Custom 3D Rendering: Why Lighting Matters

If you’re interested in making custom 3D renders, one of the first things you need to understand is how important the concept of lighting is in making your projects look realistic. When you look at detailed images or movies such as Pixar’s Toy Story 3, you marvel at the details that go into making the grass move, or how the fur on the dog seems like it actually has a texture you could reach out and feel. What you may fail to consider is how important the right lighting is in making all of these concepts come together to create something that looks nearly real to the human eye. Lighting isn’t an afterthought in these images, both moving and still, but rather it acts as one of the primary catalysts for our minds to see a picture as something that might actually exist.

When creating a custom 3D image, you need to take lighting into consideration every step of the way. Where is your scene set? If outside, you’ll have to take the sun into consideration. If inside, you’ll be working with whatever artificial light source you want to replicate. Either way, light comes with its own set of properties and you ignore these properties at the risk of making your image look fake and amateurish. Pay attention to how these light sources would interact with your objects if they existed in the real world.

The best way to do this is to actually look around. See how the light in your office plays off the objects on your desk. Go outside and watch how the sun reflects off the cars in the parking lot. Take note of the shadows. Watch for glare and reflections. These little details may be ignored on a conscious level when someone looks at your work, but if they are absent, the eye will notice. Even if the viewer isn’t sure what’s missing, they’ll know that something isn’t right.

Of course, lighting is not only important in custom 3D rendering. Artists have been using light to make movies and paint and create art for centuries. But in the 3D world, where the goal is usually to create something that looks as though it could jump right off the page and be at home in the real world, the pressure to get that lighting just right is ever so much more present. The artist who fails to give it the just due does so at his own peril and can never hope to join the elite in the world of custom 3D creation.