There have been several requests that to describe my process of creating lightings in my scene, and here I want to share my process. It always depends on the scene situations so there are no single route to finish from start to the end, but I feel there are some common issues that I always take in mind when I'm composing mine, so I thought I can share them as a rule-of-thumb stuffs.
I think this text is not a type of a guideline but a sharing of the experiences. This contents may be obvious and trivial for those who are already familiar with lightings, but by sharing my composing steps I just expect there would be someone who can get/give inspirations that are not discovered, and maybe giving some help to newcomers of scene generation.
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* Throughout the document, The scene Shorts #12 will be used as an example case.
Basically, I focus on the "shadow" instead of the "light" when I compose the lightings setting. I feel that "focusing on the quality of the shadow" describes the reality of the light condition more appropriately rather than handling the "light" directly.
Step 0a : Preparation 1 : Select PROPER Assets
When composing my scene I always use an asset (especially for the background) of non-baked one, or at least Vamifier plugin is working. In the following example, you can see the difference of two cases. Pre-baked asset usually make false shadow (or no shadow) calculation (red circled region) or the shadow itself does not have diffusive effect which makes region's light natural. (green circled region) So, in the VaM environment, I always use un-baked or vamifier plugin compatible assets only.
Step 0b : Set a Tonemap Asset
Usage of the appropriate LUT or tonemap asset is dependent on your preferences but I always add a tonemap asset to the scene. This makes the highlight region more vivid especially for the case of outdoor scenes. You can choose it as your preferences.
Step 0c : Check the number of light sources.
VaM has internal property "Pixel Light Count" in the user preferernces tab. If the total number of "turned on lights" in the scene exceeds this number, all the rendered light goes confused. So I recommand that to use the number of ON-lights less than this value. In my case, I always uses the number as 6, the maximum available lights. In this document, I'll explain under the assumption that the number is 6.
This number of available lights "6" is quite a restriction. I always take time to consider how to best arrange these six limited lights.
Now we can start actual light positionings.
Step1 : Determine to use ambient light or not
In most cases, there are some atomosphere-like ambient light in the space. These ambient light is generated from the indirect rays reflected from the walls or floor, the amount is slight, but makes the room "sensible"(removes dark regions), and makes the scene looks more real. I usually allot first slot of the light (from 6 light slots) to this ambient light. As you can see in the example screenshots below, I usually set "Light Type = Point" and the range of the light to the maximum (=25), and "Shadow Strength = 1.0, max). Instead, set the intensity value relatively low. (as compensation to the maximum range (=25).
I usually set the ambient light first in an arbitrary position to see the object (in the initial stage, we have a dark nothing-to-see scene) and adjust the intensity to an actual realistic values after placing the first main light. For the outdoor scene, increasing the intensity of this ambient light helps. (Usually the outdoor case requires more ambient lights. But we should remember we only have "6" available light slots.) After allocating the first light as an ambient (type=point), I usually set remaining 5 lights as a spotlight type (Light Type=Spot).
Step2 : Placing main light(s)
It's time to set the first MAIN light. For the main spot light, I first identify most significant light source(s) in the scene. In the scene Shorts #12, this significant light source chosen was the airplane window, so I placed the first main light at the position near the main window and set the direction from the window to the character. Then further adjust the intensity/direction/spot angle as best describe the selected significant light source. (This significant source of light would be "ONE" or "TWO" or more depend on the scene situation. if more than two, I just ignore remainings after the second one.)
Step 3 : Set a "SUB" light
When placing lights, I always place in terms of the character. After placing the main light, I place the SECOND light at the position(and direction) that can compensate mostly shaded region from the main light. In the example of the scene Shorts #12, I chose the 5 o'clock direction from the character and placed a little further away to enlight the chairs and other objects concurrently. (See the screenshot below)
In my experiences, three lights usually makes the shadows on the skin of the character makes quite natural. (In some cases "two" is enough.) In the example of the Shorts #12, I added another sub lights for the character (SUB2). For the second sub light, I usually set the position above of the head of the character and the direction to the breast (need some fine adjustment obviously). See the "SUB2" position in the screenshot.
Placing these three lights usually makes character's shadows natural. At this point, I once again adjust and trim values of intensity and fine direction of the three (MAIN/SUB1/SUB2) lights to find final natural shadow expression on the character's skin. (See the following screenshots)
Step 4 : Decorative Lights
At this point, after finalizing the lightings on the character, we have remaining light slot of TWO in this example. (Used 4 : AMBIENT, MAIN, SUB1, SUB2) I usually use the remaing lights to express the decorative details in the scene. The decorations can be an ambient moon light (in the night scene) or other interior lantern in the room. In this example, I used the first one to express the rim of the airplanes window. (It's natural because the window is the main significant light source) Then I used another light to express the way guide under the seat to give final realitiness.
