Blender Day 48 : Blender48 How to set your three point light system in blender

Alright, so now that we know how to move the camera around, you'll notice that when you press F12 to render, you'll get a strange shadow on the face of your model. This is because we haven't discussed the lighting system yet. So, for now, this default lighting is not ideal if you want to showcase your work to others. Let me click the middle mouse button and drag out of camera mode to find the light.

Sometimes it can be difficult to locate the light, but you can easily move it by clicking on it and dragging it away. You can also double-click on it to highlight it, in case you can't find it. Once you have the light selected, you can move it around.

The industry standard lighting system is called the three-point light system. Let me explain how it works. The first light is called the key light, which is the main and brightest light. However, if you only have the key light, you'll have a problem with shadows on the nose and neck area. To complement the key light and eliminate these shadows, we need to add another light. This light is called the fill light and it comes from the opposite angle of the key light, reducing the shadows. Additionally, we have the back light, which is positioned behind the character and helps create a silhouette effect, making the character stand out. By combining these three lights, you can achieve a good lighting setup.

Now, keep in mind that the key light and fill light should work in harmony, with the fill light filling in the areas where shadows appear. The fill light doesn't need to be as powerful as the key light, as it's not meant to be the main light source. The back light, on the other hand, can be positioned at different angles to create different effects. It's not a strict rule and can depend on the environment you're working with. Just remember that this lighting setup is called the three-point lighting system.

Once you understand the three-point lighting system, you can experiment with moving the lights around to achieve different results. Now, let's move on to the rendering engine. By default, Blender uses the Eevee rendering engine, which is quick but not as realistic. If you want more realistic renderings, you can switch to the Cycles rendering engine. Keep in mind that using Cycles will require more computational power and rendering time.

To change the rendering engine, go to the Render Properties tab and select the desired engine. For now, let's stick with Eevee to keep things quick. However, note that to properly set up the three-point lighting system, you'll need to move the light down a bit. You can do this by grabbing the light and dragging it down on the Z-axis. This will give you a better view of the rendering effect.

One thing to note is that the Eevee rendering engine can be resource-intensive and may cause your computer's fans to run louder. If you find the noise distracting, you can adjust the power of the lights to reduce the strain on your computer. Now, let's go back to the camera view by pressing Shift + 0.

In the camera view, you'll notice that the lighting may not be ideal. To adjust it, you can change the position of the lights. Remember that the fill light can be duplicated and moved to another angle to act as the main light. You can rename the lights to easily identify them. For example, you can name the duplicated fill light as "Main Light" and the original fill light as "Fill Light". Additionally, you can add a backlight to further enhance the lighting setup.

Feel free to play around with the lights and their positions to achieve the desired effect. Remember, there's no strict rule, and it all depends on your artistic vision and the environment you're working with. Once you're satisfied with the lighting setup, you can proceed with rendering.