Lighting in Animation

Like live-action films and photography, virtual lighting is key to telling a story in 3D animation. Without this fundamental aspect in 3D productions, movies would be dark and simply non-visible. Artists use light to emphasize the mood and emotions within the films’ scenes, leading the viewer’s eye to the focal point of the setting while also making the story as believable as possible by depicting weather, the time of day, and the location of the scene. For all of this to be possible, lighting artists need to keep in mind the color temperature, the light placement, and the type of light to convey what is required in a particular scene. 

Lighting within 3D animation is the recreation of the physically-based lighting interaction in a real-life environment within a virtual setting. Depending on the scene’s complexity, lighting artists use different techniques, tools, sources, and effects to convey the desired result. The job of a lighting artist is of much more significance when the animation is hyperrealistic because the amount of detail required within these shots is very complex. In addition to this, lighting artists have the challenge of keeping a consistent lighting scheme throughout the whole animated film.

There are different types of virtual lights used to recreate real-life environments; these are a combination of direct sunlight and reflections. Two of the most common tools used in the 3D environment to recreate natural ambient light are the Skydome Lighting and Global Illumination. Skydome Lighting is mainly used to recreate outdoor environments by adding a dome above the scene representing the sky. On the other hand, Global Illumination uses algorithms that calculate the light across the entire scene, including the direct light source and reflections. Other lights combined with the Skydome and GI are used to represent environment light better. Such as: 

1. Directional Light: (Infinite Light) the light has parallel rays simulating a faraway light source, like the moon or sunlight.  It strikes the objects in the scene with equal intensity. 
2. Point Light: (Omni Light) it emits light from a single point in every direction. The object closer to this light appears brighter than those further away. This light simulates a lightbulb.
3. Area Light: it casts the light within a boundary coming from a specific shape such as windows or backlit panels.  They have a direction and produce soft and realistic shadows. 
4. Spotlight: it produces a cone of light in one direction. The light is more bright as it gets closer to the center of the cone. It simulates flashlights in real life. However, lighting artists can create different effects by changing the cone angle and the size of the light. 

In addition to these four types of light effects within 3D animation, three basic techniques are essential when creating realistic light in a virtual environment. 

1. Three-point lighting: Uses three light sources: Key light (The primary and most intense source of light), Fill Light (placed on the opposite side of the Key Light, meant to soften the shadows), and Rim Light (Used to separate the subject from the background by adding a highlight around it from the back of the subject)

2. Two-point lighting: it consists of the primary source of light and the secondary source of light that surrounds it

3. One-point lighting: it is used to portray a very dramatic effect. It consists of just one light source without any complement to soften the shadows. 

• Other lighting techniques used are the Bounce Light (Used to recreate reflective lights in environments) and Kick Light (Similar to Rim Light, it is used to separate the subject from the background using highlights directed from the side) 

Lighting artists need to keep in mind the light placement and its quality, meaning the light’s intensity, color, and softness to portray a particular mood in a scene and direct the viewer’s eye. This process is divided into two stages: Master Lighting, where artists establish the light quality for the entire set, and Shot Lighting, where artists adjust the light for each shot to guide the viewer towards the focal point and make characters look appealing. An example of Shot Lighting is when artists use just a Rim Light and a Key Light within a shot to create a very dramatic/suspenseful mood. 

When the sharp Key Light is cast from below, it gives the subject a scary and threatening trait. Adding a green temperature to this light pushes this dark mood even further. 

However, when warm, soft light is coming from below the character balanced out with other warm lights, the resulting mood will not be as threatening as the previous examples. 

The artist’s ultimate goal is to sell an emotion by creating a believable scene. Therefore, the hard work and details within animated lights are meant to support the story that is being narrated.