PBR

Light and Shadow: Decorating with PBR

Skell

A bit of a departure from the tutorials and fashion, this post is going to take a look at a project I’ve been working on over the past couple of weeks. The project started out relatively simply: furnish a skybox that I picked up a while ago. But with the advent of PBR (Physically Based Rendering) it’s opened my eyes to a new beauty in Second Life; a beauty that – for the past few years – has been lost to me.

That beauty is Light and Shadow.

Okay, technically that’s two beauties, but since the advent of mesh heads and bodies many of us – myself included – have been wandering our digital world under a bright, shadowless Windlight, and subsequently a bright, shadowless EEP. The default SL day/night cycle – especially at midday – was so unforgiving on mesh heads and bodies (those dreaded neck seams!) that many of us used bright Windlights and EEPs such as CalWL, Nam’s Optimal Skin, and NB Alpine Skinlight. The last of those three was my environment setting of choice for many years. In fact, I honestly can’t remember the last time I allowed a full day/night cycle to run in Second Life, be that the default one or a purchased Windlight/EEP. I stayed in my perfect, bright, shadow-free world… but boy, has PBR changed all that.

While there is still a place for shadowless EEP settings (I’ll share Marketplace links to a couple of nice freebies at the end of this post) in things such as store ads, where customers need to see a clear, well-lit image of what they’re buying, if you’re still using one of those settings now that PBR is on the grid, then – if your computer or laptop is capable of running a PBR viewer – I’m going to (hopefully!) show you why it’s worth your while to consider other settings, especially when you’re at home or in any other location where you spend a lot of time.

Note: Each of the images in this post is a 2500px wide JPG. While the blog itself will squish them down to fit the theme, I encourage you to right-click and open each image in a new tab, to view them full size. This is mainly because the blog’s theme is all white, and the reduction in image size might make them look too dark against the background. And that sort of defeats the purpose of what this post is about…

So hi. Here’s me in a cosy corner of the skybox I’ve been furnishing this week. I’m using this free PBR-friendly shadowless EEP setting: Nuve – Shadowless WL PBR viewer.

Nice and bright (in fact, a bit too bright, especially on my face) and nice and clear. And there’s even a bit of shadow behind that ficus plant, because I’m using a PBR viewer and this is a PBR EEP, and there’s also still a reflection probe filling the space. It’s still not completely shadowless.

So that’s a bright daylight setting. Now let’s look at the same image, but at night time, using the Day/Night setting of this free PBR EEP: Studio Saberhagen – PBR EEP Collection (Windlights) – Day/Night Cycle, Midday, Night Version 1.3, as well as the room lighting that I’ve added.

Now, you might look at that with your CalWL eyes on, and say, “Eurgh, that’s way too dark! I want to see everything, especially my face!” And yes, thanks to the blog’s theme resizing the image – as well as the fact that your eyes have already gotten used to a familiar, nice, bright, (mostly) shadowless image just above this one – it is going to come across that way. Again, open the image in a new tab and view it full size.

So what triggered me to change this project from a simple ‘furnish a skybox’ one to a whole ‘furnish a skybox with attention to light and shadow’ one? Well, it was when I first rezzed the building, which is the West Village Belgravia Skybox from Apple Fall. You can find it for L$375 in the Outlet section of the Apple Fall mainstore (4th room past the lobby – after the Christmas stuff – head right and you’ll see the skyboxes at the end and can teleport to each of them).

I started out still in my bright shadowless EEP so I could see well enough to rez the skybox in the exact location I needed. But then I changed to a PBR daytime EEP and I really liked how it looked. It was no longer super-bright and a little too perfect. And that got me thinking: what would this look like if I went the whole hog on it with PBR, including a reflection probe? So I added the reflection probe (and everything went dark – yikes!) but then I added a light source near the ceiling – the High Tea Chandelier by ContraptioN – and… yeah. This happened.

Suddenly I wasn’t looking at my familiar old ‘washed-out and shadowless EEP setting’ Second Life, nor even the fairly bland ‘PBR daytime without a reflection probe’ Second Life.

I was looking at something incredibly realistic. I was looking at light and shadow that had me staring at it for several minutes, thinking, “Holy shit”. I’d never managed to achieve soft, clean shadows like that with the old ALM settings, no matter how much I fiddled around with the Phototools options.

(Yes, the room that you – as the viewer – are standing in appears incredibly dark. That’s simply because there’s no light source in that room yet.)

