{"id":1158,"date":"2016-03-30T16:19:41","date_gmt":"2016-03-30T21:19:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bobbyciraldo.com\/?page_id=1158"},"modified":"2018-05-02T01:25:42","modified_gmt":"2018-05-02T01:25:42","slug":"3d-lights","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/ciraldo.stream\/uwm-vfx1\/topics\/3d-lights\/","title":{"rendered":"3D Lights Lecture Outline"},"content":{"rendered":"

“3D Lights”<\/strong><\/h2>\n

 <\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Lights!<\/strong><\/span>\n
      \n
    1. Are represented as layers<\/strong> in compositions
      \n\"screenshot-2016-11-01-12-36-57\"<\/li>\n
    2. Simplified approximations of real-world lights<\/li>\n
    3. Each light layer has its own various timeline properties, for example:\n
        \n
      1. Intensity<\/strong><\/span> controls a light’s brightness<\/li>\n
      2. Color<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0behaves like a colored gel sheet or filter over the light<\/li>\n
      3. Cone Angle<\/strong><\/span> (for spot lights<\/strong> only)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n
      4. Comps can have more than one light, and more than one light\u00a0often looks best (there are tons of exceptions of course)<\/li>\n
      5. But:<\/strong><\/span> too many lights can make previews and renders become sluggish<\/strong>, and this can bog down\u00a0your creative process. (Same goes for 3D layers. Try to find ways to simplify or “cheat”)<\/li>\n
      6. Lights can be parented<\/strong> to other layers, and vice versa<\/strong>:\u00a0<\/em>layers can be parented to lights.<\/li>\n
      7. Lights\u00a0themselves are invisible<\/span> in the render<\/strong> (including\u00a0with their light beams<\/span><\/strong>) but you can sometimes fake a light cone using semi-transparent Shape layers or masked Solid layers, and there are also\u00a03rd-party plugins<\/strong> for sale which can make the lights\/beams more visible; e.g., Trapcode Lux<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n
      8. \u00a0Layers Affected by Lights<\/strong><\/span>\n
          \n
        1. Lights can only<\/span> cast their wonder on\u00a03D layers;\u00a0<\/strong>2D layers basically ignore<\/strong> lights<\/li>\n
        2. Lights affect ALL<\/strong>\u00a03D layers by default.<\/li>\n
        3. But, each 3D layer has a property called Accepts Lights<\/strong> which can toggle whether it should be affected by lights or not
          \n\"screenshot-2016-11-01-11-51-25\"
          \n3D layers with Accepts Lights<\/strong> turned off<\/strong> will appear at full brightness, useful for simulating video screens, the sky, stars, fire<\/strong>, or anything else that would emit its own light in the real world<\/strong><\/li>\n
        4. All lights can be temporarily disabled using the Draft 3D<\/strong>\u00a0switch (set to on<\/strong>)
          \n\"screenshot-2016-11-01-11-56-50\"
          \n<\/strong>This is useful for speeding up previews while working,<\/strong> and for seeing layers that might\u00a0otherwise be too dark to see. (This switch also temporarily disables any camera layer’s Depth of Field property.<\/strong>)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n
        5. The Four Types of Lights:<\/span> Parallel, Spot, Point, Ambient<\/strong><\/span>\n
            \n
          1. Point<\/strong><\/span> lights behave like spheres<\/strong> of light<\/em><\/li>\n
          2. Spot<\/strong><\/span> lights behave like cones<\/strong> of light<\/em>. The light’s point-of-interest (similar to how a camera’s point-of-interest works) is used to control the direction of the cone.\n
              \n
            1. Cone Angle<\/strong><\/li>\n
            2. Cone Feather<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n
            3. Parallel<\/strong><\/span> lights behave like sunlight or moonlight: for when the imaginary\u00a0light source is far away and light beams hit everything at the same angle. Light (x,y,z) source position is somewhat\u00a0irrelevant, as point-of-interest matters most.<\/li>\n
            4. Ambient<\/strong><\/span> lights are immersive and light all surfaces equally. Useful for bringing up\/down the overall brightness of a 3D scene. Shadows not possible with this light.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n
            5. Falloff<\/strong><\/span> – In the real world, as lights get farther away, they get less bright. This is called “Falloff”. In After Effects, there are\u00a03 types of Falloff:<\/strong>\n
                \n
              1. None<\/strong> – Lights from far away shine equally bright as close up lights. Light brightness\u00a0on a surface is determined by the angle<\/strong>\u00a0that the light rays hit the surface.<\/li>\n
              2. Inverse Square Clamped<\/strong> falloff\n
                  \n
                1. Most\u00a0like real-world lights<\/li>\n
                2. Radius<\/strong> option adjusts how quickly this falloff is applied<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n
                3. Smooth<\/strong> falloff\n
                    \n
                  1. Similar to Inverse Square Clamped but with more control over when falloff begins to happen. Useful when your 3D layers are not exactly positioned the way they would be in the real world.<\/li>\n
                  2. In addition to Radius<\/strong>, there is a Falloff Distance<\/strong> option<\/li>\n
                  3. When working with these lights, try setting the Falloff Distance<\/strong> to 0 while adjusting the Radius<\/strong> value, then increase the Falloff Distance<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n
                  4. Lights (and 3D Layers) Can Create Shadows<\/strong><\/span>\n
                      \n
                    1. Lights have a Casts Shadows<\/strong> property which can be turned On<\/strong> to create shadows in the comp<\/li>\n
                    2. Each 3D layer also has a\u00a0Casts Shadows<\/strong> property which you\u00a0toggle to On<\/strong> in order to make the layer cast shadows.\u00a03D layers do not cast shadows by default.<\/strong><\/li>\n
                    3. A 3D layer’s\u00a0Casts Shadows<\/strong> property can also be set to Only<\/strong> which makes\u00a0the 3D layer invisible but still able to cast a shadow. Useful for special circumstances where a shadow requires more custom placement, sizing, rotation, etc.<\/li>\n
                    4. Shadow appearance<\/strong> is controlled via an individual light’s settings:\n
                        \n
                      1. Shadow Darkness<\/strong> a percentage value typically from 0% to 100%, but can go higher than 100%<\/li>\n
                      2. Shadow Diffusion<\/strong> a pixel value indicating a shadow edge feathering amount<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

                        “3D Lights”   Lights! Are represented as layers in compositions Simplified approximations of real-world lights Each light layer has its own various timeline properties, for example: Intensity controls a light’s brightness Color\u00a0behaves like a colored gel sheet or filter over the light Cone Angle (for spot lights only) Comps can have more than one light, … <\/p>\n

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