3ds Max
by: Brian Chapman
Tips on Lighting
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Figure 1 – Concept Art
ighting is arguably the most critical element in 3D. For 3-dimensional content, lighting guides the viewer’s eye and provides a tone that invokes emotions relative to the scene. Lighting helps describe shapes, form, and depth. For this reason, it’s essential to understand the more advanced features of lighting for the construction of content. I’ll discuss some of those in this article.
THE IMPACT OF GLOBAL ILLUMINANCE Global illumination is a primary component for lighting scenes, consisting of both indirect light and direct light. Generally speaking, direct lighting comes from a source like a light bulb, while Indirect lighting is produced by everything else. Since every object on the planet has a reflection level, light rays bounce off objects, lighting adjacent objects accordingly. So, let’s explore how these influence a scene. 10
For visualization, a sky is generally the light source. It’s important to understand that the sky doesn’t just influence exterior scenes but also the interior. Light rays cast from the sky bounce around both interior and exterior elements to produce ambient light. This color of the light from the sky sets the tone of an entire scene, influencing the color of objects and shadows themselves. The exposure level of that sky can also influence the scene, making it more or less dramatic. Lastly, the sky light’s color can mix with source lights (say a light bulb) for undesirable results. For example, a standard color scheme used in art, especially in cinematic content, consists of blue skies and gold lights. However, a light from a fire source, such as a candle or fireplace, is orange, and when mixed with a blue and orange environment, can generate light that is peach or magenta. In 3D rendering, this can be less than desirable. For this reason, it is vital to pay attention to the attenuation (or radius) that your objects and light influence one another. Pay attention to how the color of your sky influences
AUGIWorld Magazine | September 2021 augi.com