So I scrabbled around in my inventory for a few décor items, and rezzed them out. Let’s move in a little closer.

That got me really excited, so… well this is me we’re talking about here, so naturally I went on a shopping spree. Mostly to Apple Fall, but there are a few other bits and pieces from other stores. I’ll give a full credits list at the end of this post.

Want to see what that looks like in the shadowless EEP? Sure, here you go. As before, there’s still a reflection probe in this space, so it’s not actually as bright as it would be without that.

Doesn’t have quite the same impact, does it?

Let’s look in the other direction.

And the same view with the bright, shadowless EEP:

That one’s almost blown out in places. And now that your eyes are getting used to seeing the difference, you might be thinking, “Oh hey, maybe there’s something to this after all…?”

Now let’s move into the main room. Again, I’ll start with the shadowed PBR EEP setting, followed by the bright, shadowless one. First up the reading corner with the desk:

Of particular note on this one is the bookshelf, when compared with the shadowless EEP:

Now for the lounge area:

And with the bright, shadowless EEP:

And one final view of the lounge area. (I’m still working on that corner to the left of the fireplace, so it’s not quite where I want it to be just yet.)

And with the shadowless EEP:

So, having been spammed with multiple images, you might be wondering a couple of things.

Where are the mirrors, Skell? And where’s all the Shiny Stuff? Isn’t that what PBR is all about?

That’s not what it’s all about, nope. Despite having a fairly beefy computer (and being a vain little shit!) I don’t run with mirrors enabled. And while I appreciate the Shiny Stuff when I encounter it inworld, the super-shiny stuff is not of much interest to me. I appreciate far more the ability of PBR to simulate a beautiful leather texture, or the soft sheen of a lightly-waxed wood floor. Sure, I’ve purchased some of that super-shiny stuff when it’s really caught my eye (crystals and marble!) because I know I can make use of it in a future location or a photoshoot, but for my everyday spaces I don’t need mirrors (though I’m glad we finally have them now) or All the Shinies Everywhere. For me, the light and shadow is what’s really caught my eye about PBR.

And it’s completely changed my Second Life. I now let the day/night cycle run fully (that free Studio Saberhagen one, mostly) and I love to watch how the light in my home changes as each of SL’s four-days-per-one-RL-day cycles run.

That said, I don’t run with everything enabled all the time. I’ve created three graphics presets in Firestorm, called Photos, Fast Moving, and Ultra Fast. Below, I’m going to give you all my specs, both for those presets and for my PC build, so you can see what I used to get the images posted above.

Photos

This one is all the bells and whistles, and – as its name suggests – it’s the one I use when I want to take photos. I’ll also switch to it briefly if I’m out shopping and I want to check out PBR on a rezzed item. Using the quick graphics presets – accessible at the top right of Firestorm by hovering over the ‘computer monitor’ icon – I can switch quickly and seamlessly from one preset to another. All of the location images in this post were shot using the Photos preset.

You’ll note that, even on this Photos preset, I’m only running midway between High and Ultra. I have screen space reflections off and mirrors off. My draw distance is down to 96m, because most likely I’m only focused on myself and/or my immediate surroundings, and my particles are way down as well. Post process quality is set to high, and LOD to 4.0 (mostly because – to remove SL’s ‘fish-eye lens’ effect – I tend to start with my camera a little way from myself and then CTRL + 0 [zero] in a few times, so anything with a lower LOD might collapse if I don’t raise it a little). The big thing here is that I have shadows set to sun/moon + projectors.

Fast Moving

Shadows here are just sun + moon, draw distance is even lower at 64m, although I’ve allowed for more particles (although I think I just upped that for another reason before saving this preset; it doesn’t really make much of a difference!) LOD is down to 2.0 and the general slider is set to High. This is the setting I run with if I still want to see all the PBR shadows, but without the full ‘welly’ as it were.

Ultra Fast

This one’s the ‘teleporting around the weekend sales’ preset. No shadows, reflection detail is static only, no reflection coverage, low draw distance, LOD of 2.0, post process quality is low, and event ambient occlusion is disabled. The main graphics slider is between Mid and High. This is for when I’m not worried about what my surroundings look like; I just want to move around quickly and shop!

Antialiasing

For all of these presets I use the FXAA antialiasing setting. Unless your system is really struggling, you don’t want to skimp on this one. FXAA is an antialiasing method that was designed to smooth out edges but not be taxing on a system’s GPU. You should be able to run with this enabled, unless you’re on a really old potato of a system, in which case you’re probably sticking with a pre-PBR viewer anyway.

