. The editable scene preserves its original lighting. In the workspace, Compare lights lets you choose which of the four rigs to apply. Render a fresh larger preview after changing the light.

How to read the result

The report gives the contact-sheet dimensions and total pixel samples. Each tile includes its exact render recipe so the geometry, camera and lighting settings are inspectable. The SVG is a raster-style representation built from colored rectangles, not vector mesh geometry.

The beauty pass combines direct illumination, sampled soft shadows, short-range ambient occlusion and a single metal reflection. These are useful concept effects, not a physically complete production renderer. Small previews can look noisy at one sample; they are meant for comparing broad lighting choices.

Tips and common mistakes

Keep the scene camera fixed while comparing the rigs. A changed camera makes the lighting comparison harder to interpret. Hidden objects do not render, and solid colors and simple finishes carry through unchanged.

Use 32–96 pixels per tile side and one or two samples. The full sheet is limited to 65536 pixel samples. For example, four 96 by 96 tiles at two samples exceed that limit; reduce tile dimensions or sampling. Higher resolution local renders belong in the Renderloom workspace.

The output is not a photograph, lux calculation, MoonRay scene or PBR texture render. Texture Lab maps export separately for applications that support them.

FAQ

Does the tool change my original scene?

No. It normalizes a copy and creates four recipes with different light settings. The downloadable editable scene retains its original light.

Can I compare a model from Kerfwise?

Yes. Paste a complete Form Studio project or Render Desk recipe. Cabinet manufacturing projects must first be represented as Form Studio solids.

Why do repeated calculations match?

Sampling positions use a deterministic seed. Identical scene, camera, settings and seed produce identical pixels. Actual calculation time can still vary by device and workload.

Guide last updated: October 26, 2026

For scripts and AI agents

JSON API: POST https://renderloomlightrigs.usefulweb.site/api/v1/calculate (same calculation as this page)
Interface description: OpenAPI 3.1 · AI guide: llms.txt
MCP server (Streamable HTTP): https://renderloomlightrigs.usefulweb.site/mcp · tool name renderloom_light_rigs

Example request

curl -s -X POST https://renderloomlightrigs.usefulweb.site/api/v1/calculate \
  -H 'content-type: application/json' \
  -d '{}'

Feedback · ideas & bug reports welcome