step by step

LIGHT a SCENE TO HIGHLIGHT TEXTURE

01Here be a hero

we can see what effect the different types of lighting is having on the hero objects and background stage. The key light illuminates the hero objects and floor. The rim light is just to add some blueish tones to the right and illuminate the stage wall. Finally, the back light is used to fill in the stage and picks out the silhouettes of the spikes.

02 adjust rim lights

Turning on all lights and rendering results in a more balanced image. We have the warm light to the left and cooler light on the right, giving a well-balanced and calming feel. Moving the lights around – in front of or behind the models – will adjust how your rim lights will look. It’s important that you know what areas you want to highlight.

03 Falling light

Here we see how the model looks with the light falling onto it. There is a good mixture of shadows, which accentuate the form and texture. Unfortunately, when you’re working in Painter or Photoshop, it’s hard to know how blue or yellow lights will affect your hero object until you do a test render. Also, I found switching the shader to Oren Nayar gives a fake SSS look.

04 Post-production lighting

Finally, we take the image to Photoshop for some post production. Using colour correction commands such as Levels, Hue/saturation and Gradient Maps all help to enforce the lighting we have been trying to achieve. Some delicate touches with the Dodge and Burn tools can also help warm or cool parts of the model.