How to simulate computer screen

Rendering
,
1

I’m trying to create a model of a computer screen that is turned on. The screen image is supposed to be sharp and bright against the dark surrounding (since a real screen emits light so the screen is visible and it lights up its surroundings), but it’s also supposed to show the screen contents. The screen content is a decal at the moment.

No matter what I try, I cannot get the right result; in the attached sample model, there are 2 Screen layers (only one of them is supposed to be visible at a time) - one is the screen only with the decal and the other two are the screen with the decal and an emission material (33% and 100%, respectively). The screen surface is set to not receive shadows.

If I try to render with just the decal (no emission), the screen is dark (as expected). If I render with the decal + 33% emission, the decal is washed out by the emission light. Using the 100% emission variant the decal becomes completely invisible, as the screen becomes a light.

Is there a better approach to get the effect I’m going for or is this something that I can only do in Photoshop after rendering?

Here’s a sample picture that shows roughly what I’m after (screen content visible in dark room and casts light on surroundings):

5078
5078465×279 13.7 KB

Here’s a picture of what I do NOT want:

360_F_960962431_PMRx6fw1GWFcIuKby7jnLlIrE2hypg62
360_F_960962431_PMRx6fw1GWFcIuKby7jnLlIrE2hypg62643×360 14.2 KB

Here’s my sample model:

emission-issue.7z (205.3 KB)

Any advice would be appreciated.

2

Don’t use the ‘decal’ feature, use a texture in the emissive material. “Decals” are literally just for things that are supposed to look like decals…

3

@JimCarruthers I didn’t think of that, thank you, but how do I do that? When I open the emission material, it has no texture option. Should I use Blend with an emission and the picture with the decal as the texture?

Edit:

Thank you for the idea, I managed to do this:

image
image998×545 83.7 KB

Is there a better option? This is a big step forward, self-illumination makes it much better, but it doesn’t illuminate the surroundings. When I use the emission color option, that washes the image out again.

4

Hi Gyorgi,

Use a PBR material with the blue screen image applied as a texture to the emission property. Up the intensity to, say, 1.6. Also, set the Base Color to black to avoid washing out the image.

image
image1604×1423 178 KB

HTH
Jeremy

5

Awesome advice, thank you! I had no idea this was possible. I’ve been wrangling with this for a while now, here’s how my final scene looks like:

Mall-20251207-02
Mall-20251207-021280×806 143 KB

6

Hi @gyorgy.bozoki ,

I’ve also added an enhancement request for the Emission material to have a texture option. https://mcneel.myjetbrains.com/youtrack/issue/RH-90933

7

Thank you @BrianJ for adding this. I have long wondered why that was not possible.

8

@BrianJ Thank you, that would indeed be very useful.

9

Note that the emission material is just a simple interface to the physically based material. For more control after adding emission material change the material type from emission material to physically based. You can then add the texture.