Get Better Lighting in Blender With This Easy Trick
Summary
TLDRIn this tutorial, the speaker demonstrates a technique to enhance indirect or bounce lighting in 3D rendering using normal lights. They discuss the importance of adding lights strategically in areas where indirect light naturally occurs and show how to use area lights for soft, directional lighting. The speaker also covers how to avoid common pitfalls, such as creating unrealistic glows or harsh lines on objects, and provides tips for color matching and keeping the effect subtle to maintain realism. The video concludes with a before-and-after comparison and a mention of assets used from a fantasy environments course.
Takeaways
- π¨ The tutorial demonstrates a technique for enhancing lighting in 3D renders by simulating indirect or bounce lighting with additional light sources.
- π¦ The primary issue addressed is the lack of sufficient lighting in certain areas of a scene, despite the presence of direct light sources.
- π The example used is a 3D render where the main light sources are spotlights simulating sunlight from above, but the surrounding areas are too dark.
- π‘ Area lights are recommended over spot or point lights for their ease of directional control and natural soft lighting effect.
- π The size and power of the additional lights are adjustable to control the spread and intensity of the light, enhancing the scene without overdoing it.
- π Lights should be strategically placed in areas where indirect light would naturally occur to maintain realism in the render.
- π‘οΈ The color temperature of the additional lights should match the existing lighting to ensure a cohesive look.
- π« Overusing additional lights can quickly break the realism of the scene, so subtlety is key.
- π When using volumetrics in the scene, unchecking the 'volume scatter' option for lights can prevent unwanted glow effects.
- π Reflective surfaces in the scene can reveal the light sources in reflections; adjusting settings like 'glossy ray visibility' can mitigate this.
Q & A
What is the main purpose of the lighting trick discussed in the script?
-The main purpose of the lighting trick is to fake indirect or bounce lighting with normal lights to enhance the overall lighting in a scene where the existing light sources are not providing enough illumination in certain areas.
Why does the speaker prefer using area lights over spot or point lights?
-The speaker prefers area lights because they provide easy directional control, illuminate only the desired areas, and naturally produce soft lighting due to their size. They also allow for control over the spread of light, making it possible to adjust from a direct beam to a wide angle.
How does the speaker determine where to place the additional lights in the scene?
-The speaker places additional lights in areas where there is already some indirect light but not enough, or where it makes sense for there to be more light based on the direction and source of the existing light in the scene.
What is the significance of the power level of the additional lights used in the trick?
-The power level of the additional lights is significant because it determines the intensity of the light and how much it contributes to the overall lighting of the scene. The speaker suggests keeping the power low to maintain a subtle and realistic effect.
Why is it important to color match the additional lights to the scene?
-Color matching the additional lights to the scene is important to ensure that the lights blend naturally with the existing lighting and maintain the overall color harmony and realism of the scene.
What is the effect of using volumetrics in the scene, and how can it be managed?
-Using volumetrics can cause bright lights to emit a glow effect throughout the scene. This can be managed by unchecking the 'volume scatter' option in the light settings to prevent the light from affecting the volume.
How can reflective surfaces in the scene cause issues with the additional lights, and how can these issues be resolved?
-Reflective surfaces can cause issues by showing the actual light in their reflections, creating unnatural-looking bright spots. This can be resolved by either unchecking the 'multiple importance' or 'glossy ray visibility' options in the light settings to reduce or remove the unwanted reflections.
What is the role of the point light placed in the middle of the scene?
-The point light placed in the middle of the scene serves to enhance the lighting in the back of the room, where the speaker felt there wasn't enough light. It helps to create a more balanced and illuminated environment.
Why does the speaker caution against overdoing the additional lighting effects?
-The speaker cautions against overdoing the additional lighting effects because it can quickly break the realism of the scene. Excessive lighting can create unnatural looks and draw attention to the artificial enhancements rather than enhancing the scene naturally.
What is the speaker's advice for maintaining realism when using this lighting trick?
-The speaker advises to keep the additional lighting subtle, ensure it makes sense within the context of the scene's lighting, and to be mindful of the power levels and reflections to maintain a realistic appearance.
Outlines
π‘ Enhancing Lighting with Strategic Light Placement
The speaker introduces a technique for enhancing lighting in 3D rendering by strategically placing additional lights to simulate indirect or bounced light. They use a recent render as an example to demonstrate the 'before' and 'after' effect. The main idea is to augment the existing lighting setup with normal lights to create a more natural and visually appealing result. The speaker emphasizes the importance of placing these additional lights in areas where it makes sense for light to be present, such as where direct light hits surfaces and then bounces onto other objects. They also discuss the use of area lights for their directional control and soft lighting properties, as well as the need to avoid overdoing the effect to maintain realism.
