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1134 Chapter 15: Lights and Cameras
Most of the time, however, the color of ambient
light should be the complement of the color of the
principal light source for the scene.
Tip: To better simulate reflected light and variations
in it due to the varying reflectivity of objects in the
scene, you can add more lights to a scene and set
them to exclude the objects you don’t want them
to affect. You can also set up lights to affect only
the ambient component of surfaces. See
General
Lighting Parameters (page 2–1175)
.
Color
You can set the color of 3ds Max lights. You can use
the RGB values for color temperatures as a guide
for the principal lighting of a scene; see
Properties
of Light (page 2–1130)
.Beaware,however,thatwe
tend to perceive scenes as always being lit by white
light (this is a perceptual phenomenon known as
color constancy), so accurately reproducing the
color of a light source can make the rendered scene
appear to be tinted oddly. Use the light source
values as a general guideline only.
Guidelines for Lighting
The guidelines for lighting used by photographers,
filmmakers, and stage designers can also help you
set up the lighting for scenes in 3ds Max.
Your choice of lighting depends on whether your
scene simulates natural or artificial illumination.
Naturally l it scenes, such as d aylight or mo onlight,
get their most important illumination from a
single light source. Artificially lit scenes, on the
other hand, often have multiple light sources of
similar intensity.
Note: If you use standard instead of photometric
lights, both kinds of scenes require multiple
secondar y light sources for effective illumination.
Whether a scene is indoors or outdoors can also
affect your choice of material colors. See
Designing
Materials (page 2–1239)
.
Natur al Light
Outdoor scene with natura l sunlight
At ground level, for practical purp oses, sunlight
hasparallelrayscomingfromasingledirection.
The direction and angle vary depending on the
time of day, the latitude, and the season.
In clear weather, the color of sunlight is a pale
yellow: for example, RGB values of 250, 255,
175 (HSV 45, 80, 255). Cloudy weather can tint
sunlight blue, shading into dark gray for stormy
weather. Part icles in the air can give sunlight an
orange or brownish tint. At sunrise and sunset, the
color c an be more orange or red than yellow.
3ds Max specifically provides a
daylight system
to simulate the sun. See Sunlight and Daylight
Systems (page 1–394)
. A single daylight system
isappropriateasthemainlightsourceforsunlit
scenes.
Shadows are more distinct the clearer the day
is, and can be essential for bringing out the
three-dimensionality of a naturally lit scene.
A directional light can also simulate moonlig ht,
which is white but dim compared to the sun.