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The tutorial that I am following sets the power of a Area Light object to 500W and even turns down the distance. When I do this, the light barely shows, I have to crank it up to like 5000-50,000 for it to be noticeable. Is there any reason for this? Again, I am a beginner so this might be a bad question. Also I am in render view so the light should show. And I have made sure to apply the texture cause when I really crank it up there is a light.

All images are on the same settings

Put an emission texture here, that's why its bright

See nothing on the ground (on the plain)

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    $\begingroup$ Make sure you are working in real world scale. What are the dimensions of the lamp? $\endgroup$
    – brockmann
    Commented Nov 18, 2020 at 5:52
  • $\begingroup$ If you are dealing with volumetrics (volume scattering or volume absorption) to create a foggy effect, the lights need to be brighter. Alternatively you can dial down the density for volumetrics. Don't worry about large values if you are getting the resutlts that you are after. $\endgroup$
    – susu
    Commented Nov 18, 2020 at 16:37
  • $\begingroup$ For eevee, read the following link: blender.stackexchange.com/questions/172699/… $\endgroup$
    – susu
    Commented Nov 18, 2020 at 16:52

2 Answers 2

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The long and short of it is that the values for lights in cycles don't directly correspond to values you'd use in everyday life. Sun lamps are expressed in irradiance, for example. Things in blender also have default values that are often set to meet the needs/expectations of the greatest number of people and may not necessarily be what you need.

You can read a little more in the documentation.

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I'd recommend you use a sunlamp with a small brightness (maybe around 0.1-0.9), with the area lamp so that you get a more noticeable light source. Sun lamps emit light as if a 'sun' is shining infinitely far away with a same brightness from whichever direction you have the sun lamp pointing towards. An area lamp is basically a 'plane' which emits light in the direction it is pointing. Blender's standard increment is meters, so if you have an area lamp in a scene which represents a street light, and the lamp is about 10-15 units from the ground, then it would be as if a lamp was 30-50 feet off the ground in real life. (The average in real life). However, if you are thinking in terms of feet, then if you put an area light 40 units off the ground, then you are actually simulating it 120+ feet off the ground.

Try this method, I hope it works!

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    $\begingroup$ The shape of the light (and the shadow) would be completely different (compared to the characteristics of a street light). $\endgroup$
    – brockmann
    Commented Nov 18, 2020 at 6:12
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    $\begingroup$ A sun lamp will not have the same effect at all. Sun lamps deal only with the direction of the light but their placement in the world is irrelevant. $\endgroup$
    – susu
    Commented Nov 18, 2020 at 16:31
  • $\begingroup$ Correct. Using a sunlamp, a scene can be brightened in a certain direction, as if a sun was pointing in that direction. The reason I recommended using one is because you won't get very far using only an area and the world brightness $\endgroup$
    – Nate_Sycro27
    Commented Nov 18, 2020 at 21:31

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