π Fine-Tuning Light Effects and Avoiding Realism Breakdown
In this segment, the speaker continues to discuss the nuances of enhancing lighting in 3D scenes. They show how to add area lights to specific areas to brighten up walls and other surfaces, ensuring that the lights are placed where they would naturally be present, such as in patches of sunlight. The speaker also cautions against intersecting lights with objects, as this can create harsh lines and reduce the realism of the scene. They mention the importance of color matching the added lights to the existing light tones in the scene to maintain consistency. Additionally, they provide tips on keeping the enhancements subtle to avoid breaking the realism of the render, and they demonstrate how overdoing the effect can lead to an unnatural look.
π¨ Managing Volumetric Lighting and Reflective Surfaces
The final paragraph covers the challenges of managing volumetric lighting and reflections in 3D scenes. The speaker explains how using bright lights in a scene with volumetrics can cause unwanted glow effects and how to mitigate this by adjusting the light's 'volume scatter' settings. They also address the issue of lights being visible in reflections on reflective surfaces, such as water or glass, and provide solutions like adjusting the 'multiple importance sampling' and 'glossy ray visibility' settings. The speaker concludes by mentioning the use of assets from a fantasy course in the example render and invites viewers to check out the course for more information.
Mindmap
Keywords
π‘Lighting Trick
π‘Indirect Lighting
π‘Area Light
π‘Spotlight
π‘Bounce Lighting
π‘Volume Scatter
π‘Ray Visibility
π‘Glossy Reflection
π‘Color Matching
π‘Realism
Highlights
Introduction to a simple lighting trick for enhancing render scenes.
Demonstration of the lighting trick with a before and after comparison.
Explanation of faking indirect or bounce lighting with normal lights.
Highlighting the use of spotlights as the main light source in the scene.
Discussion on the limitations of increasing exposure and floor brightness.
Introduction to the concept of adding lights to enhance the scene's lighting.
Preference for using area lights over spot or point lights for directional control.
Importance of placing additional lights in areas where indirect lighting makes sense.
Example of enhancing light in areas with existing indirect light.
Caution against placing lights in a way that creates harsh lines on objects.
Technique for tracing light direction to place lights strategically.
Use of a point light to add brightness to the back of the scene.
Advice on color matching lights to the scene's tone.
Warning about the risks of overdoing the lighting effect and losing realism.
Solution for dealing with unwanted glow from lights using volumetrics.
Technique for reducing reflections of light sources on reflective surfaces.
Conclusion and mention of assets used from the new fantasy course.
Transcripts
okay so I want to show you a pretty easy
lighting trick that I use sometimes when
I'm in this kind of situation where the
lighting that I have is kind of going in
the right direction but it's just
missing a whole bunch of pieces where
I'm pulling this example from is a
render I did recently this one where I
was in this situation and I ended up
doing the thing I'm about to show you to
get this result right here so here's the
before and the after so the basic idea
here is just faking indirect or bounce
lighting with just some normal lights
but I'll show you EX how this works and
when to use it and um when not to use it
so in this case it is highlighting quite
an extreme version of this effect so
it's not always going to be this extreme
and most of the time when I use it it's
a lot more subtle than this but it can
still all uh usually when I use it it it
adds just a really nice touch where it's
visible and just kind of gives it that
more special kind of feeling that you
can see here so how exactly do you do
this let me show you um so here we are
in this scene we have just some
spotlights up here which are the main
lights that are casting kind of this
direct uh kind of Faking sunlight I
guess so the direct light is just coming
the kind of the main lighting is already
done here so the light is just coming
from the top from these uh three
spotlights up here and that's just
shining down there and you can see that
kind of just that's what that is there
so the problem is there's all these
surrounding areas which are silhouetted
and I want more light to be kind of
radiating from that bright point into
all these other areas so there's a bunch
of ways to do that you could do things
like increase the exposure um but that
might not always give you the look you
want you could also do something like
increase the brightness of the floor
again just might not give you the look
you want because say I say I do this I
increase the brightness of the floor it
does kind of increase the amount of
light reflecting off the floor but the
problem is the floor is really bright
now and there all the tiles look kind of
weird so that might not be a desirable
solution either so something you'll see
pretty often in 3D is kind of just
faking this effect by adding in lights
so here are all the lights that we going
to be adding in I'll show you kind of
one by one what this is doing but if I
just toggle this on and off you can see
that kind of accentuates the bounce
lighting that's already there and just
makes it feel nicer but still natural so
let's go let's go through this one by
one and I'll show you where this starts
so the first one I added was this one
right here so this is just an area light
and the reason I like using area lights
instead of spot or point or anything is
