LIGHTWAVE V9 LIGHTING (W/CD)

Book description


Companion CD included with 30-day demo of LightWave v9!
The process of creating accurate and pleasing lighting in CG environments demands both an understanding of the fundamentals of light and knowledge of the available tools. LightWave v9 Lighting addresses these issues in a practical guide that shows you how to achieve your lighting goals using the latest version of LightWave 3D.
With this book discover the tools and features of LightWave v9 that can improve your lighting; understand lighting concepts including color, shadow, intent, and style; explore a number of tutorials that demonstrate specific lighting setups; learn how to enhance your lighting with volumetrics, lens flares, projection images, and radiosity; find out how the proper lighting can turn a good shot into a great shot.

Table of contents

  1. Cover (1/2)
  2. Cover (2/2)
  3. Contents (1/2)
  4. Contents (2/2)
  5. Foreword
  6. Acknowledgments
  7. Introduction
    1. Why Write This Book?
    2. Why Read This Book?
    3. Screw Physics!
    4. Some Notes about Observation
    5. Rules of the Road
    6. Lighting, Both Beautiful and Accurate
    7. About Trial and Error
    8. Visual Effects vs. CG Lighting Design
  8. Part I — Lighting Theory
    1. Chapter 1 — Properties of Light
      1. Intensity/Luminosity
      2. Color
      3. Direction
      4. Diffuseness
      5. Shadow
      6. Shape
      7. Contrast
      8. Movement
      9. Size
    2. Chapter 2 — What, Where, When?
      1. Interior or Exterior
      2. Time of Day
      3. Time of Year
      4. Atmospheric Conditions
    3. Chapter 3 — Light Sources
      1. Sunlight (1/2)
      2. Sunlight (2/2)
      3. Skylight
      4. Incandescent
      5. Fluorescent
      6. Reflected
      7. Diffuse Reflected
      8. A Note about Proportion and Scale
    4. Chapter 4 — Material Matters
      1. Color in the Real World
      2. Specularity and Glossiness
      3. Reflectivity
      4. Diffuseness
      5. Luminosity
    5. Chapter 5 — Studying Light
      1. Natural Light
        1. Sunlight
        2. Skylight
        3. Cloudy Day
        4. Moonlight
        5. Starlight
      2. Artificial Light
        1. Incandescent Sources
        2. Fluorescent Sources
      3. Photochemical Sources
      4. Shadow and Occlusion
      5. Light Color
    6. Chapter 6 — Principles of Lighting
      1. The Key Light
      2. The Fill Light
      3. The Highlight
      4. McCandless Lighting
      5. Key/Fill Lighting
      6. Three-Point Lighting
        1. What Is Great about Three-Point Lighting
        2. What Is Not So Great about Three-Point Lighting
      7. Four-Point Lighting
      8. Other Lighting Angles
      9. Coloring Your Light
      10. Complementary Tint
      11. Related Tint
      12. Intensity Ratios
      13. Options in Lighting a Scene
  9. Part II — LightWave’s Lighting Tools
    1. Chapter 7 — Light Types, Their Properties, and Typical Uses
      1. Light Properties (1/3)
      2. Light Properties (2/3)
      3. Light Properties (3/3)
        1. Ambient Light
        2. Basic Tab
          1. Lens Flare/Lens Flare Options
          2. Volumetric Lighting/Volumetric Light Options
          3. Linear/Area Light Quality
          4. Spotlight Cone Angle
          5. Spotlight Soft Edge Angle
          6. Projection Image
        3. Shadows Tab
        4. Objects Tab
      4. The Render Globals Panel
        1. Render Tab
        2. Filtering Tab
        3. Global Illum Tab
      5. LightWave’s Light Types (1/2)
      6. LightWave’s Light Types (2/2)
        1. Distant Lights
        2. Spotlights
        3. Point Lights
        4. Area Lights