Frame Rate Limiter

This is one of the biggest things you can do – alongside whitelisting various files and folders of your viewer in your antivirus (Firestorm has a built-in guide to this in the viewer, under Help > Whitelist Advisor) to stop it from constantly scanning every single thing and bogging your system down – to improve your performance. I limit my frames to 60 FPS (technically 61, since there’s no manual entry box, and the slider is only so accurate!) even though I run SL on a big 4K monitor. That monitor’s refresh rate is 60.000 Hz, so I keep my FPS capped to that. Second Life is not a fast-paced AAA shooter, so any benefit you might get from running with a higher FPS (such as no flickering) isn’t really applicable here, unless you’re particularly sensitive to that kind of thing. (By the way, that “the human eye can’t see more than 60 FPS” thing is, apparently, a myth.)

Reminder: Make sure you limit your framerate before saving any graphics presets.

My PC specs

This build is a couple of years old now, but it still runs really well. Yes, it kicks out more heat when I’ve got the full PBR bells and whistles enabled, but it’s well ventilated and it has plenty of fans (and it’s also water-cooled). Below are my specs, as pulled from the Firestorm Help > About menu:

CPU: 12th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-12600K (3686.4 MHz)
Memory: 32510 MB (Used: 2793 MB)
Concurrency: 16
OS Version: Microsoft Windows 10 64-bit (Build 19045.5011)
Graphics Card Vendor: NVIDIA Corporation
Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti/PCIe/SSE2
Graphics Card Memory: 8018 MB
Graphics Card Memory (Detected): 8018 MB
Graphics Card Memory (Budget): Unlimited

Windows Graphics Driver Version: 32.0.15.6109
OpenGL Version: 4.6.0 NVIDIA 561.09

ETA: I forgot to add this originally, but for reference my internet connection is 500Mbit/s FTTP (fibre to the premises). After I’d switched to that I noticed a hell of a difference in how SL ran for me. Previously – on a 10Mbit/s ADSL connection – I’d been enduring some pretty bad packet loss, but since the internet upgrade that’s now a thing of the past.

So how do I make one of those reflection probe things, Skell? I’ve no idea how to do it, and it looks kind of complicated!

If you can rez a prim, you can make a reflection probe. It’s far more simple than you might think. Once you know where you want to set it up, you’ll want to change a couple of settings in your viewer’s Build menu first. I’m using Firestorm, so here’s where these settings are found in that viewer:

Build > Options > Show Reflection Probe Volumes

This will allow you to see the reflection probe once you’ve set it up. It’ll be a translucent yellow colour, so once you’ve resized it and got it in place, you’ll want to disable that setting again, otherwise you’ll have a weird yellow overlay on everything.

Build > Options > Select Reflection Probes

You’ll need this checked because once you’ve set a prim to be a reflection probe it’ll effectively become ‘phantom’ (i.e., you can walk through it) and non-selectable. So if you want to be able to move or resize it (and you do want to do that!) then this needs to be checked. Again, once your reflection probe is set up and in place, uncheck this, or you might accidentally grab and move it when you’re trying to decorate your home.

Making a reflection probe is then as simple as:

Rez a prim. It must be either a cube or a sphere. Reflection probes can’t be anything else.

Set it as a Reflection Probe under the Features menu by checking this box. IMPORTANT: Make sure you’ve changed the two menu settings I’ve given above, otherwise you’ll think it’s vanished and you won’t be able to grab hold of it.

Resize it to enclose the entire room or building, up to the outer walls. Try not to let it go outside the walls, unless you have an outside area that you also want to include in the reflection probe. Here, I wanted to include the small enclosed patio area, as I have some garden lights rezzed out there, which shine their light in through the windows as well.

Once it’s in place, disable both of those Build menu settings (Show Reflection Probe Volumes and Select Reflection Probes). Then – if you haven’t already – grab yourself that freebie Studio Saberhagen PBR EEP setting (linked near the start and also at the end of this post) and right-click on the one called PBR – Saberhagen 6 v152 IBL V4 ACES AP1 HDRiMatch and select Apply Only to Myself. This is the permanent daylight setting, so you’ll still be able to see. Now rez out some lighting and start to play around. Move the lighting around to see how it affects your environment. And, once you’re ready to try the full PBR day/night cycle, enabled the PBR – Saberhagen 6 (v14 IBL, ACES AP1) Van, BC, CA 21/6/23 setting.

