Research
01 – Observe how light works in the real world How it bounces, how coloured light affects coloured surfaces, and so on. Sometimes it does what you least expect. Jason Scott
02 – Learn to read photographs Get books from great
photographers like Jimmy Nelson, Roger Ballen or whoever’s style you
fancy and have them laying around your work desk to pick up when you are
lost, when your computer is rendering, or whenever you have a spare
moment. Then start learning to read the photographs, as there is a lot
of information you can get by really studying a picture. Looking at
shadows and speculars in a picture can help you figure out what light
setup has been used, and what lights serve what purpose. Some lights
might serve to separate the subject from the background, while others
might serve to attract the viewer’s eye to a specific point in the
picture, for example. Kevin Beckers
03 – Get your shaders ready first Don’t rig your
lights before you make sure all your shaders are ready – lighting a
scene without shaders is a waste of time. Start by using a very simple
light – no GI, just simple area light – to see how your shaders will
act. Then, when all your shaders become ready, think about more. Mostafa Zaki
04 – Read photography magazines Aside from reading 3D-specific industry magazines, it is also a good idea to read up on other industry publications, like photography titles.
They often deal with lighting and composition topics and also have some
good tips and tricks on post-production that can help to take your 3D
renders to the next level. Kevin Beckers
05 – Don’t be slave to photographic realism You can
use photographic references to understand how stuff works, then remember
to be creative, you are the artist, you have to bend the light to your
needs! Ivan Stalio
Lighting setup
06 – Take the time to set up basic lighting Before
starting to set up complex materials and textures, take the time to set
up a basic form of your intended lighting setup to get a better idea of
how the light will affect the final composition. I will typically only
include the basic diffuse, glossy and transparent shaders when testing
the lighting. Setting up the basic lighting early on can prevent issues
such as having to modify or rearrange models after they are textured and
can be a big time-saver. It is also a great opportunity to experiment
with new lighting setups that you haven’t tried before, since render
times will be quite low. Thomas Cairns
07 – Start with the light that has the smallest effect first
Many artists have said this before, but it’s one of the most important
things you need to become a good lighting artist. You can’t see the
effect of the smallest light if you start with the biggest one. If you
test all your lights step by step, then you will not have any problems
with a complex setup. Mostafa Zaki
08 – Strip back and get your primary lighting right
Sometimes you add so many lights you don’t how each is affecting your
scene. Strip back to one, get the angle and intensity where you want it,
and start adding extra fill lights back in. Jonathan Ball
09 – Keep experimenting Try different kinds of lights. I usually change my lighting setup every time – I really like to experiment. Ivan Stalio
10 – Use contrast Contrast in lighting will make
your scene dramatic and interesting. Try using warm colours against cold
ones, or using one huge light source on one side balanced by multiple
small lights on the other. Waldemar Bartkowiak
11 – Vary your colours Remember that even while you
are using the same light, you can use different colours in your specular
channels or maps, simulating different coloured lights and getting
original results. Ivan Stalio
12 – Build up a composition Use the lights to build
composition of the image. Brighten areas you want to be seen and guide
the viewer’s eyes across the image using light rays. To create the
moonlight effect in ‘Master of the Books’, I used three lights placed in the same spot, just above the hole in the ceiling, all pointing downwards:
• A Spotlight with a slight blue tint, with five-degree cone angle
and intensity at around ten per cent. It’s main purpose was to light the
floor and illuminate the main elements in the centre from the top.
• A Large Area Light, bigger than the size of the hole in the
ceiling. This light has a dark blue colour and high 180 per cent
intensity with the falloff using Inverse Distance Squared setting, which
reaches the bottom of the library. It fills the whole room with soft
blue light in a gradient pattern. Use of large area light allows me to
draw nice, soft shadows.
