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How to : Lighting Environment Question
I was curious if and how Cinema 4d could do the lighting in this scene:
It’s on the Tronic website:
https://www.tronicstudio.com/media/shell/shell_big.html
You have to select collection at the bottom, then choose Microsft Vista. It’s not the video, it’s the background they use.
There are two robot type creature and the lighting in the scene is brightly lit, relatively even all around and the floor and sky kind of blend together but it is still well lit.
I can’t seem to get any type of lighting like that. I’ve tried Sun and can’t figure it out. If I use any lights there is too much fall off and I can always see a hard line between the floor and the wall.
Any thoughts, hints, etc ?
Thanks.
Chris
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4 Replies
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Well lighting being so complex and all (or can be complex) it’s hard to guess. The reflections in the robots are not there as objects so they’re using an image as a reflection map or environment map. The same image may be being used to light the scene with GI as well. The shadows look like there might be one area light or a small light dome with possibly one more spot for the sharp shadow under the foot but that might not be necessary. None of the ‘real’ lights (if they are there) appear to have specular on and the specular comes from the image map reflections (and/or the GI if it is being used). Just guesses.
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This is probably a dumb question but here goes ? What does “GI” stand for ?
Also, in general how do they get the whole “world” to be lit like that without falling into complete darkness ?
I defintely see what you are saying about the reflection maps and the shadows. I am more confused on the general overall lighting.
Thanks for the response Brian. I ove this program. It is just so deep it can seem dauting at times.
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[Chris Holland] “What does “GI” stand for ? “
Global Illumination, also called Radiosity, takes into account light bouncing off objects like in the real world, not just straight ‘light to object’ illumination, very slow needs a speedy computer and it still feels slow – but can be gorgeous… it also can use the Luminance in textures as light sources, a scene can be lit with no lights at all – you need the Advanced Render Module for this.
[Chris Holland] “in general how do they get the whole “world” to be lit like that without falling into complete darkness ? “
Radiosity can be faked, lights under the floor/behind walls with shadows turned off that imitate light bouncing off the floors/walls onto objects. There are also Ambient lights (any light in C4D can do this it’s just in the settings) that light everything, kind of a bad choice since it lightens the shadow areas as well.
Light domes are another choice, a big sphere with lights at all it’s points, all the lights set to a low value. Light comes from everywhere so it’s similar in some ways to GI in it’s look if you are lighting objects like the robots and not a room – check out Lumen Lite (free plugin) here https://www.biomekk.com/index.php?page=1&cat=107&itm=2
Overall it’s a huge subject that takes some learning. There are lots of books on the subject and probably web sources I am unaware of.
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Thanks alot Brian. All of this is very helpful.
Chris
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