STEP BY STEP MAKE AN INTERACTIVE SINGLE-COLOUR BACKGROUND
01 SET UP THE HERO OBJECT LIGHTING
To start, concentrate on the hero object, and add a lighting scheme using Redshift Lights. In this example, two Redshift area light objects are being used. Both of the lights are parented to a central null. This allows the lights to be rotated independently of the model. One of the lights, the key, is used to create a reflection on the screen. The other, the rim, highlights the edge of the phone.
02 ADD THE BACKGROUND ELEMENTS
Next we’ll add the Disc object which will act as a background along with a Redshift dome light. Add a Redshift Object Tag to the Disc and in the Matte tab of the Properties palette, enable Override and then Show Background under General. Under Shadow, make sure that all of the three tickboxes are enabled. For the dome light under the General tab, change the Tint to the background colour desired, and then under the Ray tab, deselect the Affects Diffuse and Affects Specular tickboxes in Contribution.
03 INCLUDE A LIGHT FOR THE SHADOWS
Add a third Redshift area light – this is to be used for the shadows on the Disc object. In the Ray tab, under Contribution make sure that Affects Specular is unchecked and in Scale input, a Diffuse Value of 0.0001 or similar. This will make sure that the shadow light is barely contributing anything to lighting the phone. Still, it has no impact on the shadow quality, which is controlled in the Shadow tab.
04 SET LIGHT PROJECTION
At the moment, it may not look like the shadows are working correctly or at all, this is because the hero key and rim light are lighting the background Disc object. To fix this, select both the key and rim light objects and go to the Project tab in the Attributes palette. Drag the Disc object from the Cinema 4D Object Manager list into the Objects box. If the Mode dropdown is set to Exclude this will stop both of these lights affecting the Disc object and the shadow light is now the only light creating shadows.