        5. Linear Lights
      7. Objects as Lights
      8. Examples
    2. Chapter 8 — The LightWave Color Picker
      1. QuickColor
      2. HSV RGB
      3. Tint & Shade
      4. Wavelength
      5. Kelvin
    3. Chapter 9 — Shadow Types and Their Typical Uses
      1. Shadow Size and Softness
      2. LightWave’s Shadow Types
        1. Ray Trace
        2. Shadow Map
        3. No Shadows
    4. Chapter 10 — Projection Images (1/2)
    5. Chapter 10 — Projection Images (2/2)
      1. Using a LightWave Procedural Texture as a Projection Image
      2. Using a LightWave Procedural Texture as a Clip Map
      3. Using a LightWave Procedural Texture as a Transparency Map
    6. Chapter 11 — General Light Properties
      1. Affect Diffuse
      2. Affect Specular
      3. Affect OpenGL
      4. Affect Caustics
      5. Intensity (1/2)
      6. Intensity (2/2)
      7. Falloff
      8. Range/Nominal Distance
      9. Exclude Objects
      10. Ambient Intensity
    7. Chapter 12 — Radiosity
      1. Radiosity Defined
      2. The Tools
      3. When and Where to Use Radiosity
      4. Radiosity Cheats and Tricks
      5. Baking Radiosity
      6. A Note on Radiosity’s Natural Falloff
    8. Chapter 13 — HDRI and Caustics
      1. What Is HDRI? (1/2)
      2. What Is HDRI? (2/2)
        1. Why Should I Use HDRI?
        2. How Do I Use HDRI to Light a Scene?
          1. Using LightGen
          2. Using Textured Environment
          3. Using Image World
      3. Caustics Defined
        1. When and Where to Use Caustics
    9. Chapter 14 — Volumetrics
      1. Fog
      2. Ground Fog
      3. HyperVoxels
      4. Volumetric Lights (1/2)
      5. Volumetric Lights (2/2)
        1. Additive and Subtractive Volumetric Lights
      6. Creating “Atmosphere”
    10. Chapter 15 — Lens Flares
      1. Lens Flares Defined
      2. Why Not to Use Them
      3. Good Uses for Lens Flares
    11. Chapter 16 — Lighting Plug-ins, LScripts, Pixel Filters, and Image Filters
      1. FPrime
      2. Shadow Designer 2
      3. G2
      4. Overcaster (1/2)
      5. Overcaster (2/2)
        1. Overcaster and Spinning Lights
        2. Overcaster Tutorial
      6. Color Theory Lighting Designer
      7. Virtual Darkroom
      8. Bloom
      9. Corona
      10. BRDF
      11. Fast Fresnel
      12. gMIL
      13. All the Others
      14. Rolling Your Own
        1. What Is an LScript?
        2. LScript Commander
        3. Creating an LScript
        4. Assigning Your LScript to a Button
    12. Chapter 17 — Luxigons
      1. A Quick Luxigon Tutorial (1/2)
      2. A Quick Luxigon Tutorial (2/2)
  10. Part III — Creating Lighting
    1. Chapter 18 — Intent and Purpose
      1. Understanding Artistic and Emotional Intent
      2. What Is Your Light’s Motivation? (Justifying Choices)
      3. Chiaroscuro: The Use of Light and Shadow
      4. Some Examples
        1. A Pleasant Scene
        2. A Sad Scene
        3. A Frightening Scene
    2. Chapter 19 — Color Mixing
      1. Two Types of Color
        1. The Color of Light
        2. The Color of Pigments
          1. Pigments in the Real World
          2. Pigments in LightWave
      2. RGB Values
      3. Floating-Point Color Values
      4. Hue, Saturation, and Value
        1. Hue
        2. Saturation
        3. Value
        4. How Hue, Saturation and Value Interact
        5. Recapping HSV
      5. The Additive Color Wheel
        1. Primary Colors
        2. Secondary Colors
        3. Tertiary Colors
        4. Intermediate Colors
      6. Color Harmonies, or Schemes (1/2)
      7. Color Harmonies, or Schemes (2/2)
        1. Monochromatic Harmony
        2. Complementary Colors
        3. Split Complementary
