Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
What about the center ring of a circus? Standing in the center of that area, one is the focus of the audi-
ence's attention and yet is all alone. It is where you face your inner stuff and show the audience that you have
the skills to entertain them. You have seen many examples of people being in the “center ring,” someone
delivering an impassioned speech, someone defending a dissertation, or perhaps someone just standing in
the middle of Grand Central Station, isolated by a shaft of light that comes in from the upper windows. It is
possible that the key word for your lighting concept is
isolation
.
In the movie
Barry Lyndon
, the main theme is about the attraction of a man to his own destruction, like
that of a moth to a lame. Barry Lyndon, the character, is driven to choose that which ultimately destroys all
he loves [1]. In the interior scenes, the light is actually candlelight, which is used extensively throughout the
movie to support the look of the historical period while casting a warm glow overall. The shadows take on as
much meaning as the light in these chiaroscuro scenes, so you might decide that the key words for this light-
ing concept are
obscured truth
.
What key word and concepts formed in your mind? Each of these environments has many aspects to its
meaning; there are no right or wrong choices. The best choice is a meaningful concept that supports your
lighting design efforts by helping you organize and focus the look of your overall lighting plan in the virtual
environment. Once you ind this, you can associate colors, patterns, and styles of lighting ixtures with it to
create a cohesive plan for the lighting on the design of your virtual environment.
8.2.2 s
upporT
The
m
ood
or
e
moTion
of
The
e
nVironmenT
The classic way to learn about how lighting supports the mood of an environment is to study the great paint-
ers. Artists such as Artemisia Gentileschi (1593-1656), Johannes Vermeer (1632-1675), and Rembrandt van
Rijn (1606-1669) created images that conveyed mood through the arrangement of light and shadow on the
subject matter. Each painting has a personal mood to convey. Study the lare of light capturing the anger and
violence in
Judith Slaying Holofernes
(ca. 1614-1620) by Gentileschi, the longing and precious tenderness
in the luminance of
Girl with a Pearl Earring
(ca. 1665) by Vermeer, or the mystery conveyed by the facial
shadows in
Rembrandt: Self Portrait
(ca. 1660). The baroque, neoclassic, romantic, impressionistic, and
post-impressionistic art periods are full of examples that have inspired generations of lighting designers.
8.2.3
a
ugmenT
The
V
isual
s
Tyle
of
The
p
rojeCT
There are several ways that lighting can augment the visual style of the structures in a virtual environment.
Once you know what kind of environments you will be lighting, whether a medieval castle or a jazz club, you
should plan to coordinate your lighting of the environment with the existing architectural lighting ixtures or
add them yourself. At this point, decisions need to be made regarding the actual style of lighting ixture and
what kind of light it would most likely generate. For instance, in today's world, it is entirely possible that the
interior of a castle could be lit with luorescent lighting, although it is hoped not. A jazz club could be under-
water and lit with the glow of deep-sea creatures. To make these iner artistic choices based in the combined
knowledge of historical period, décor, and lighting, you need to do some research. Even if the environment is
from a time period far into the future, there is some sort of imagery, either pictorial or literary, that will give
you a sense of what the lighting ixtures would be. Our civilization has progressed from campires and oil
lamps, to electric lights, luorescent bulbs, and LEDs (light-emitting diodes). Each of those types of lighting
has its own speciic range of color, intensity, and movement, and each can be used in ways that support the
meaning, mood, and narrative of your virtual environment.
