STEP BY STEP PRESENTING YOUR MODELS TO CLIENTS: TOP TIPS
01 THREE-POINT LIGHTING
One of the quickest ways to improve your scene is to create a simple threepoint lighting setup around your model. This consists of a key light, which is the main light that also casts the shadows; a fill light, which brightens the darker side of the model and can also emulate reflected light; and finally a back light, which will help to make the model stand out from the background.
02 ADJUST SHADOWS
The basic Maya shadows can be quite harsh, and by default come through as black holes. It’s worth spending some time experimenting with the colour, and try lightening them too so you can still make out the geometry they are casting onto. You can also change the type from raytraced to depth map to change the overall appearance if you want your shadows to be softer.
03 RIM LIGHT INSTEAD OF BACK LIGHT
A rim shader can be an easy way to help the model pop out of the screen, and they are relatively easy to set up using a Sampler Info node. All you do is create a ramp texture to dictate the rim colour, and then connect the Sampler Info node’s Facing Ratio attribute to a ramp’s V Coord attribute. You can then adjust the ramp to get a softer rim, or even a harsher, celshaded effect.
04 FLOOR PLANE
It’s a good idea to ground your models so they have something to sit or stand on, so a simple floor plane can help. You can then use another ramp texture, with its type set to circular, and connect that to the Transparency attribute on the floor plane shader. This will give a nice spotlight kind of effect, so the floor plane’s edges become invisible.