Graphics Programs Reference
In-Depth Information
Basic Lighting Concepts
It's no surprise that Maya's lighting resembles actual direct-lighting techniques used in
photography and filmmaking. Lights of various types are placed around a scene to illu-
minate the subjects as they would for a still life or a portrait. Your scene and what's in
it dictate, to some degree at least, which lights you put where. The
type
of lights you use
depends on the desired effect.
At the basic level, you want your lights to illuminate the scene. Without lights, your
cameras have nothing to capture. Although it seems rather easy to throw your lights in,
turn them all on, and render a scene, that couldn't be further from the truth.
Lighting is the backbone of CG. Although it's technically easy to insert and configure
lights, it's
how
you light that will make or break your scene. Knowing how to do that
really only comes with a good deal of experience and experimentation, as well as a good
eye and some patience.
This chapter will familiarize you with the basic techniques of lighting a scene in Maya
and start you on the road to finding out more.
Learning to See
There are many nuances to the real-world lighting around us that we take for granted. We
intuitively understand what we see and how it's lit, and we infer a tremendous amount of
visual information without much consideration. With CG lighting, you must re-create
these nuances for your scene. That amounts to all the
work
of lighting.
The most valuable thing you can do to improve your lighting technique is to relearn
how you see your environment. Simply put, refuse to take for granted what you see.
Question why things look the way they do, and you'll find that the answers almost always
come around to lighting.
Take note of the distinction between light and dark in the room you're in now. Notice
the difference in the brightness of highlights and how they dissipate into diffused light
and then into shadow.
When you start understanding how real light affects objects, you'll be much better
equipped to generate your own light. After all, the key to good lighting starts with the
desire to create an interesting image.
What Your Scene Needs
Ideally, your scene needs areas of highlight and shadow. Overlighting a scene flattens
everything and diminishes details. This is perhaps the number-one mistake of beginners.
Figure 10.1 shows a still life with too many bright lights that only flatten the image and
remove any sense of color and depth.
Similarly, underlighting your scene makes it muddy, gray, and rather lifeless, and it
covers your details in darkness and flattens the entire frame. Figure 10.2 shows the still
life underlit. The bumps and curves of the mesh are hardly noticeable.