because it gives you a very easy
directional control so it's shining
right in the direction that I want and
not Illuminating areas that I don't want
this in uh and it also is really easy to
make this it's it's just soft lighting
by default cuz it's already a meter in
diameter by default so that's why I like
using that and then you can also control
the spread on this as well so you can
make this a direct beam or you can make
it all the way up to like 180Β° outwards
uh so mine has turned down a little bit
but basically the the key that I want to
show you here is you have to add these
lights in areas that make sense for
there to be light okay so you can see
that there's all this direct light kind
of this fake you could say sunlight
coming in the scene here so the sunlight
is hitting the ground and then there's
already actually indirect light in here
if you look at this the indirect light
is just the light that bounces off of
something onto something else so for
example the light that's hitting the
floor is bouncing up onto like the
underside of this ring you can see all
that there uh up here the bright part of
this the top of this ring underneath
here that's all indirect light that's
bouncing off of the floor bouncing
upwards hitting this thing and that's
what is lighting that up right there so
this effect is not uh something that is
always faked right like it there's
always indirect Lighting in the scene no
matter what but if you want to
accentuate that you have to add the
lights in areas where it makes sense for
there to be indirect lighting so
basically what I look for when I'm doing
this is where are the areas that there's
already some indirect light but maybe
not enough and maybe some uh areas that
I can beef it up a little bit so if you
add an area light let's just look at
this first one um the power is very low
so it's only at 160 Watts which is this
effect is already quite extreme what I'm
showing you so I'd probably go lower
even than that uh in a in something
that's not an example of this uh like
just in some other random render that I
would do I'd probably go lower than 160
but just to show you exactly what's
really happening I'll I'll keep it on
high here and this was actually the the
value that I used in the render but most
renders aren't this extreme okay so we
have this area light and if you notice
if I just go to where this light
actually is and I rotate around it it's
pretty much in the spot where there is
light already ref reflecting right so
it's kind of like right around here in
this patch of sunlight that's kind of
where roughly where I've placed it and
so it's just shining the light right up
on there just again enhancing where the
light should already be coming from just
kind of pushing that effect a little bit
further in the direction that I I want
it to go so the next one I have this
areir light here uh let's just see what
this one is doing I added this one just
for this video just to kind of make the
walls a little bit brighter just to
really show what this is doing there's
an and same thing here it's not very
bright uh this one sorry this one
actually is quite a bit brighter um and
sometimes you just have to turn it up
for it to kind of reach the wall if it's
bit further away um but anyways the next
one is this one over here so this is
adding again same same exact thing I'm
just going to keep showing you this so
we have this one right down here where
there's uh this patch of sunlight where
it kind of makes sense where it would be
lots of light bouncing out of that area
onto other objects and so that's
bouncing up onto
there and uh again this one's very low I
have this uh size just kind of stretched
out over here now something you want to
be careful of is if you notice here uh
this object is this light rather is
intersecting on these chains right here
do you want to be careful of that
because sometimes you get a a really
harsh line on your objects so just be
aware that you can decrease the realism
if you're not careful with this so uh I
don't think it matters in this one you
can't really see it but just be careful
of that because it will ruin everything
if you accidentally leave that like
intersecting with an object in the wrong
spot okay so the next one I have another
light which is actually pointing towards
the camera in this one which is kind of
highlighting the floor so this I still
think this actually does make sense
because if you think about where the
light would be going you just have to
kind of trace it back right so the
light's coming from the top hitting the
floor hitting this ring and it would
probably make sense this whole it could
either be bouncing off of that or it
could be bouncing off of just the whole
bright area behind all this stuff so it
kind of makes sense for there to be some
light coming from from that direction
anyways so I'm okay kind of enhancing
that and and faking it a little bit with
an area light that's pointing in that
direction cuz again it's bright coming
from that way so it's okay to just kind
of fake that a little bit right we have
another one over here um an area light
which is just pointing up in this
opposite direction this is a this is
another one that I added specifically
for this video just to kind of um make
the thumbnail look better but that's
just kind of it was really dark over
there so I just wanted to lighten it up
a little bit so that's what that's doing
and then the final one is this big Point
light in the middle of the scene which
just kind of tops it all off so one
thing that was happening was I just felt
like there wasn't quite enough light
coming from that back the the room kind
of behind the ring there and so adding
one point light which I'll show you here
one big Point light in the middle this
