Light Fu
VIArts
Posts: 1,499
in The Commons
I need to get better at Light Fu, especially for animation. All I really know is the 3-point setup, but I'm not great at even that. Don't even know how to use DAZ's Tonemapper Options or Environment Options thingies.
I need something readable. Books, PDFs, videos with subtitles..
Any suggestions?
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maybe have a look through the new user challenge from February, Lighting and Light effects, there are several links to interesting tutorials collected and images of users are being commented for improvements
https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/615521/february-2023-daz-3d-new-user-challenge-lighting-and-light-effects/p1
I would say reading a book on film cinematography or photography would be the most valueble for you. Since iray light work like real world light, studying real world lighting techniques will guaranteed make your "Light FU" better. I worked in film for 3 years.
Can I spam you with a thread I am working on (from time to time)?
https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/623521/some-basic-tutorials-i-am-making
But my main advice is. Be specific.
Better at what? Is it dark? overexposed? Unrealistic? bleh?
It is a better option if you post an image and ask for advice. But if you ask for general advice, what you will get is "it is ok". If you ask for a piece of specific advice on how to improve something, you will get better feedback. The challenge Linwelly posted is a good idea. It would be nice to participate in it but as it is once a year, make your specific thread.
I'm kinda going for animated. A medium or large area. A gloomy, overcst day. Outdoors, maybe a field near a house or playground.
I'll have 3 characters. 2 lighter skin tones and one really dark skin tone. I feel that info matters when lighting.
i'm still putting them together, but was kinda experimenting. Maybe set up trhe world and lights, then throw the characters in? I mtan, i don't know, since it's animated, then lights won't be moving or changing?
i'll look at links.
Is there a way to make HDRI like this look rainy or overcast?
https://www.daz3d.com/ultrahd-iray-hdri-with-dof--outdoor-pack-4--playgrounds
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Thanks. I just got the cloud creator bundle since it was on sale,
but I'm still not sure ifthat answers about he hdri. i don't wanna get it until i know.
some pointers, even when I'm not working with animation
1) you will need additional lights to your environmental light from the HDRI, since you will have movement make sure the lights are parented to either the person they are highlighting or the camera. you can use emissive planes for lights when you want to avoid the spotlight effect
2) the dark skinned character needs a lot of backlight and a less intense light from the front
the HDRI bundle you are looking at doesn't look like something that can be turned to gloomy/overcast in any way, there is a stark sun and bright blue skies for all I could see, though I don't own them.
If you wanted to use them because the scenery is according to what you have in mind I would advise to rather create the scenery with real props and use one of the suggested HDRI skies. Interaction, moving around on the place plooks more natural when you have a setting rather than when the scene all al HDRI, those work best for single shots.