A 2 foot by 3 foot softbox facing a parallel wall 9 feet distant - simulated in Maxwell Renderer v 1.7
Softbox with 1" deep egg crate grid - a Maxwell Render simulation
Softbox with 2" deep egg crate grid - a Maxwell Render simulation
Softbox with 4" deep egg crate grid - a Maxwell Render simulation
Softbox with 8" deep egg crate grid - a Maxwell Render simulation
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Here is a 30 minute render of a CG model using Maxwell Render 1.7 to simulate a softbox gridded deeply, shallowly, and not at all.
The three frames were all of quite different exposures. The deeper the grid, the more light was lost. Maxwell images are 32-bit HDR files, so I equalized them in Photoshop. You can see how much noise remains in the deep grid image after a half hour of rendering.
As the grid gets deeper, the light rays become more parallel, and the shadow on the wall becomes sharper, as if from a harder light. I find it hard to see much difference in softness or hardness on the figure itself, although with more light on the wall there is more bounce fill and less contrast.
The three frames were all of quite different exposures. The deeper the grid, the more light was lost. Maxwell images are 32-bit HDR files, so I equalized them in Photoshop. You can see how much noise remains in the deep grid image after a half hour of rendering.
As the grid gets deeper, the light rays become more parallel, and the shadow on the wall becomes sharper, as if from a harder light. I find it hard to see much difference in softness or hardness on the figure itself, although with more light on the wall there is more bounce fill and less contrast.
A bare light bulb about the size of a real bulb. Note the distinct, but slightly soft-edged shadow. Fairly hard light.
Hard light and soft light from ungridded distant and close softboxes.
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