The Complete Guide to Blender Graphics

Lighting and Cameras

7

7.1 Lighting

7.2 Cameras

7.1 Lighting

7.1.1 Lighting Types and Settings

 e default scene in Blender starts with a cube object, a camera, and a lamp. What the

camera sees is what will render as a picture or movie depending on the settings you make.

To get a simple rendered view, press the F12 key.  is will open a window that displays the

rendered output of what the camera is focused on. If the picture shows the cube object as a

black silhouette, you do not have a lamp or the lamp settings or placement is incorrect. To

exit the render window, press the Esc key.

In most cases, you will need more than one lamp in order to properly illuminate your

scene. Most scenes usually require three to four lamps, but be careful not to use too many.

Instead of adding lamps, experiment with the distance and energy settings.

7.1.2 Lamp Settings

To create or add a lamp to the scene, position the 3D cursor in a desired location and press

Shi + the A key and select “Lamp” from the drop down menu. You can choose your type

of lamp (Point, Sun, Spot, Hemi, and Area) and that lamp will be placed in the scene. With

the lamp selected, go to the properties window – “Object Data” button to display the setting

options (Figure 7.1).  e options displayed vary depending on what type of lamp you select.

 e diagrammatic representation of the lamp in the 3D window also varies depending on

the type (Figure 7.2).

Blender Lighting

– Point Lamp,

Blender Lighting

– Sun Lamp,

Blender Lighting

– Sun Lamp – Sky

and Atmosphere,

Blender Lighting

– Hemi Lamp,

Blender Lighting

– Area Lamp,

Blender Lighting

– Spot Lamp,

Blender Lighting

– Ambient

Occlusion

Learning

Unit 7

132 7. Lighting and Cameras

Figure 7.1

Figure 7.2

Point

Brightness

Lamp type

selection

Light color

How far the light shines

Sun

Shadow color

Spot

Hemi Area

1337.1. Lighting

If you decide that the lamp you have selected is not correct for what you want to achieve,

you can change the type in the properties window. Click on the dierent lamp types in the

“Lamp” tab.

Spot lamps or spotlights are particularly useful in creating great eects. ey can be

scaled, rotated, and positioned to cast shadows and they can also be used with a halo ef-

fect to provide a simulation of a light shining through a fog (Figure 7.3). For this and other

lamps, experiment with the settings and record your results.

Figure 7.3

Spotlight with “Show

Cone” turned on

With the halo on, adjust

the intensity for a smoky

effect.

Tick for a halo effect.

134 7. Lighting and Cameras

7.2 Cameras

By default, your scene already has one camera and that is usually all

you need, but on occasion you may wish to add more cameras. You

can add more cameras by pressing Shi + the A key and selecting

“Camera.” e new camera will be located where your 3D cursor

is positioned and you will have to orientate the camera. To change

which camera is active, you need to select that camera and press Ctrl

+ number pad 0. Figure 7.4 shows the properties window – “Camera”

button.

7.2.1 Settings Options

• Perspective or Orthographic. Used to change the camera

from showing a true-life perspective view to an ortho-

graphic view.

• Focal Length. Sets up a lens length much like a real cam-

era; 35mm is a good, safe setting, but wide and tight an-

gle settings work for dierent needs.

• Shi. Pushes the camera’s view in a direction, without

changing perspective.

• Clipping Start. How close an object can get to the camera

and still be seen (Figure 7.5).

• Clipping End. How far away objects can be seen by the

camera; in very large scenes, this needs to be set higher

or things “disappear” from view (Figure 7.5).

• Depth of Field. Used with nodes to blur foreground and

background objects; working with nodes will be dis-

cussed in Chapter 18.

Figure 7.5

Clipping start

Limits

Clipping end

Figure 7.4