Basic Lighting

Intro to Maya
 Types of Lights
• Ambient Light
• Direction Lights
• Spot Lights
• Point Lights
• Advanced: Area Light
• Advanced: Volume Lights
 Ambient Light
• An ever present light
• `Floods’ the scene
• No highlights
• No Shadows
• Good for Base
Lighting
 Direction Light
• Light from a single
direction.
• Like sun-light.
• Has shadows
• Has highlights.
• A good basic light.
 Spot Light
• A theatrical spot-light.
• Has shadows
• Radiates out in a cone
• Has fall-off
• Has penumbra
• Very powerful.
 Point Light
• A local light
• Radiates in all
directions
• Great `filler’ light
• Has shadows
• Can really punch up a
scene.
• Very dramatic
 Components of Light and Shadow
• Light source.
• Fall-off/decay
• Shadow
• Umbra
• Penumbra
 Light Controls
• Aim From/Aim At
• Fall-off Rate
• Cone Radius
• Penumbra/Umbra control
• Non-linear fall-off
• All In One Control
Aim From/Aim At
Fall-off Rate
Cone Radius
Penumbra/Umbra Control
Non-linear fall-off
All In One Control
 Good ways to use lights
• Look to photographers for good techniques
• Think in terms of balance.
• Avoid the overly dramatic.
• Look at natural lighting.
• Avoid saturated lights and hues
• Normally only need a few lights.
• Avoid disco colors and effects 
Light Intensity from too
Dark to too bright.
 Direction

Lit from Left Lit from behind camera

 Mood

Menacing/Dramatic Subtler Mood

 Localized Light

Light a person from above

The head for more `spiritual’
Effects. But you need to be careful
 Seasons and Time of Day

Early-Morning Mid-Day/Winter Evening/Dusk

Blue Tint Less blue tint Summer
Even colors Orange Hues
 The Ray of Hope

By placing a subtle localized light source near the left

eye the image takes on a more hopeful appearance.
This has to do with the local shadows fall on the face.
 3 Point Lighting
• Most Common lighting scheme
• Three lights:
Key Light, Fill Light, and Back
 3 Point Lighting
Key light
The Key light establishes the dimension, form and surface
detail of subject matter.
Fill light
The Fill light fills in the shadows created by the horizontal
and vertical angles of the key light. The fill light should be
placed about 90-degrees away from the key light.
Back light
The function of the Back light is to separate the subject from
the background by creating a subtle rim of light around the
subject.
 3 Point Lighting - Tutorial
• http://www.3drender.com/light/3point.html