        4. Double Split Complementary
        5. Analogous Color Harmony, aka Related Tints
        6. Triadic Color Harmony
      8. Additive Mixing
      9. Missing Color
      10. Subtractive Mixing
      11. Lights and Subtractive Mixing
      12. Mixing Light with Pigments
      13. The Psychology of Color
        1. Warm Colors
          1. Red
          2. Orange
          3. Yellow
        2. Cool Colors
          1. Green
          2. Blue
          3. Purple
        3. Black
        4. White
        5. Other Colors
        6. Related Tints
        7. Complementary Colors
        8. Triadic Colors
        9. Monochromatic Colors
        10. High-Saturation, High-Value Colors
        11. Low-Value Colors
        12. Low-Saturation Colors
        13. High-Contrast Colors
        14. Low-Contrast Colors
      14. Designing with Color
    3. Chapter 20 — Mood Setting
      1. Angle and Shadow
      2. Contrast
      3. Intensity
      4. Motion
      5. Color
      6. Weather
    4. Chapter 21 — Style
      1. What Is Style?
      2. So What Do I Do?
      3. Less Is More
      4. Consistency between Shots
    5. Chapter 22 — Designing Lighting
      1. The Design Process
        1. Script Analysis
          1. Understanding the Story
            1. First Reading
            2. Second Reading
            3. Third Reading
        2. Research
          1. Historical
          2. Visual
          3. Technical
          4. Dramatic
        3. Discussion: Working with the Design Team
        4. Planning
          1. Sketches and Drawings
          2. The Magic Sheet
          3. A Formal Lighting Plot
            1. Symbols and Notations
          4. A Formal Lighting Schedule
            1. Instrument Number or Name
            2. Light Type
            3. Intensity
            4. Color
            5. Position and Angle
            6. Notes
        5. Implementation
          1. Block Placement
          2. Roughing Out
          3. Fine-Tuning
          4. Working with Materials
        6. Evaluation
      2. Balancing the Scene
      3. Focus and Emphasis
      4. Designing with Light and Shadow
        1. Designing with Light
        2. Designing with Shadow
      5. Lighting a Scene vs. Lighting an Object
      6. Putting It All Together (Making a Pleasing Picture)
      7. Saving and Reusing Lighting Rigs
    6. Chapter 23 — Rendering Times
      1. Cheats and Tricks (1/3)
      2. Cheats and Tricks (2/3)
      3. Cheats and Tricks (3/3)
        1. Don’t Tell Them
        2. Antialiasing Level
        3. Vector Blur
        4. Limited Region Renders
        5. Baking Illumination
    7. Chapter 24 — Identifying and Recreating Light Sources in a Plate
      1. About Photo-Real Lighting
      2. About Plates and Light Sources
      3. Replicating the Light Source
      4. The Mirror Ball (1/2)
      5. The Mirror Ball (2/2)
      6. A More Complex Lighting Environment (1/2)
      7. A More Complex Lighting Environment (2/2)
      8. Rendering the Element
      9. Getting the Color Perfect Is Not Your Job
    8. Chapter 25 — Tips, Tricks, ’n’ Tutes
      1. The Sun and the Moon (1/3)
      2. The Sun and the Moon (2/3)
      3. The Sun and the Moon (3/3)
        1. Using a Distant Light
        2. Using an Area Light
        3. Using a Point Light
        4. Using a Spotlight
      4. Adding a Skylight (1/6)
      5. Adding a Skylight (2/6)
      6. Adding a Skylight (3/6)
      7. Adding a Skylight (4/6)
      8. Adding a Skylight (5/6)
      9. Adding a Skylight (6/6)
        1. Using Ambient Intensity
        2. Using “No Shadows” Lights
        3. Using an Area Light
          1. Single Light Setup
          2. Manual “Light Bowl” Setup
