Project 3 : Lighting
Date Assigned: Monday, April 14
Date Due: Monday, April 21
Reading: Chapters 6 and 7 (Kerlow)
Also Recommended: Pixel Cinematography: A Lighting Approach for
Computer Graphics (copies will be left in LA2)
In this assignment you will experiment with character and mood lighting.
This assignment is designed to be done
in Alias. If your scene includes a model that requires a RenderMan
shader, then your scene will have to be rendered using RenderMan. The
lighting should be done in Alias, though.
Once again, you will have a new group to
work with. Each member brings along all the models used by his/her
groups in the previous two assignments. Choose from these at least
two shaded models that fit together well. Compose these models into a
scene and light the scene in the ways described below.
Getting started
To get used to creating and manipulating lights in Alias, look at
Learning Alias, pp. 209-230.
What to do
-
Create a simple setting that makes sense for the objects your groups
has chosen -- a room, or a backdrop and a surface. Choose one object
to be the main character and place the models in the scene. The main
character does not have to be in the foreground; lighting can be used
to direct attention to the main character wherever it is.
- Light the scene so that the main character stands out. Keep the
background lighting as simple as possible. Think
of this as "hero lighting."
Some standard lights that you
might want to use include:
- Key light.
- The brightest light, the main source
of illumination for the character. Chosen to make the character
look good. Usually comes from the side and above.
- Fill light.
- Fills in the dark areas,
softens shadows. Usually a non-specular light.
- Rim light (a.k.a. kicker light).
- Illuminates character from the
non-key side. Helps to define shape and contour.
- Bounce light
- Light "reflecting" up
from the floor or tabletop. Fills in dark areas on
the undersides of the character.
- Using the same objects, same composition, and same camera angle,
light the scene again. This time, choose a different object to
emphasize and choose a specific mood to convey.
It is critical that as a team you come up with a definite
mood or atmosphere that you are trying for.
As in the shading assignment, the mashed
potatoes defense will not stand.
- (Optional) Light the scene in some other interesting way.
Some suggestions: as a fine arts painting, as an advertisement,
as a night scene.
What we're looking for
We have different expectations for the results of each part
of the assignment.
- The first part is just to give you something to light.
Focus on achieving an interesting
composition and a sense of relationship between and among
the objects. Remember to model for your scene; clever use of camera
angles and/or background paintings can
minimize the need to actually build things like walls and floors.
- The second part is an exercise in character lighting.
Play with the color and placement of the lights in your scene
to get a feel for the kind of effects that they can have.
- Make sure the main character looks good: not too flat,
not overworked; not too shiny, not too dull; not too
ruddy, not too sickly.
- Make sure the main character does not fade into
the background. You might do this with a kicker light, or
by making the character lighter or darker than the area
immediately behind it.
- Make sure that the main character looks like it belongs in
the scene, as opposed to something that has been rendered
separately and pasted in. The light colors and
directions used for the character should match the background.
Shadows help here.
- The third part is an exercise in the power of lighting as
a cinematographic and artistic tool. Think about the
interplay of light and shadow, the use of color, the
variation of lighting within a scene.
Tell a story with a single image.
- You have free rein here.
Turn in
Two or three quality rendered scenes:
- hero lighting
- mood lighting
- art (optional)
Projects will be critiqued in class on Monday. Before class, you should
prepare for critique by doing the following:
-
In
/home/cse458/critique/lighting
, create a directory for your group.
This directory should have a name that hints at the contents of your
scene.
- Put in this directory your renderings, one for each part of the
assignment:
-
hero.rgb
-
mood.rgb
-
art.rgb
- Create a README file with group members
and who-did-what info.