Blender For Dummies, 3rd Edition

Chapter 9

Lighting and Environment

In This Chapter

• Taking advantage of different types of lights in Blender
• Setting up effective lighting
• Changing the look of your scene with background images, colors, and ambient occlusion

In terms of getting the work you create in Blender out to a finalized still image or animation, having your scene's environment and lighting set up properly is incredibly important. It goes along hand in hand with setting up materials on your object (see Chapter 7) as well as the rendering process (see Chapter 14). Without light, the camera — and by extension, the renderer — can't see a thing. You could create the most awesome 3D model or animation in the world, but if it's poorly lit, it won't be turning any heads.

This chapter covers the types of lights available to you in Blender and details some of the best practices to use them in your scenes. In addition to lighting details, I go into setting up the environment in your scene with the settings in World Properties. In many ways, the topics covered in this chapter are what give your scenes that final polish, making them look really good.

Lighting a Scene

Lighting has an incredible amount of power to convey your scene to the viewer. Harsh, stark lighting can give you a dramatic film noir look. Low-angle lights with long shadows can give you a creepy horror movie feeling, and brighter high-angle lights can make things look like they are taking place during a beautiful summer day. Or, you can use a bluish ...