Fur, Nodes and Lighting… oh my!

So yesterday I was whining about the problems and issues that cropped up while working on my last project. Now that I am done complaining, I’m going to share some of the things I actually learned. And yes, I did learn a thing or two on this project.

A look at lighting and a new lighting setup add-on

Lighting has always been a thorny issue for me and I am always looking for resources to help me become better at lighting. Tonight Martín Eschoyez pointed me to a great article by Ben Simonds, where he discusses various lighting situations and gives some excellent tips for improving your lighting.

Why is it still BLUE!!!

What I wouldn’t give for a one button lighting solution.

I have spent the last several months practicing my image and scene lighting in Blender. I had thought I was actually making progress. Okay, so maybe my lighting techniques still aren’t “wow” quality, but I no longer spend weeks trying to accidentally hit upon a reasonably good light setup.

Lighting Challenges: “Fruit Bowl”

My never ending quest to master lighting has finally led me to the Lighting Challenges over at CG Talk. Yeah, I know they are already up to challenge 16, but I wasn’t ready to participate when they started. And now I am, so I’m going to start from the beginning and just work my way through them.

Okay, so the first challenge is a bowl of fruit. And since I am not real fond of the whole 3-point lighting theory, I am going to apply the techniques discussed in the Room exercise from BSOD: Introduction to Lighting. I like the way the lighting in that exercise was set up and since I have been wanting to give it a try, now seemed like a perfect time to not only do so, but to see if I can adapt what is covered to a completely different scene.

Note to self: even simple scenes can take a LONG time to render !

Here recently, I came up with a great idea for an anniversary present for my husband. It was a very simple scene. Once rendered, I planned to print it out and put it into this really cool frame I had bought at a discount store. The frame had a recessed area with nine squares arranged 3×3. The squares had spaces between them. I decided this would be a very cool and unique way to display my image.