• The last light is a Distant Light, for the volumetric lighting. It
doesn’t affect diffuse or specular, its role is to create a pillar of
light, shooting from above the whole scene, through the hole, down to
the ground. The intensity of the light is set to 100 per cent, the
Effect Dissolve value is set to 20 per cent, and the rest of the
settings at default. The radius of the light is roughly the same size as
the hole, but really tall, with the length being twice as big as the
whole library. This helped me get desired falloff, especially with such
an extreme camera angle. I choose pure white, with lots of shades of
blue already illuminating the upper parts of the library, it makes the
rays stands out more. Waldemar Bartkowiak
Effects & shadows
13 – Setting up your gamma This is very tricky for
many artists – physically gamma should be 2.2 but this amount wouldn’t
normally give you the result you want. I would use a gamma of 1.6 or 1.8
or 1; remember, you can bend the real physics in your world – it all
depends on what you need. Jason Scott
14 – Don’t be afraid of dark areas Not everything
has to be lit – dark areas add atmosphere. I often get annoyed when
watching films that have scenes set in the dark, caves or unlit rooms,
for example, and they have added a low level light so you can see
everything. That ruins the entire atmosphere. Jonathan Ball
15 – What you can’t see is as important as what you can Learn to embrace both darkness and shadow. Jason Scott
16 – Remember off-camera lights Imagine a city scene
at night, you are rendering a small section of buildings within that
city. In reality that scene will be affected by lights from buildings,
cars, neon signs and so on that are not visible in the main scene, but
are adding subtle secondary light or reflections to it. Add some lights
off camera to simulate this. Jonathan Ball
17 – Use volumetric lighting Volumetric lighting,
when not overused, can be an easy way to add some extra interest to your
scene’s light setup. It is especially useful in interiors and can be
combined with obstacles in the light’s path to both add interest to the
scene and to focus the viewer on the main subject. Thomas Cairns
18 – Introduce complexity to shadows Whenever it
makes sense to do so, try to introduce extra complexity to the shadows
of your scene. Even though the environment outside an interior scene may
not be modelled, it can add extra interest to the shadows of your scene
if alpha-mapped textures such as foliage or raindrops are placed in the
path between the light source and interior scene. In Blender
I like to use a spot lamp set to a very high strength with a small
‘size’ value to better show off small details from shadows cast by
alpha-mapped patterns in front of the light source. Thomas Cairns
19 – Break up the light Breaking up a light, for example by putting a noise map in the projector map in 3ds Max,
or placing a ‘tree billboard’ in front of your light, can help break
that CG feel you get as the light will have subtle intensity variations,
as apposed to this perfect uniform light a CG light gives. Heavy or
light dirtmaps in specular or bump slots will also help break said
uniformity. Kevin Beckers
20 – Using luminous polygons I like to use luminous polygons – or lumigons – in MODO
to create detailed lighting setups. I usually don’t accept my image as
complete with just a regular photorealistic light, even if I’m working
on an outdoor scene. Sometimes, in addition to the sunlight, I use some
more lights because I want to get a shaded area to be more readable, or
highlight a particular element or a detail. Ivan Stalio
21 – Add dust particles floating in the air It could
be done using particle systems, or simple geometry with alpha planes
and works quite well when combined with volumetric lights. Those
particles will get picked up by all your light sources, adding a final
touch to your render. Waldemar Bartkowiak
22 – Create colour effects In Blender I often create
planes with an emission material and a strong colour for my lights. I
then use another plane facing an opposite direction with a contrasting
colour and a lower setting. This creates interesting colour effects in
your scenes. Jonathan Ball
23 – Adding fog Don’t be afraid using volumetric
lighting and of adding a bit of fog to your scenes. It will not only add
depth to your image, but also it helps build a mysterious atmosphere.
You can also add some quick smoke effects by just adding some simple
texture in your volumetric lights settings. Good examples of this kind
of effect might be light coming through the window blinds in dusty room,
or rays cast through a hole in the clouds. Thanks to their interaction
with the environment these lights are much more exciting and
captivating. Waldemar Bartkowiak
24 – Post processing There is no doubt that post is
one of the most important things that any 3D artist should know, but
don’t count on it. Use lighting to try to make the best results come
directly from your 3D app. Even if you are rendering just passes, make
all your passes look beautiful. Don’t wait until you go to post. Mostafa Zaki
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