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ood lighting isnt simply a matter of making sure

that every object in a scene is illuminated. The

last thing you want is for your renders to look

as flat as the screen they are viewed on, so your

lighting set-up also needs to ensure that the three-dimensional

form of each object can be read clearly. This is where basic

three-point lighting, a system derived from traditionalcinematography, comes in.

Flat-looking output is most likely to occur when a single light

source is placed behind the camera: a situation analogous to a

photographer using nothing more than a camera-mounted flash.

In contrast, three-point lighting treats light more like a modelling

tool. The three light sources of which it consists the key light, the

fill light and the back (or rim) light all serve different purposes, yet

work together to emphasise shape and form.

Providing the main illumination in a scene, the key light is

the dominant source, casting the most obvious shadows. It can

represent a practical light in a night-time shot, sunlight for outdoor

work or sunlight entering through a window for daylit indoor shots.

The key light defines a scenes dominant lighting, giving the biggest

clue as to the location of the presumed light source.

The job of fill light or lights is to model indirect lighting produced

by direct light bouncing off an environments surfaces. The primary

fill is usually placed on the opposite side of the subject from the key,

where it opens up the lighting and reduces the shadow density. The

backlights give a scene depth and help to define the subject.In this tutorial, you will learn the basics of t hree-point lighting

by examining a simple interior scene and setting up the lighting to

produce a flattering set-up. Full-sized screenshots and supporting

files are included on the CD to help you on your way.This article is a

condensed version of the one that appears in t he book Essential

CG Lighting Techniques with 3ds Max, published by Focal Press.

Visit www.focalpress.com for more information, or to order a copy.

Darren Brooker is a BAFTA award-winning lighting artist who

has worked at many top UK studios, including Peppers Ghost

and Red Vision. He works for Autodesk as a product specialist

www.autodesk.com

G

048 | 3D WORLD3D WORLD November 2006

FACTFILE

FOR

3ds Max 8

DIFFICULTY

Elementary

TIME TAKEN

30 minutes

ON THE CD

Full-sized screenshots

Start and final

scene file

ALSO REQUIRED

N/A

A firmly established convention in cinematography, three-point lighting has also become one of the foundationsfor CG lighting. Well show you how to master the basics of this flexible technique in 3ds Max 8 BY DARREN BROOKERThe rule of three

3DS MAX3DS MAX

TUTORIALS |Three-point lighting

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November 2006 3D WORLD3D WORLD | 049

STAGE ONE | Setting up a three-point lighting rig

Open the 3PointLighting.max file from the cover CD.

The scene currently has no lights set up, so first you

should place the key light. This is going to represent

daylight coming from a window to the left of the table, as

seen through the camera. For this you need to create a Target

Directional light, anywhere in the scene, naming it directKey.

The settings are shown in the screenshot above.

01

In the Directional Parameters rollout, change the

light from Circle to Rectangle, set the Aspect to 0.5

and change the Hotspot/Beam and Falloff/Field

values to 40 and 50. Right-click any viewport label and select

directKey from the Views submenu. Because it represents the

sun, we wont set any attenuation: the intensity of sunlight

would not decrease noticeably over this small distance.

03

[Shift]-drag a copy of one of your fill lights to

underneath the table. In the Top viewport, move it

centrally to its target near the egg, so its pointing

directly upwards, mimicking light bouncing back up off the

table. Give this a Multiplier of 0.3 and make it a similar colour

to the tablecloth. If you render now, you should see that the

undersides of the plates look a lot more realistic.

08

Three-point lighting| TUTORIALS

Finally, add a back light by copying one of your

fills to X:15, Y:-20, Z:60. Give this the same orange

colour: it will represent the light bouncing from

the far wall. To finish, go to the Display tab: if you click the

Unhide by Name button, you can unhide the extra light in the

scene. Turn it on to add a subtle steam effect to the mug.

And that's it: your first three-point set-up!

09

If you render now, youll notice that the edges of

the shadows look jagged and too well-defined. To

correct this, open the Shadow Parameters rollout

and change the colour to R:20, G:12, B:0 and the Density

(Dens.) to 0.9. Within the Shadow Map Params rollout, raise

the Size to 1,024 and the Sample Range to 10. Render again,

and your shadows should look much better, if still too dark.

04

Move the light somewhere around X:-110, Y:150,

Z:90, with the lights target somewhere around the

eggcup. Give this light a Multiplier value of 0.9. Turn

on shadow casting by ticking the Shadows checkbox. Clicking

the colour swatch, give the light a yellow tint R:237, G:229,

B:188 to represent early-morning light as youd see it on

daylight-balanced photographic film.

02

Time to create fill lights. With [Shift] held down, use

the Move tool to drag the light in the Top viewport.

Release and select Copy from the resultant dialog,

changing the lights name to directFill01. Now move the light

to illuminate the shadowed side of the objects (somewhere

around X:-140, Y:-10, Z:60), change the Multiplier setting to

0.3 and give it a slightly more saturated orange colour.

05Untick the Shadows checkbox. Within the Directional

Parameters, change the light to Circle and tick

Overshoot. Within the Advanced Effects rollout,

untick the Specular checkbox. Now render, and you should

see that the shadows are more open. Adding more fill lights

will open up the shadows further and mimic the light that

would be bouncing around this environment.

06

[Shift]-drag a copy of your first fill and move this to

X:-110, Y:-30, Z:60. Change its Multiplier setting to

0.1. Another copy with a Multiplier of 0.1 should be

placed at X:-40, Y:110, Z:60. One more copy, placed at X:-120,

Y:100, Z:60, should open up the shading adequately. If you

render now, youll see that the overall level of illumination is

good, but the undersides of the plates look a little too dark.

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