Some advice for learning lighting,masterials, shaders
Hey guys, i really need some advice from you. I want to learn lighting, to be able to get some realism for the character i am creating now. The problem is, i have no idea, what engine should i use, Vray or Mental ray?
And how should i learn lighting, materials and shaders?
For now, i am bit more confident, with modeling, setting up uv, and some how i am learning texturing, but with the lighting,materials and shaders
I am stuck.
And how should i learn lighting, materials and shaders?
For now, i am bit more confident, with modeling, setting up uv, and some how i am learning texturing, but with the lighting,materials and shaders
I am stuck.
Replies
[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Digital-Lighting-Rendering-2nd-Edition/dp/0321316312/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1338223437&sr=8-1"]Amazon.com: Digital Lighting and Rendering (2nd Edition) (9780321316318): Jeremy Birn: Books[/ame]
This is also pretty film related, but still very knowledgeable.
[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Lighting-Rendering-Maya-Shadows-Interactive/dp/B001JBT1EA/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1338223437&sr=8-2"]Amazon.com: Lighting & Rendering in Maya: Lights and Shadows [Interactive DVD]: Jeremy Birn: Movies & TV[/ame]
This is probably one of the best books for lighting in general, not strictly centered on CG stuff, more aimed at painters, but full of traditional art techniques.
[ame="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0740797719/ref=s9_simh_gw_p14_d0_g14_i1?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=1K4C5BHCNWRHVKSMM044&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=470938631&pf_rd_i=507846"]Amazon.com: Color and Light: A Guide for the Realist Painter (9780740797712): James Gurney: Books[/ame]
This is aimed more at teaching the technicalities of light and shadow. A good overview of lighting/shadowing.a
[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Light-Visual-Artists-Understanding-Design/dp/185669660X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1338224278&sr=1-1"]Amazon.com: Light for Visual Artists: Understanding & Using Light in Art & Design (9781856696609): Richard Yot: Books[/ame]
I believe EAT3D also has a DVD strictly focused on lighting in UDK, haven't seen it myself tho.
Also before jumping into VRAY/MR, you'll want to learn lighting at the basic level. A good understanding of lighting will always prevail over which renderer you use.
For a second thought, i don't know if i want all of this, I just want to learn lighting, so i can put lights on my characters/creature.
I want to learn how to get something like this, It's from Jesse Sandifer,
http://coolvibe.com/2011/turtle-barbarian/
Does in UDK is easy to light up things?
Both normally require a short time setting up, but a much longer time tweaking and getting the results you want.
So how should i present my work on my demo reel and portfolio? I always wanted to be modeler/texture artist, but i really want to make some good lighting to look like the link i posted.
Basically you have a Key light that sets the general direction of the light and provides the majority of the illumination. You want to normally place this to the side and higher up than the model you intend to light. Somewhere around 45 degrees to the side and higher is a good starting point. Keep away from placing them to parallel to the character has this tends to flatted the form and won't show off the curvature of the model very well.
Then you have a Fill light that is normally placed opposite to your Key light. This removes the dark areas from the model caused by the Key light. Generally this should always have a lower intensity than the Key light.
Then you have the Rim light that separates your model from the background and outlines the characters form. This is pretty simple, you just need a strong light placed correctly behind your character enough to get the silhouette to stand out and pop the model from the negative space.
Also using different coloured lights will add some variation and is generally considered better than using a single colour. Using complimentary colours also adds some nice contrast to the scene. Warm and cool colours could also be used if your trying to portray a bit of atmospheric perspective to really push a focal point.
Also keeping your lighting and shadows softer will evoke a more peaceful mood, whereas harsh lighting might work better on a monster or inhostile or space-themed environment where there's no atmosphere.
Just do a search for 3-point lighting and you should get quite a few tutorials.
As for shaders, best thing I can advise is to look up the different illumination models and how they differ from each other.
I.E. Lambert has no specular and is useful for surfaces with little or no specular reflectance, things like wood and cloth.
Then theres Blinn and Phong that are good for metals and plastics.
Anisotropic for brushed metals and hair.
SSS for skin and wax and generally all surfaces that have translucency.
Oren-Nayer for cloth. Etc.
This list goes on and not that you need to be an expert in them all, knowing which shader to use for which surface will certainly help you achieve more realistic results faster and also more predictably.
Keep in mind like I said before that you probably want to set them up and then start tweaking back and forth from shader to light, rendering in between each tweak.
The no need to specialise in lighting, just having a good understanding of lighting and shaders will be good enough to show off your models more professionally while keeping your focus on modeling and texturing.