Graphics Reference
In-Depth Information
5.4
Work Lights
As stated in Sect. 2.5 , lights are required to view a scene in anything but wireframe
mode. Lights do more than simply allow an object to be visible, they also provide
an opportunity to clarify or obscure the structural detail of a model. To improve your
modeling experience, it is a good idea to make a few work lights to highlight the
structure of your models as you are working.
Lights that are oriented at right angles to the major planes of your object will
tend to fl atten them out by hitting each part of the object from the same angle. To
clearly differentiate the different parts of your model, a minimum of three lights
arranged so that each covers a different corner of the object will provide the best
coverage. Each light should be a different color and a slightly different intensity.
This will have the effect of painting different parts of the object different colors.
This will increase contrast at the edges of faces that are oriented differently and
enhance edge contrast. By positioning the lights to aim at corners of your object, the
falloff from your light will cause a gradient of brightness across each face. This is
called raking light . This gradient will enhance the depth of the parts of your model.
In combination, the position, intensity, and color of your work lights will allow you
to work more quickly and accurately because you will be able to see and understand
your model better as you work.
Tip: Once you have made a set of work lights that you like, save them as a sepa-
rate fi le, and then use them over and over again in subsequent model fi les.
5.5
Hot Keys
Hot keys are keyboard shortcuts to menu items. These can increase your speed
considerably by reducing the time spent looking for tools through the interface.
CG applications will come with pre-defi ned keys, but allow users to defi ne their
own. This is because most CG artists will have special tasks they perform
repeatedly that are not part of the general hotkey set. Setting these takes some
preparation because you must fi rst analyze which tools you use the most, and then
come up with hot keys you can remember. These should be set in advance for the
best results. Different users will have different needs, so hotkey settings are stored
on a user-by-user basis.
5.6
Conclusion
It is not always necessary to adjust the default values of a scene before you start
working on it, but default settings are rarely optimal. Scene preparation doesn't take
very much time, but it improves your effi ciency and the clarity of your work. One
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