one's very bright at 12,500 Watts uh
that's much much higher than I would
usually go with this but in this case
you know it kind of makes a bit of sense
it just looks better um you can see how
much bright light is hitting this spot
behind here so it you know it kind of
makes sense that this one it would have
to be brighter to actually be visible um
so that's there and normally I would use
actually a bigger radius like minimum a
meter so I would recommend turn that up
just because you want it to be quite big
and soft if you're trying to um enhance
a big and soft reflection like this
would be this is kind of going to cause
a really soft reflection right here this
big patch of light it's almost like
another light itself uh a big patch of
reflecting light that's a trick you see
a lot in photography where if you're
taking a portrait of someone you you
might literally hold a piece of paper on
the opposite side of their face where
the sun's coming from and that can be
this exact same effect uh instead of an
area light it's just a piece of paper
which is reflecting the sunlight so it's
the same kind of thing anyways um yeah
the key here is make sure it makes sense
like think about where the direction of
light is actually coming from and then
Place light Strate strategically in
those areas you want to color match it
so if the light is going to be um you
know like everything's kind of warm
tones in here so I want to match the
light to be a little bit warm to match
match that so it makes sense um you can
see if I make it white it looks a little
bit strange as soon as it gets warm it
kind of fits in a little bit better so
obviously just color match it to
whatever other objects in in you're
scene and then try to keep it subtle as
well because if you overdo it the
realism breaks really really fast so for
example if I just crank this one uh
let's just find one that's pointing this
way and let's just like 10 x this um you
can see it starts to look interesting
but pretty fake uh quickly right and if
I go really really extreme with it it
just completely destroys everything so
um it's you'll hit this point of it
ruining everything probably faster than
you'll expect so keep it subtle if you
can because this isn't uh how light
behaves in real life you're not going to
have invisible lights which are are
doing this um so we're kind of enhancing
what's already there is the idea here
okay one more thing that I want to
mention is you might get this problem
here where you can kind of see a big
glow coming from your light so that
happens because if we're using
volumetrics in the scene so we're using
a big uh fog over everything right so
we're using uh just a volume scat excuse
me just a volume scatter on this Cube
which is just volumetric lighting over
everything so if you start placing
lights like bright lights in that you
might get this effect where it's like
just glowing everywhere the way you deal
with that is just uncheck you can
certainly see me doing it here but
uncheck the uncheck excuse me the volume
scatter check boox here so you go just
click on the light uh the light you want
to be affecting go over to Ray
visibility and then just where it says
volume scatter uh if I just pull this
out volume scatter uncheck that and I'll
just do it on this one as well uncheck
that and now we can use lights as bright
as we want without uh just having it
emit into the volume so we're basically
just saying hey light up everything but
don't affect the volume at all that's
what happens when you uncheck that
one other thing too is if you have some
reflective surfaces I'll just add an
example of a reflective surface right
here so if I just have this on um yeah
so you might run into this problem where
you can see uh the actual light itself
in the reflection of something so for
example if I have a point light here we
can't see the actual light in the scene
but in the reflection we can see the
light which is the problem if you have a
water or glass or something like that
where the reflection of the light shows
a big white circle or Square the way you
can deal with that uh the first thing
you could try is just uncheck this
checkbox called multiple importance so
that's in the light settings underneath
where you adjust the power and
everything multiple importance if you
just take that off that will reduce that
or actually just remove it the other
thing you can do is uh uncheck if I just
turn this back on if you uncheck uh the
glossy aray visibility that can help
this as well if it's uh like giving you
too much glossy reflections
and you kind of want to tone that down a
little bit or remove it that's a way to
do that so in in uh this scene what I
did for all these lights I think was
just take the glossy completely off so
it's just not yeah you can see there um
it's just not using that at all right
there and that just makes it fit in a
little bit better in this case I don't
always do that I usually don't but uh in
this case it just made it work a lot
better I maybe could have just done this
where I turned the power way down um
let's just see what that looks like
yeah like same kind of thing it just
doesn't give quite the same effect uh
but it's it's a different look you can
go for that if you want but uh I opted
for just turning the glossy off and kind
of going for this more rough look so
yeah that's it for this one so by the
way a bunch of the Assets in this render
are from the new fantasy course like the
floor chest uh debris piles arches and
stuff like that a lot of this stuff is
from the the new fantasy environments
course so I'll leave a link below to
that if you want to check out the new
course and other that thanks for
watching and I'll see you in the next
one bye
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