Understand 3 point light for better product render #-Blender
Understanding lighting is really important in design and CGI. Light is a fundamental who helps highlight the product detail and tell the right story. And what artist are the best storyteller? Filmmakers!
But when you are new to CGI art, you can struggle with light setup. In this article, I will help you understand and create good lighting setup no matter your software. I will do that by explaining to you a simple and most popular light setup notion: Three-point light setup.
Three light is a concept used in most visual art from painting to CGI or filmmaking.
Three-point light set is composed by : Key (or main) light, fill light and backlight
Key or main light!
The key light is the first light of our setup. It is used to light the main area of our product. Maybe you want to highlight the logo, the details, or any else information, you should orient your key light on this part of your product or subject
Fill light
My second baby is: fill light. Use fill light to light the opposite part of your object. This second light is linked with the main light, there are many combinations called light ratio as an example we have 1:1 ratio (mean that the two light has same intensity), 2:1 ratio (the main light is 1.5 brighter than the fill light), etc.. you can find more combination here but remember, experimentation will be the best way for you to understand and discover the cool effect.
The backlight or rim light
This light is cast at the back of the object to give a cool bright to the edge of the subject. usually, it is the most bright light in a scene with a three-point light system, do not be afraid to use really bright value to this last one.
Hope you understand more three-light concept now.
All the images with Suzan model come from blender youtube channel videos about the subject. Click here to see the video.