This was the rough process of composing light setting in my scene Shorts #12.
Let me say again, this was just a single example, and there are so many other way to express the better light conditions.
It would be my pleasure if there are anyone who found any useful stuffs for composing scenes in this text.
Thanks~
I think this text is not a type of a guideline but a sharing of the experiences. This contents may be obvious and trivial for those who are already familiar with lightings, but by sharing my composing steps I just expect there would be someone who can get/give inspirations that are not discovered, and maybe giving some help to newcomers of scene generation.
---------------------------------------
* Throughout the document, The scene Shorts #12 will be used as an example case.
Basically, I focus on the "shadow" instead of the "light" when I compose the lightings setting. I feel that "focusing on the quality of the shadow" describes the reality of the light condition more appropriately rather than handling the "light" directly.
Step 0a : Preparation 1 : Select PROPER Assets
When composing my scene I always use an asset (especially for the background) of non-baked one, or at least Vamifier plugin is working. In the following example, you can see the difference of two cases. Pre-baked asset usually make false shadow (or no shadow) calculation (red circled region) or the shadow itself does not have diffusive effect which makes region's light natural. (green circled region) So, in the VaM environment, I always use un-baked or vamifier plugin compatible assets only.
vamifier plugin OFF | vamifier plugin ON |
Step 0b : Set a Tonemap Asset
Usage of the appropriate LUT or tonemap asset is dependent on your preferences but I always add a tonemap asset to the scene. This makes the highlight region more vivid especially for the case of outdoor scenes. You can choose it as your preferences.
Step 0c : Check the number of light sources.
VaM has internal property "Pixel Light Count" in the user preferernces tab. If the total number of "turned on lights" in the scene exceeds this number, all the rendered light goes confused. So I recommand that to use the number of ON-lights less than this value. In my case, I always uses the number as 6, the maximum available lights. In this document, I'll explain under the assumption that the number is 6.
This number of available lights "6" is quite a restriction. I always take time to consider how to best arrange these six limited lights.
Now we can start actual light positionings.
Step1 : Determine to use ambient light or not
In most cases, there are some atomosphere-like ambient light in the space. These ambient light is generated from the indirect rays reflected from the walls or floor, the amount is slight, but makes the room "sensible"(removes dark regions), and makes the scene looks more real. I usually allot first slot of the light (from 6 light slots) to this ambient light. As you can see in the example screenshots below, I usually set "Light Type = Point" and the range of the light to the maximum (=25), and "Shadow Strength = 1.0, max). Instead, set the intensity value relatively low. (as compensation to the maximum range (=25).
Step2 : Placing main light(s)
It's time to set the first MAIN light. For the main spot light, I first identify most significant light source(s) in the scene. In the scene Shorts #12, this significant light source chosen was the airplane window, so I placed the first main light at the position near the main window and set the direction from the window to the character. Then further adjust the intensity/direction/spot angle as best describe the selected significant light source. (This significant source of light would be "ONE" or "TWO" or more depend on the scene situation. if more than two, I just ignore remainings after the second one.)
Step 3 : Set a "SUB" light
When placing lights, I always place in terms of the character. After placing the main light, I place the SECOND light at the position(and direction) that can compensate mostly shaded region from the main light. In the example of the scene Shorts #12, I chose the 5 o'clock direction from the character and placed a little further away to enlight the chairs and other objects concurrently. (See the screenshot below)
In my experiences, three lights usually makes the shadows on the skin of the character makes quite natural. (In some cases "two" is enough.) In the example of the Shorts #12, I added another sub lights for the character (SUB2). For the second sub light, I usually set the position above of the head of the character and the direction to the breast (need some fine adjustment obviously). See the "SUB2" position in the screenshot.
Placing these three lights usually makes character's shadows natural. At this point, I once again adjust and trim values of intensity and fine direction of the three (MAIN/SUB1/SUB2) lights to find final natural shadow expression on the character's skin. (See the following screenshots)
Front View | Top View |
Step 4 : Decorative Lights
At this point, after finalizing the lightings on the character, we have remaining light slot of TWO in this example. (Used 4 : AMBIENT, MAIN, SUB1, SUB2) I usually use the remaing lights to express the decorative details in the scene. The decorations can be an ambient moon light (in the night scene) or other interior lantern in the room. In this example, I used the first one to express the rim of the airplanes window. (It's natural because the window is the main significant light source) Then I used another light to express the way guide under the seat to give final realitiness.
This was the rough process of composing light setting in my scene Shorts #12.
Let me say again, this was just a single example, and there are so many other way to express the better light conditions.
It would be my pleasure if there are anyone who found any useful stuffs for composing scenes in this text.
Thanks~
