*Criticism of Diegetic Lighting* - Let's start with the ceiling light. Nearly everything here is a problem. Widening out the FoV of the light lowers the apparently resolution of the shadows (since you're spreading it over a larger area), which also increases how much they're filtered - as you neglected to touch shadowfiltersize on the light, this leads to the casted shadows being *incredibly* soft, to the point where the entire table barely even casts a shadow. Not only that, but you errantly maxed out radius - the default max radius of 50 is FAR, FAR too large for what you described as a "large, glass dome" - a radius of 50 implies the light source is far more massive than a simple ceiling fan light like that, so you'd only be using 5 radius at the maximum. Combined with the already super soft shadows, this leads to that light casting basically no shadows in the scene. This same criticism applies to all the other lights in the scene - the combined product leads to a scene that is already completely devoid of any depth or shadow, despite supposedly only being primary, diegetic lighting. This scene, as is, should be quite contrasty, with harsh shadows. Nitpick - place the sun light farther away, for more parallel shadows. I shouldn't be seeing the window shadow widening out like that. It should also be brighter (seriously, the sun is one BRIGHT light source). *Criticism of Ambient Lighting* - DO NOT place the ambient lighting behind the camera. This leads to something I call the Camera Flash effect - stuff facing the camera is inexplicably brighter than stuff facing away. This is made extra worse if you have any glossy materials, in which the phong easily gives away the direction of the light, constantly creating highlights that face the camera, and just generally look ugly. You SHOULD be placing the light elsewhere, coming from pretty much any other angle. Although, it would be best for it to be motivated by the scene, almost like how you set up the bounce light. Not only that, but you should be remapping radius to be higher than 50. *Criticism of Bounce Lighting* - Just like before, you should be remapping radius, to around 250 - 500. As of right now, your radius is far too small to represent the size of the floor. It would also be best to avoid constantatten, as you do in fact want a falloff to the light, from floor to ceiling. For extra pizazz, add a smaller radius bounce light right where the sun light strikes the floor (and make the sun light brighter, too). *Other Criticisms* - I've noticed, in your usual work, you're relying on SSAO as a massive crutch when it comes to indirect, or ambient shadowing. Almost all of your indirect shadows are SSAO - when you set up lighting properly (i.e. you don't destroy the shadows that the primary and secondary lighting would naturally cast), these ambient shadows will often naturally form, allowing you to dial back SSAO strength, which looks far, FAR better, as these new shadows are both more detailed and more grounded in the scene. When possible, your ambient lights, and sometimes even your bounce lights, should cast shadows, for natural occlusion. This can only really work when such lights are set up in the scene to be physically plausible, but the extra care can earn dividends when it comes to grounding characters and props in the scene.
Lots of good information here! This is why I try to very explicitly state that this is how I *personally* do lighting, and never try to imply it is the best way to do lighting. Because there's always someone who is more knowledgeable! Thank you for the very detailed breakdown. I'll definitely take note in the future.
*Criticism of Diegetic Lighting* - Let's start with the ceiling light. Nearly everything here is a problem. Widening out the FoV of the light lowers the apparently resolution of the shadows (since you're spreading it over a larger area), which also increases how much they're filtered - as you neglected to touch shadowfiltersize on the light, this leads to the casted shadows being *incredibly* soft, to the point where the entire table barely even casts a shadow. Not only that, but you errantly maxed out radius - the default max radius of 50 is FAR, FAR too large for what you described as a "large, glass dome" - a radius of 50 implies the light source is far more massive than a simple ceiling fan light like that, so you'd only be using 5 radius at the maximum. Combined with the already super soft shadows, this leads to that light casting basically no shadows in the scene.
This same criticism applies to all the other lights in the scene - the combined product leads to a scene that is already completely devoid of any depth or shadow, despite supposedly only being primary, diegetic lighting. This scene, as is, should be quite contrasty, with harsh shadows.
Nitpick - place the sun light farther away, for more parallel shadows. I shouldn't be seeing the window shadow widening out like that. It should also be brighter (seriously, the sun is one BRIGHT light source).
*Criticism of Ambient Lighting* - DO NOT place the ambient lighting behind the camera. This leads to something I call the Camera Flash effect - stuff facing the camera is inexplicably brighter than stuff facing away. This is made extra worse if you have any glossy materials, in which the phong easily gives away the direction of the light, constantly creating highlights that face the camera, and just generally look ugly. You SHOULD be placing the light elsewhere, coming from pretty much any other angle. Although, it would be best for it to be motivated by the scene, almost like how you set up the bounce light. Not only that, but you should be remapping radius to be higher than 50.
*Criticism of Bounce Lighting* - Just like before, you should be remapping radius, to around 250 - 500. As of right now, your radius is far too small to represent the size of the floor. It would also be best to avoid constantatten, as you do in fact want a falloff to the light, from floor to ceiling. For extra pizazz, add a smaller radius bounce light right where the sun light strikes the floor (and make the sun light brighter, too).
*Other Criticisms* - I've noticed, in your usual work, you're relying on SSAO as a massive crutch when it comes to indirect, or ambient shadowing. Almost all of your indirect shadows are SSAO - when you set up lighting properly (i.e. you don't destroy the shadows that the primary and secondary lighting would naturally cast), these ambient shadows will often naturally form, allowing you to dial back SSAO strength, which looks far, FAR better, as these new shadows are both more detailed and more grounded in the scene.
When possible, your ambient lights, and sometimes even your bounce lights, should cast shadows, for natural occlusion. This can only really work when such lights are set up in the scene to be physically plausible, but the extra care can earn dividends when it comes to grounding characters and props in the scene.
Lots of good information here!
This is why I try to very explicitly state that this is how I *personally* do lighting, and never try to imply it is the best way to do lighting. Because there's always someone who is more knowledgeable!
Thank you for the very detailed breakdown. I'll definitely take note in the future.
Some really interestign stuff! Cheers!
Always wanted to know how to make the light more wider, thank you for this.
Fantastic Tutorial! Thank you for this!
You are literally a life saver Aardvark 😮, This tutorial was all I needed to have full confidence in animating in SFM! Let me Toss you $20
Probation Officer: So what are you gonna do when you get out of prison?
Convicted Gang Member: Win😈