5 Lighting & shading tips to make your renders pop

Without great presentation, even the most amazing render won’t shine. Here’s how to always showcase your artwork in the best light with Blender…

A recent comment from a Blender modeler: “It’s funny how lighting just doesn’t feel so important.” So true. Especially for new 3D artists, creating in Blender is all about modeling and texturing. But don’t be fooled: good light is to a render what frosting is to a cupcake: it can make or break the final product. These tips, which unavoidably feature an annoying number of light-related idioms, will illuminate your Blender workflow once and for all.

Environment lighting for the win

We’ll say it: if the single light source you’re using is lamps, you’re not doing it right. Your renders won’t look realistic. The lights may be on… but there’s nobody home. Why? Realistic rendering should mimic real-life lighting, which rarely relies on a single light bulb. There is a myriad of light sources and reflectors like the sun, cars, white walls, fidget spinners. How can you possibly imitate this complexity in Blender? This is where environment textures really shine.

HDRIs have become the industry standard for realistic environment lighting. High Dynamic Range Imaging is a technique that “photographs” the real world including hyper-detailed information about light which is impossible to replicate manually.

Bottom line: It’s a must to develop a collection of HDRI images that you can easily apply to your Blender project.

:point_right: Read the full article on 3DTotal.com