I have learned and tried the use of various lights.
In the digital world, light does not shine on objects – light is a prerequisite for the existence of objects. Without lighting calculations, polygons are merely vertex coordinates in the database, and textures are just pixel arrays on the disk. It is the lighting system that summons them into visual existence.
NOTE:
- Physical analysis framework
- Identify the main types of light sources (direct/scattered/reflected)
- Estimate the propagation of light energy (intensity decays with the square of distance)
- Predict material reactions (metallic high gloss, fabric soft gloss)
- Emotional palette
- High contrast = tension/drama
- Low contrast = calm/mysterious
- Warm tones = safety/intimacy
- Cool tones = danger/loneliness
- Spatial perception tool
- Front lighting = flattening the space
- Side lighting = Revealing texture
- Back lighting = Enhancing the contour
- Volume lighting = Defining the texture of air
- Narrative grammar
- Light = Knowledge/Safety/truth
- Shadow = Unknown/Danger/Secret
- Gradient = transition/growth/change
- Flicker = unstable/Supernatural/technical glitch
- Three conscious levels of lighting design
- Functional layer: Enables players to clearly see the necessary game elements
- Aesthetic layer: The composition of the picture that creates visual pleasure
- Semantic layer: Convey stories, emotions, and themes through light and shadow
The skills I hope to improve:
- More in-depth ray tracing optimization techniques
- noise reduction, sampling, adaptive
- Light analysis and measurement tools
- simulation of photometers and color in engines
- Lighting strategies for Stylized Rendering
- How to light in Cartoon, Watercolor, and Pixel Art