3 point lighting is your friend. There is a lot of reading to be found on the intertron, but I'll give you the skinny version. I'll mostly talk in terms of Max however most of this translates to just about any 3D app and most game engines you plan on using. This is geared toward people who have tried to light a scene and…
just curious: where did you find/read that an omni/point light is equivalent to six spotlights? I have no idea why it would be treated that way as it would be much harder to code. Every piece of code dealing with lighting I've ever seen, be it Cg, HLSL, or C++ refers to an omni/point light as one of the simplest types of…
Valandar, just remember that adding more lights that only cast light won't add too much to render times. Its the shadow casting lights (especially omni lights) that will start to really lengthen render times. Some "basic" lighting set ups in order to get a natural feel, look like chaotic messes. Just try and put some…
Nice write up Vig. I find radiosity faster to setup and adjust than manually placing bounce and negative lights, but it is nice to have options. Some more lighting links http://www.3drender.com/light/3point.html http://book.hourences.com/booklighting.htm http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NEMY8qP6eo (quickie radiosity in Max)
I'm talking about basic CG lighting techniques nothing advanced and not really engine specific, if it happens to apply to engines or other applications, then great. I came to the conclusion that omni lights are less efficient at casting shadows after doing quite a bit of test renders in 3Ds Max on big scenes. Lets be clear…
The Omni light only is 6 spotlights, when needing shadowmaps. Otherwise its indeed one of the mathwise simplest/cheapest/fastest form of a lightsource, cept for infinite distant light, as Vailias suggests. But as shadowmapping is used in many games, and no-raytrace stuff is around, omni in realtime shadow situation is…
Hey Vig, thanks big time for helping me on my last couple of pieces and also for this in depth writeup! I've been doing a lot of reading on lighting and this has been most useful and motivating! Actually, I have a couple of questions. What is the difference between Near and Far Attune? And whats the difference between…