Bullet Essential Lighting Tut
 

Started another tut...thought I would post some of my stuff as I go...try and force myself to do this....very interesting thus far Nilla...thanks mate.

cheers bullet

You have got some very hard shadows there Bullet is that what you are after...........dave

just the start of the tut dave....havent got into the tweaking and all that yet...just thought I would post the first few to see how it pans out nearer the end and see if I can actually get some of this to work....

cheers bullet

Bullet good start mate, I take it Nilla pointed you to this tute. Its Pixars Jeremy Birn one if Im correct. Its very cool and you'll have a really good understanding of things at the end - hard or soft shadows, keep at it.

Jay

Thanks Jay,

Nilla is the instructor on this one. Yeh after finally getting the HDR glass one close I am interested in lighting a lot now...its actually very interesting and I have now a much better respect on how important lighting can be. After seeing examples of normal model presentation and what they SHOULD be doing with lighting I am definitely hooked on this. LOL I even nearly had a bingle in the tunnel in Perth whilst driving home...was too busy looking how light was reflecting and casting shadows as I was driving through. Even just looking at my various glass render saves I can see what a difference lights and shadows etc can make. Im going to try really hard on this one...watch this space

cheers bullet

It's my tutorial Jay, but I've based my whole approach to CG lighting on Mr Birn:) I'm so grateful to him, because when I first started with Maya I knew this field was the one I was interested in straight away as I'd been drawing and studying light and shadow in the real world for years but I found the technical apects and terminology in Maya very daunting. I think Jeremy Birn must have helped so many people with connecting these two, and I would have struggled like mad if it wouldn't have been for his tutorial and his book so I'm glad Dave pointed me to them when I was new to Maya.

For funny I'm actually reading his book for the second time at the moment as when I first read it I still didn't know mental ray so there were a lot of things I didn't quite grasp. It's called "Digital Lighting and Rendering" and it's a book I'd recommend for people who has a bit of knowledge in this field already to read as it gives you a really good understanding of lighting techniques in production and how to connect CG lighting with elements in the real world, when to cheat and how to do it. I've read many books on mental ray and technical aspects, advanced lighting and materials but this book really stands out because it helps you to understand and improve your rendering techniques so much.

For the hard shadows bullet there's more on it later in my tutorial but the main point with shadows in CG is that they determine the feel in your environments, I'm thinking of doing a shadows only tutorial because you can make so much with shadows in your renders. Look at the real world and you'll see where you get hard and soft ones, but as a general rule hard shadows ocur in harsh and unfrienly environments and where you have artificial light sources such as in a studio where a character is illuminated by spots. Also direct sunlight gives hard shadows. Soft shadows will occur from the sky on a cloudy day and from indirect illumination that bounces, in CG this makes for more comfortable environments where things look more organic.

Get the book Jay if you don't have it, it's more comprehensive than the tutorial and you'll really enjoy it:)

Nilla

Hey Nilla

we have the very same book at work and comes in very handy - it is an excellent read, I have recommended it to other people over the years

cheers
Jay

haha we keep recommending him to eachother:) Not a lot of material for Maya here though, what you find is gold.

I might have a look in Dymocks today whilst I abuse my credit card buying stuff for Xmas (the missus)...yeh Nilla I just posted these up to prove Im doing it and to see what happens after I have absorbed the tut LOL.

cheers bullet

Ok Nilla...didnt find any books on it...I will have to get it online I would say...I have read some of Feists novels online and its just NOT the same as holding a book in your hand...something artificial about it.

This is getting very interesting...and Im getting a sore hand writing all this down LOL...anyway some more to gander at...this part with the colour/intensity curves was really cool mate...then the fog thing...wow.

cheers bullet

very cool.

thanks steve....yeh it is REALLY interesting...playing with the settings can make such a difference! Im hooked....I would like to get this right...obviously lots of practice but a B&W of something simple with different light settings would be the test....colour hides things I think...but B&W is much harder to convey Im told?

cheers bullet

Nice work, makes me happy to see bullet:) For books it is a good idea to get one and keep it on the side of tutorials for when you get stuck and to avoid gaps as you get the workflow but sometimes not all the details. I'd say get "Intoduction to Maya" or "Mastering Maya"`instead, and read Digital Lighting and Rendering in a while when you've lit a few scenes. I'll prepare a something for you so I can keep nagging haha;)

Don't want to go to far off topic but are we talking about this book?:
http://www.amazon.com/Digital-Lighti.../dp/0321316312

That's the one mastone yes. Get it as a Christmas gift for yourself it's really good:)