Softimage
3D Environment Lighting is our new 74-page tutorial series, where over the course of six chapters we detail techniques on lighting an environment under a number of different conditions. Each chapter covers a step-by-step guide to setting up lights, aimed at portraying the scene in a specific manner.

The various chapters are tailored to specific software packages, and each aims to show a comprehensive and effective way of lighting an interior of a ship that includes both natural and artificial light. These include a sunny afternoon, sunset, moonlight, electric light, candlelight and finally a submerged submarine light. The schedule is as follows:

Chapter 01:
Sunny Afternoon In this first chapter we take a look at how to set up a “sunny afternoon” lighting scenario for our 3D environment, using Softimage|XSI and Mental Ray.

Chapter 02:
Twilight In this part we set up our lighting to create a moody sunset. We’ll use Softimage|XSI and Mental Ray to accomplish the task.

Chapter 03:
Moonlight In this instalment we create a typical moonlight setup for the ship cabin scene. As usual, we use Softimage XSI and Mental Ray to render.

Chapter 04:
Electrical This time we learn how to create an artificial lighting situation for our ship cabin scene, using Softimage|XSI and Mental Ray.

Chapter 05:
Candlelight In this chapter we learn how to light the ship’s cabin with candles. Only one candle will be visible on the left; the other two will simply light the scene and cast shadows, but will be out of view (one on the right and one in the back of the room).

Chapter 06:
Underwater In this final part we create an underwater scene for the ship cabin. Just imagine it has sunk and is now laying on the ocean bed, with a large ray of light shining in from outside. We create this scenario using Softimage|XSI and Mental Ray to render.

Environment Lighting Designed & Modelled by Richard Tilbury
Tutorial by Luciano Iurino