You’ll probably notice something interesting when you switch from a day to a night cycle. The intensity of any lighting you’ve rezzed out will actually change. As it grows darker outside, you might find your interior lighting looks brighter, and – conversely – as it grows lighter outside you might find the shadows grow deeper indoors.

Tip: If you have an outside photo platform where you rez out various backdrops, add a reflection probe to cover that, too. You’ll find that any PBR items you’re wearing while on that platform will stop having a blue tinge to them if you’re inside a reflection probe that you’ve created yourself, rather than the ‘sky-tinged’ auto reflection probes everywhere in SL.

Décor credits

Smaller room

Apple Fall: Honey Loveseat | Chamise Occasional Table (Stripped Oak) | Pampas Grass | Bohemian Coffee Press (FREE) | Latte Decor (FREE) | Key Table (Washed Light – FREE) | Key Lamp (Nickel – FREE) | Charlotte’s Pears (FREE) | Pediment Frame w/Pillar Sketch (FREE) | Slipcover Chair (Key – FREE) | Original Artwork (Ampersand Graphic) | Reclaimed Corbel Shelf | Books (Arrangements 7, 8, 9, 10, 11) | Ariana Bureau (Aged Oak – FREE) | West Village Mona Office Chair (Rustic Wood) | Male Nude Sketch (I & II) | Juliette Tea Cup (Honey & Lemon Tea) | Milton Curtains
Nutmeg: Meditation Corner Jute Rug
Myrrine: 08 Boho 2.0 Rug
Fetch: Elias Coffee Table
Legna: Luck Collection Vases
QE Home: Birds Nest Fern | Ficus | Boston Fern
Square: Aria Berry Vase
CQ Digital Art: Golden State of Mind 4 (PBR)
Muniick: Lorraine Vintage Table Lamp v3
Peaches: The Fianna Tablet Set
Kunst: Vintage Ashtray 1

Larger room

Apple Fall: West Village Industry Office Desk (Stripped Oak) | West Village Mona Office Chair (Rustic Wood) | West Village iFall Pro 2019 (Aluminium – FREE) | Original Art Haul (Lemon Oil, Pear Oil, Florentine Pitcher Sketch, Peacock on Blue) | Clifton Cast Iron Fireplace | Carved Cabinet (Stripped Oak) | West Village Grace Tufted Sofa & Armchair (Vanilla) | Male Nude Sketch I | Books (Arrangement 8) | West Village Lily Leaves Spray | Books w/ Camera | Stacked Magazines | Fancy Fall Notebook & Phone | Milton Curtains | Pampas Grass | Pyracantha Berries in Glazed Pot (White) | Jar Candle (Crisp Cotton, Open) | West Village Vintage File Drawers | West Village Abbey Candle (Brass – FREE)
Kraftwork: Provence Coffee Table | Carolean Round Table
Pitaya: Classic Rug (Blue) | Wicker Baskets (Blanket Light)
Muniick: Roebling Lounge Fireplace Tool Set | Roebling Lounge Firewood Holder | Roebling Lounge Mantle Clock | Lorraine Floor Vase A (Peacock Feathers) | Llewellyn Vintage Task Lamp
Concept: Dark Mirror
Fancy Decor: Visser Canvas | Leaning Art | Ruben Potted Plant | Seasons Clock | Bryant Original Artwork | Tortoise Shell Frame (gold) | Grantaire Frame
Chef Hill: Creamy Coffee
Peaches: Inked Set Tablet
Lucas Lameth: Ficus Potted Tree (V1, V2)
Zadig: Audio CD Player
Nutmeg: Neat Wall Frames | Meditation Corner Jute Rug
Since 1975: Deer Statue A
Tarte: Essential Frames B
The Half Moon Market: Brass Stick Incense Burner
Random Matter: The Reading Room Bookcase (Oak – S – Full)
Erfe Design: Mindblow Decorative Set (bust & vase)
Meshworx: Alexander Armchair | Harvest Side Table
Architect: Sunset Tower Table Lamp (group gift)
QE Home: Haven Book Stack

Outside

Apple Fall: Farrow Garden Wall (FREE) | Whitehall Pathway

(That credits list is why I so rarely do décor posts. Good grief!)

Finally, a few free PBR EEP settings for you to try. The first three are shadowless, in case you want some of those:

The rest will give you more shadows. Some of these contain multiple settings, include static day and/or night, varying degrees of sunrise or sunset, and day/night cycles. All are (currently) free.