Lighting low poly chars 4 render

JadedBuddha

Hey dudes,
I'm new to this forum but ive found a lot of info on here ive found interesting. I'm working on a low-poly char atm ya know like so many trying to get a break. um so yeah Im working on this char and was wondering how i should go about lighting it. This character is meant to be colonel mortimer from for a few dollars more. with all the props its at 620 tris and im using 2 256x256 texture maps one is a alpha. If u guys have any ideas or helpful hints please lemme know.

Xaltar

I usually make my low poly work (sub 1k tris) fully self illuminated and paint the lighting into the diffuse.

Mark Dygert

Yup what Xaltar said.

Also try to avoid harsh white (or black) backgrounds it really does assault peoples eyes and wash out details. Go for a nice natural color like gray. Also if you're interested in lighting characters these links might be of interest to you?
http://boards.polycount.net/showthread.php?t=51209 (A little guide to basic lighting I wrote)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v332/Jacoh/pc_lights_01.jpg (A good illustration of 3 point lighting)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three-point_lighting (3 point lighting in general)
http://www.3drender.com/light/3point.html (3 point lighting more specific to characters)
http://www.warpedspace.org/lightingT/part1.htm (Some good light theory)

jlewis

i am in complete agreeance with Vig. i would recommend staying away from high intensity (colored or b/w) backgrounds for your renders.

there is a lighting script on scriptspot ( http://www.scriptspot.com/scripts/web_upload/Alexandre%20OLIVEIRA/New%20E-light%202.0a.ms ) i use that script with a simple 3-point scheme and i get really good results imho.

JadedBuddha

thanks a lot guys I posted elsewhere on the same topic and was given other information http://boards.polycount.net/showthread.php?t=56855
thanks a lot tho really helpful I wish I had found this forum sooner

Joao Sapiro

for lowpoly i always use 100% fullbright, because that will show the texture itself and how well it was painted , sure that ingame it will be lit per vertex, and omnis and stuff will give horrible per vertex lightning and wash out the texture.