Scene Lighting and Atmosphere - Come One & All

wgdjohn

Just updated links on page 1.  Added "1+ Hour Quick Render -by DarkSide Projects - Don't let the title mislead you... Very good info about lighting by Dartanbeck, EviIproducer and others... it's about a page be sure to read it all."

Dartanbeck

I still need to wade through this thread. What a great topic to discuss!

As HeadWax has recently pointed out in another thread, lighting is actually quite simple, but it's easy for people to accidentally over-think it.

Photographers will likely have a fairly easy time of it - knowing what to look for to get certain end results. But there are still often a lot more ideas to bring to the table when it comes to 3d render software, since we can defy what truly goes on in nature.

Like the Vertex Modeler, Fog Primitive, and other cool features that come with Carrara, when I was first starting out in Carrara I read that Global Illumination (GI) and Indirect Lighting (IL) should be avoided unless render time is not a consideration. Although I was really good at ignoring the silly negativity regarding the Vertex Modeler and other tools, I accidentally avoided GI and IL for years! Amazing how negative thoughts can get stuck into one's subconscious.

It was a video tutorial by our resident Super Hero, Cripeman (RIP, my friend!), on Global Illumination that got me to rethink this whole misconception, and then start using tips from his lesson to make my own lighting experiment practice scene to help test new ideas, which I've then made too lengthy of a babble-session video about: "Painting with Shadows". Then PhilW's Realism Rendering course came out at Daz3d via Infinite Skills around the same time I got Digital Lighting and Rendering - Third Edition, by Jeremy Birn. They have both removed my negative subconscious thoughts and given me a better understanding on IL, along with a lot more practical knowledge regarding lighting and rendering overall. I'm still soaking in as much as I can like a sponge! 

Although I still don't frequently use them for my animation work (I still use artificial representations of each), at least I'm more acquainted with, and no longer afraid of using GI and/or IL!

GKDANTAS (Marcello Teixera) made a bunch of excellent silent video tutorials for Carrara, and his Volumetric Light video gave me a stronger understanding of using those effects. I've approached them from the start, and tried to keep them as subtle as possible to keep from getting the generic "fake" look. Experimenting further with the options available to Spot lights, like using a Gel to activate the Fog effect in the light cone, has made me enjoy using them a whole lot more. So now sometimes I'm using volumetric fog, sometimes volumetric light, and sometimes both. But I've also recently discovered that the Fog that comes from using the Realistic Sky works for interiors as well - whether or not the sky is even visible, which is also a wonderful way to control volumetric atmospheric conditions!

Examples

These images use only volumetric lighting, but also a bit of assistance from the Aura post effect for the atmospheric effects

The Aura isn't volumetric at all, but can certainly help to add the appearance of light intensity from, in these cases, the light's practical origin.

This one uses both volumetric light and aura, and also has a volumetric cloud to assist with an animated leak

while this one uses volumetric light, aura, and the Realistic Sky's fog

One last example for now, this one uses the light cone effect to 'blind' the viewer of any background, so none is needed - or used.

Dartanbeck

► Cripeman's Carrara Video Tutorials Index

► GK Dantas' Video Manual Index

Dartanbeck

Digital Lighting and Rendering - 3rd Edition is an excellent resource for anyone wishing to learn more on the subject.

I have to that Jay Nola for recommending it to me repeatedly when I was new to all of this, PhilW for reinforcing that recommendation, especially when 3rd Edition came out, including the new info on Linear Workflow and more, and to my good friend Garstor, who bought the book and decided to buy an extra copy for me at the same time - what a nice surprise to get in the 

mail!

It, and PhilW's Realism Rendering course, which further translates a lot of Jeremy's words into Carrara practical knowledge, delves deeply into lighting and rendering for realism (PhilW) and cinematic (Jeremy Birn) uses. Very good and useful information to soak in about lighting up digital scenes.

Jeremy's book further teaches the importance of shadows, which also inspired my above linked-to video tutorial/experiment, and also goes into benefits of knowing whether to 'cheat' with lighting rigs or to rely on modern computations to simulate realistic, life-like realism lighting.

He also describes how and why "Light Linking" (having a light Only Affect certain things) can benefit our workflow along with many other necessities in the life of a cinematic digital lighting and rendering artist. 

I highly recommend both resources for those in need of help in these areas.

Dartanbeck

Funny thing. I just went to grab some links and ran across this image again. I love this image on a personal note. Rosie and I just kicked a bunch of orc arse! But the interesting thing is that I made this render after watching Cripeman's dedication to Frank Frazetta and, at that time I wasn't into doing post work so, I used volumetric lighting to fade the highly detailed environment to white - which really took a lot of time and patience - almost gave up many times! LOL

Okay, I actually came back to say that:

If you want more resources and inspiration, Learning CARRARA and need some help?  has some fun stuff to peruse as well as links to download C3DE (Carrara 3D Expo) magazines, 3dXtract magazines (Carrara/Amapi e-zine) and much more - even some delving back into the earlier "Post Your Renders" threads since the forum started anew again. 

PhilW

Thanks for the plugs for my Realism Rendering - and I would also endorse Jeremy Birn's book, it is a classic.

wgdjohn

Only watched Realism Rendering once... suspect that another go at it will benefit me now that I understand more... thanks Phil for endorsing Jeremy Birns book... I feel even better now since just ordering it.

By the way... ordering from Peachpit is less expensive than elsewhere that I checked... an added benefit is an addition discount for answering a few silly questions... well worth the time.

---

Dart... thanks for the drivebye. :)  Great examples of what I'm wanting to accomplish... or rather hope to come close to... also thanks for the links.

Dartanbeck

I'm hoping to open some time soon to be able to get more in-depth on some of these topics with some practical exercises ;) Fun stuff!

I think you'll really like Jeremy's book - especially since you also own Realism Rendering (PhilW, my pleasure, by the way... I love all of the hard work and research you put into those topics), which will help to reinforce and add to some really important subjects ;)