Character Reel Lighting

Dio

Is there an industry concensus regarding lighting used to show game models? Light based maps, i.e. normal/specular, make self-illumination a non-option but using lighting that isnt real-time seems deceptive.

Snowfly

industry packaging uses cheat renders, so why not? i think if you can't put out a decent real-time setup, don't bother. i'm pretty sure a lot of people that review portfolios aren't necessarily 3d artists themselves and you'd be better off wowing them any way you can. if a 3d artist does review your portfolio, he should be able to spot if it's software rendered and look past the rendering and see the workmanship of the materials.

motives

on the other hand if the employer spots the rendering he migth think "oh nothing but fancy renders"

I say go with a basic three point lighting. Or try and mimic the lighting from a up to date game engine.

If you use a GI render or somethin like that i would atleast mention it somewhere. The short term advantages you get by faking will come back and bite you in the ass eventually. thats what i think anyway.

Ryno

3 point or similar setup, with some ambient occlusion. (GI crevice shading). Nice subdued colors, but with some variation. Shoot for a natural but dramatic look. Make it look as pretty as possible, as this is what game engines and render filtering will do in real time.

palm

If I got a good looking portfolio made up of beauty renderings, I would ask the guy to use screengrab and send it again. I’ve seen to many crappy models with crappy textures being saved by a good renderings.

palm

Your textures and models should communicate the depth of your models. Not the GI rendering. Beauty renderings can be cool, but be sure to present them together with “normal” screengrabs aswell. It’s ok to simulate real-time graphics as long as you do it in a realistic way.

Per128
And yeah, I imagine IV can recognize good craftsmanship. At least I hope so.;)

palm

Seems like where not on the same page here Per128. Its ok to apply GI on untextured characters. It’s also ok to apply GI on environments and static objects. Just keep your portfolio honest.

And thanks for the lesson about lightning Per128. Smartass.:P

malcolm

Good lighting is good lighting, no matter how you get it. If you can't light without restrictoins you certainly won't be able to light when game restrictions are applied. Also for any game using a baked lightmap solution final gather and global illumination is just fine, as is caustics and anything else, it is all baked so it is free. We use final gather with global illumination from mentalray to act as our ambient light since ssx3, a ps2 game.