          3. A “Light Bowl” Using Luxigons
          4. A Light Bowl Using Distant Lights
        4. Global Illumination (Backdrop Only Radiosity)
        5. Sky Fill Using an Image
      10. Radiosity Setups (1/4)
      11. Radiosity Setups (2/4)
      12. Radiosity Setups (3/4)
      13. Radiosity Setups (4/4)
        1. Radiosity Recap
        2. Ambient Intensity and Radiosity
        3. Backdrop Only
        4. Monte Carlo
        5. Interpolated
        6. Keeping Control of Render Times
          1. Rays Per Evaluation
          2. Cache Radiosity
          3. Indirect Bounces
          4. Tolerance
          5. Minimum Evaluation Spacing
      14. HDRI Setups (1/2)
      15. HDRI Setups (2/2)
        1. HDRI Recap
        2. Using Image World
        3. Textured Environment
        4. Inverted Globe
        5. Creating Your Own HDR Images Using HDRShop
      16. Faking Radiosity (1/3)
      17. Faking Radiosity (2/3)
      18. Faking Radiosity (3/3)
        1. Adding Lights for Reflections
          1. Using a Point Light
          2. Using an Area Light
        2. Baking Radiosity
        3. Caching Radiosity
      19. Faking Soft Shadows (1/2)
      20. Faking Soft Shadows (2/2)
        1. Using an Area Light
        2. Using Spotlights and Shadow Maps
        3. Using the “Spinning Light” Trick
      21. Faking Volumetrics (1/2)
      22. Faking Volumetrics (2/2)
        1. The Old Geometry Trick
    9. Chapter 26 — Lighting Setup Examples
      1. Exterior Sunny Day
        1. Distant Key, Ambient Fill
        2. Distant Key, Distant Fill
        3. Distant Key, Spot Fill
        4. Distant Key, Area Fill
        5. Distant Key, GI Fill
        6. Spot Key, Spot Fill
        7. Spot Key, GI Fill
        8. Area Key, Spot Fill
        9. Area Key, Area Fill
        10. Area Key, GI Fill
        11. Area Key, GI Fill, Radiosity
        12. HDRI Only
      2. Exterior Cloudy Day (Soft Shadows Only) (1/2)
      3. Exterior Cloudy Day (Soft Shadows Only) (2/2)
        1. Spotlight
        2. Area Light
        3. Global Illumination
        4. GI, Radiosity
      4. Exterior Night
        1. Distant Key, Ambient Fill
        2. Adding Some Interior Light
        3. Adding a Streetlight
      5. Interior, Incandescent (1/2)
      6. Interior, Incandescent (2/2)
      7. Interior, Fluorescent, Night
      8. Interior, Radiosity
      9. Exterior, Radiosity
    10. Chapter 27 — Anatomy of a Production Lighting Rig (1/4)
    11. Chapter 27 — Anatomy of a Production Lighting Rig (2/4)
    12. Chapter 27 — Anatomy of a Production Lighting Rig (3/4)
    13. Chapter 27 — Anatomy of a Production Lighting Rig (4/4)
  11. Appendix — LightWave’s “Full Precision” Renderer and You
    1. 1. “Full precision”
      1. A. What’s it all about?
      2. B. Where’s the data?
      3. C. I don’t use HDRI, or get into the fancy stuff, so why should I care?
    2. 2. Pre/post adjustment and exposure
      1. A. Processing and adjusting your renders
      2. B. Adjustment methods
      3. C. Should I post- or pre-adjust?
    3. 3. Radiosity
      1. A. The modes
      2. B. Ambient intensity and radiosity
      3. C. Multi-bounce radiosity
      4. D. Speed
    4. 4. Global illumination with internal lighting, HDRI, and other methods
      1. A. Light is light (HDRI or not)
      2. B. Mixing it up
    5. 5. Tips
  12. Index (1/2)
  13. Index (2/2)
  14. About the CD
  15. Color Insert (1/4)
  16. Color Insert (2/4)
  17. Color Insert (3/4)
  18. Color Insert (4/4)

Product information

  • Title: LIGHTWAVE V9 LIGHTING (W/CD)
  • Author(s): Nicholas Boughen
  • Release date: April 2007
  • Publisher(s): Jones & Bartlett Learning
  • ISBN: 9781449612955