Rendering the Enforcer - ZBrush Creature Design: Creating Dynamic Concept Imagery for Film and Games - page 650

You now have a basic three-point light setup. This is a good starting place, which will give you context
as you develop the materials. You'll probably revisit these lights frequently as you work. Save the project so
you can return to this arrangement later if you need to.
Here are a few tips on working within the LightCap subpalette:
• You can select a light by clicking on its red dot in the interface. However, if you have a lot of
lights, you can use the Light Index to switch from one light to the next. You can add as many
lights as you want to LightCap, so it can get pretty crowded! The index number is determined by
the order in which the lights are added.
• You can edit the specular intensity separately from the diffuse intensity using the Opacity slider.
Press the Specular button at the top of the interface to switch to specular mode and then adjust
the Opacity slider. If you want a light to have no specular highlight, switch to Specular mode and
set Opacity to 0. If you want a light to have a specular highlight but no diffuse light, set Opacity
above 0 while in Specular mode and switch to Diffuse mode and set Opacity to 0. Opacity affects
the influence of the diffuse or specular component without affecting the intensity of the light (see
Figure 10-7 ) .
• You can use the blend mode to control the quality of the light. The blend modes are similar to layer
modes found in programs such as Adobe Photoshop (screen, multiply, overlay, soft light, etc.). A
light with a black color and a blend mode set to Mutiply will actually create a dark spot.
• Use the Alpha button to add an alpha texture to the light—this way you can actually shape the
light as if a gobo is applied to the light. Textures can also be applied using the Txtr button. This
creates the effect of a gel being applied to the light. Use the HTile and VTile sliders to create a
repeating pattern for the alpha. Orientation, Scale Width, and Scale Height sliders can also be used
to adjust the shape of the light (see Figure 10-8 ).