Storytelling by Lighting 3D Characters
The main protagonist in a scene has the most to say in the story and expresses emotions that should resonate with the audience. It’s very important that you master lighting techniques that will bring the stories out of your characters.
Light Reflections
Light Reflection on Eye Glasses Rendered with Karma Houdini & CC4 Reallusion Character
Using lights to describe what the character is doing or implying what is going on in the environment is very powerful, because you can easily tell the story without actually showing all the details in the camera shot. Needless to say this also saves a ton of time on production, you are now implying what is going on by having the viewer seeing it with their own eyes which is way more IMPACTFUL!
In the screenshot on the left:
“What is he watching?” “Where is that light coming from?” “Is he at home watching TV?” “Are those neon lights shining at him through the window?”
It’s impactful because you have left half the story for the viewer to figure out and this keeps them watching if this was a animation. You need every bit of help to grab and keep the viewer watching. You need to give them every reason of curiosity to keep watching and keep wondering what is going on!
In a Members-Only video I demonstrate how to use lights in Solaris & Karma to render out and use reflections through both the eyes & eye glasses to imply part of the story and leave the other half for the viewer to keep watching. I go over techniques used in Solaris to isolate the light contribute to only selective parts of the face speeding up the workflow. I also go over techniques in excluding certain parts of the face from selective lights so you won’t over expose the nice eye reflections.
Hollywood Lighting aka “Paramount Lighting”
In my recent videos on Portrait Lighting and Light Reflections, I demonstrated different techniques how you can use lighting to enhance the characters emotions by lighting up the eyes and getting that eye twinkle reflection makes so much of a difference in a scene. I used various techniques like the famous Hollywood Lighting or also known as Paramount Lighting combined with animating the intensity of the lights to transition an innocent looking grandma to an evil ominous grandma, usually the exact same lighting setup, with the animated intensity for the lights. Very powerful in setting the mood for the scene!
Evil Intention Horror Lighting Rendered with Karma Houdini & CC4 Reallusion Character
Happy Innocent Lighting Rendered with Karma Houdini & CC4 Reallusion Character
Same lights, but different intensity! What a difference in atmosphere and mood!
Eye Reflection, Eye Twinkle Rendered in Karma Houdini with CC4 Reallusion Character
Eye Reflection
I really liked how a simple Eye Reflection, that twinkle in the eye, how it brings out the life and character’s emotion right out of the screen! Really handy when you want to express how emotionally intense the character is, like anger, determination, depression, fear and much more. All through that little Eye Reflection and of course you’ll need a good character pose and facial expression, but you’ll soon find out that having the extra Eye Reflection makes SO much of a difference.
Eye Reflection, Eye Twinkle Rendered in Karma Houdini with CC4 Reallusion Character
Eye Twinkle
Sometimes the eye reflection can express fear in the character! That eye twinkle is very useful. It’s like adding the cherry on top of that already perfect shot to give it that light touch!
“What is he looking at?” “Why is he so afraid?”
In the screenshot on the left, the eye reflection also implies that’s there’s something really large in front of him because it’s reflecting in part of his eyes. This can drive more curiosity to the viewer and keep them watching or asking more questions about the scene.