Due: Thurs, April 6, 10:30am
Image by Janet Lucroy.
The purpose of this exercise is to gain experience applying some of the fundamental principles and elements of lighting for computer imagery to a simple scene. In particular, we will focus on composition, lighting style, light quality and quantity, and the use of basic light types. Using the same still life and layout, we want to see how much we can vary composition, mood, and drama by changing only the lighting.
Make sure you have read the chapters by Sharan Calahan and John Kahrs in the text and Pixel Cinematography course notes before starting this assignment.
In this assignment, you will render 3 black and white images at video resolution (640 by 480) of a simple still life using the 3D software of your choice. By varying only the lighting, the three images you create should vary greatly in composition, mood and drama. The models, layout (camera placement), and surface materials have to be the same in each image.
Use a variety of simple shapes (round vs. flat, different sizes, maybe one complex object) and choose a good composition for the still life. Apply subtle displacement or bump maps to vary surface texture. Use only basic matte or plastic surface shaders. There should be absolutely no color; not in the surfaces or lights.
Incorporate key, fill, and kicker lights. Feel free to use additional lights (e.g. extra keys, backlights, diffuse lights), but add additional lights cautiously. Every light should have a purpose!
Your images should vary in:
Note that it would be best if your images did not vary in all of the properties above in each image. For example, keep the focal point the same in at least two images, but vary the key light angle for different moods.
In each image, think about form (surface modeling), the focal point(s), and composition (value, contrast, balance, repetition, rhythm, harmony, line and contour). Make all three images "good" images, e.g. don't do an all ambient image to show how bad it looks. Don't use 2D shaders to achieve wacky cartoon "flat" effects. Etc.
Technical notes:
To hand in your assignment, in ~mlewis/HTML/Light/Hw/2000/, in the subdirectory with your username, create a directory called Hw1. Place a web page called hw1.html in this directory. Also place your three 640x480 JPEG image files in this directory. The web page should display your three images. Remember to pay attention to capitalization of file and directory names as well as file permissions. Test the link from the class student work web page and make sure there are no problems.
In the web page, explain extremly briefly (a few words) how each of your images differs using the above considerations (e.g. "mood: somber, focal point: vase. High key, low contrast. Note the flower shadow drawing eye towards vase. Etc.")
Last updated: 3/2/00 by Matthew Lewis Steve May (smay@cgrg.ohio-state.edu)