Cineversity

Lighting (release date Mar 11th) – is a collection of themes that addresses the day-by-day challenges as well uses artists make using 3D lighting options.

http://www.cineversity.com/vidplaylist/mistake_or_creative_option_a_short_discussion_about_light

About this series.

I have done this series for a Master Class - for people that I teach pretty much once a year, a group of people that produce images that everyone (!) has seen—I can’t tell the company—it is a big one. I take normally a month to prepare myself for these few hours. The common question was always, how can we improve—and they are artist on the highest level already. They have inspired me to do the next series of over 200 tutorials, a huge work, even after shooting images (still and motion) professionally over decades. I had to give them credit, because they really push me. :o) This series was one hour during the training, scrubbing though it and checking if we are on the same level. I’m happy to share it with you here now.

This is a mixed bag of thoughts and tips, all around light. A collection of themes, rather than a course that builds up on each part. If it looks right, it is right—but that is of course only true when the final product is delivered. It holds only true, if the one who is looking knows what to look for in the first place, then: When it looks right it is right. What I like to deliver here, is a starting point to think about the themes that I touch here.

Light tells a story, and my very own truth is, as long as “one” doesn’t know all the stories possible, “one” doesn’t know all the options with light. It is a life long explorations and if an 3D artist stops thinking about light, and applies only standards to a scene, s/he stops telling the story. No, this is not a series about setting up light. That will come later, but is a prerequisite to it.

My best intentions as an underlaying motivation, this series provides a more individual point of view from my side. I think most aspects of our work have not the “one and only” method. I have chosen to call it “Mistake or Creative Options” (MICO), as a working title. I know I will step on some toes here, which might be un-avoidable. But who dares to believe to be 100% right all the time, there is always something else possible. I know that many people like to do things differently. Nothing seems to be absolute these days. ...and in fact it never was, even some books like to tell this tale. There are no school-book like informations available, which would gives us the final truth about our subject, once and forever. Everything is in flow and with that in a constant change. So, please take this series with the idea to expand your horizon. If you aren’t in agreement with me, or on the other hand—even feel comfortable with some points I present, in any way—take it as added value.

I do 3D now over two decades, I have seen things come and go. I have seen people desperate to learn it, and on the other side people who will never learn anything—because they “know it all” already. I’m constantly learning and this results in a constant change. As the saying is, if you stick with your own opinion over decades, you have wasted your life. How old are your opinions and techniques by now?

This series is a little sweep out, a Spring cleaning before the next torrent of over 200 tutorials is ready to be released from my side. The next parts are based around “Photography [and Light] for the 3D Artist”: How to bring the world and its techniques into CINEMA 4D for example.

——>>  part two of this text——>>

What’s next?

We enter a new age of workflow now, earlier on we started with linear light discussions and how to do it in C4D. Today we know, the terms were not well chosen and now we talk already [and more precisely] about ‘Linear Scene” and “Linear Display” (instead of linear light). People in my hands on classes know that I like to draw a line since years on the blackboard and underneath is the machine and on top we are, the humans. Underneath should be everything linear, and anything human needs a change for the characteristic of perception that we have. It is that simple. Scene and Display linearity. There is more to talk about, to get into the ACES (Academy of Motion Picture, Arts and Sciences:  ACES or Academy Color Encoding Specification) workflow which will deliver for us pretty soon some new stuff to think about. Yes ACES is in discussion since a while, but will hopefully finally published soon as standard. We are getting better and better in our work, that is my perspective and target about our main area.

In the series “Photography [and Light] for the 3D Artist” I will go deeper into HDRI, Panorama, Lighting like a Photographer, Shooting Textures Professional, Camera-Projection, Model-Photography for Camera-mapping and certainly more about White-balance and how to deal with this for integration work. In a short special series, I hope to discuss all of that and how color science will support our efforts. ACES is by then officially published and following some papers about color and light consistency (e.g., Sony Picture Imageworks)

When I entered Technicolor to print my JET movie short, I worked with some of their leading color-scientist to get my “rendering” on Cinemascope 35mm (Celluloid). A breathtaking adventure in the heart of the Hollywoods Studios, where e.g., PIXAR was at that time as well more often in the same screening studio. Not knowing at that point that JET would have its great world-premier just a stone throw away at the GOWER Studios. Today we wait impatiently how all of that will work in the future with ACES. Celluloid seems an old media by now and digital (laser) projections more the norm than the exception. Things are changing more rapidly since a while. We will enter a full digital 4K workflow as standard rather soon than later, I have already updated my camera last year.

I have worked hard and attended several color-science seminars to break this down for you in the future—into simple steps. (As usual, my idea of simplification is not to just chop down complexity. One has to go through the complexity to present simplicity, but complexity must be understood first, which many people don’t accept as rule of the game. Derived from Complexity: Anything else is more or less a waste of time, from my point of view.)

This sounds an awful lot to learn, but the more you know, the more stable your career and income will be. The more you know, the better the chances are that you will produce even in the future quality. My job is here to get this information in an useable form so you don’t have to do the boring leg work. The more you know, the more “it looks right” becomes a valid measurement.

I hope you enjoy this little discussion here, and again, I do not expect that everyone agrees, but try to compare your points with the material I present here. It is just a start point. Enjoy the ride.