We know that you have LightWave training alternatives to the Washburn Workshops taught by Bob Anderson so we provide you with the topics covered in this two-day class so you know what you are learning when you commit the time and money required for these classes. Class runs from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. with optional evening lab practice time from 8:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. You are strongly encouraged to bring a list of questions or mini-projects to evening lab practice time. If you have taken LightWave 3D Essentials from Bob, you should be ready for all the skills covered in this class. All students receive a 90 minute instructional videotape on Lighting and Camera Techniques by Bob Anderson.

Topics covered include but are not limited to:

• Lights Panel
• Add LightAmbient Light
• Ambient Color
• Light Intensity
• Envelopes
• Add Light
• Rename Light
• Clone Light
• Light Color
• Lens Flares
• Light Types
  1. Distant Light
  2. Point Light
  3. Spot Light
  4. Linear Light
  5. Area Light
• Intensity Falloff
• Maximum Distance
• Spot Light Features
  1. Cone Angle
  2. Soft Edge Angle
  3. Projection Image

• No Diffuse/No Specular

• Shadows
• Ray Tracing
• Shadow Maps
  1. Shadow Map Size
  2. Shadow Fuzziness
  3. Use Cone Angle
  4. Shadow Map Angle
• Lens Flare Options
  1. Connection Between Light Intensity and Lens Flare Intensity
  2. Flare Intensity
  3. Fade Options
     1. Fade Off Screen
     2. Fade Behind Objects
     3. Fade In Fog
     4. Fade With Distance
        • Nominal Distance
     5. Flare Dissolve
     6. Central Glow
        • Setting color of Central Glow
     7. Red Outer Glow
     8. Central Ring
        • Central Ring Color
        • Ring Size
     9. Glow Behind Objects
     10. Anamorphic Distortion
         • Distortion Factor
     11. Star Filter
         • Star Filter Types
         • Rotation Angle
     12. Off Screen Streaks
     13. Anamorphic Streaks
     14. Random Streaks
     15. Streak Intensity
     16. Streak Density
     17. Streak Sharpness
     18. Lens Reflections

• 3 Point Lighting
  1. Key Light
  2. Fill Light
  3. Back Light
• Bounce Light
• Radiant Light

• Gobos
  1. Projected Images
  2. Object
• Linnenbach Lantern

• Volumetrics
• Faking the Appearance of Volumetric Lights
• Grid Falloff Thing
• Logo Trails Trick
• Steamer

Practicals:

A practical is an object from within your scene which is self luminous but doesn't add considerably to the overall lighting scheme of the scene. Examples of these might be a candle, exit sign, stars as seen from a distance

• Police Light, old style and new
• Candle Light, camp fire (cave fire)

Real World Light Types

• Flood
• Cyc Floods
• Strip Lights
• Leko (profile spot)
• Follow Spot
• Fresnel
  • Fresnel Lens was invented for use in lighthouses. Augustin Jean Frensel designed it by slicing the thickness of the lens, and stacking the slices, reducing the weight and bulk of the lens.
• Ellipsoidal
  1. Leko, or klieglight
     • Typically has a shutter or iris
     • Can use a gobo
     • Can be focused as a spot or a flood
  2. Reflector spot
     • The only real control on these lamps is adjustment of the bulb in front of, in, or behind the center of the reflector

• Par Lamp
  • uses sealed beam
• PC Spot
  • Prism Convex Lens - has highly frosted lens, high output, same use as a Par
• Varilights

Functions of Lighting

• Make objects clearly visible to audience
• Give objects subtle dramatic appearance, as fitting with the mood or setting to complement the objects and surroundings

• Visibility

• Naturalism

"The audience unconsciously tries to orient itself with relation to the picture, and tends to accept the lighting in terms of natural or unnatural. Lighting can be abstract or stylized or simulate natural light settings. Lighting can be used to convey a sense of time and place. Convey the time of day, and/or season. Can bring a sense of beauty and nature in from outside the picture area. "

• Composition

Position of subject matter and setting all play a part in the overall composition of the image.

• Mood

For each light ask:

1. Where is the light located (light angle)?
2. How intense is the light?
3. What color is the light?
4. What type of light (form)?

Light Location

• How does the angle effect how the object can be seen and how does it affect the mood/atmosphere?
• How can the light angle be justified with a real world analogy (i.e. sunlight, electric light, etc.)?
• Front Light
  • Not very interesting, but does show overall shape of the object (flat lighting)
• Side Light
  • Too dramatic for general use, but interesting
• Back Light
  • Doesn't show the object face at all
• Offset Front Light
  • Good angle, as it reveals more detail than front light
• Offset Back Light
  • Often more interesting than back light, although still doesn't reveal much object detail
• Top Light
  • Too steep to light object well
• Raised Front Light
  • As with the Offset Front Light, this is a good location, and reveals good detail on the object
• Lowered Front Light
  • The most unnatural angle, used to create strange and dramatic lighting

Three Point Lighting

1. 45 degrees off center, 45 degrees above "face level" is a good starting point as it is straight-on enough to light subject well but off axis enough to reveal some detail
2. Same height but on other side to fill in the shadows and ensure entire front of object is covered
3. Same height, but directly behind object. Back light alone creates a dramatic effect, but when combined with the others, it separates the object from the background, bringing a more 3 dimensional look to the object

Light Levels

By making one of the lights brighter than the others, you can add a dramatic element to the scene as the brighter side might imply sun, or moon light, or light passing in through a window.

Camera Panel

• Resolution and Rendering Controls
  1. Basic Resolution
  2. Custom Size
  3. Limited Region
  4. Pixel Aspect
  5. Segment Memory
     • Must be set to differing amounts to achieve the same result when resolution is changed
  6. Antiailiasing
     • Adaptive Sampling
     • Sampling Threshold
  7. Soft Filter
  8. Advanced Antiailiasing
• Camera Controls
• Zoom Factor
  1. Zoom
  2. Focal Length
  3. F.O.V. Controls
• Film Size controls
• Field Rendering
  • Reverse Fields/Field Dominance
• Motion Blur
  1. Connection to Antiailiasing
  2. Blur Length
  3. Particle Blur
  4. Dithered Motion Blur
• Depth of Field
  1. Focal Distance
  2. Lens F-Stop

Please remember that Cinematic Lighting & Camera Techniques is a two-day workshop with two hours of optional evening lab practice time each evening and eight hours of hands-on instruction each day. Please make sure you are confident in your skills at the LightWave 3D Essentials level before attempting this intensive workshop.

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