Optional module - Maxon Computer

46 CINEMA 4D R11 Quickstart – Lighting
8. Quick Tutorial – Lighting
If you are already familiar with lighting a scene in the “real world“ then you will feel right at home with the
CINEMA 4D light objects. They can do everything “real“ lights can do – and quite a bit more. In this tutorial
we will set up a 3-point lighting arrangement. This type of arrangement is used often in portrait photography
to achieve an even lighting and is an excellent method for lighting an object quickly and professionally in the
3D world
Adjust your editor view so the entire figure is visible to you.
We want to light up our little character. Open the file “QS_Light.c4d”. Create a floor object (Objects / Scene
Objects / Floor) and position it so the figure is standing on it.
A 3-point lighting arrangement begins with setting a key light. As the name suggests, this light emits the main
lighting for the scene and will cast the main shadows. Create a light object (Objects / Scene / Light). Name it
“Main_Light“ in the Object Manager.
CINEMA 4D has several different types of light sources. The key light will always be created by default. A point
light emits from its center in all directions. For our key light we will need a spot light which we can aim directly
at the object.
To make the key light a spot simply go to the Attribute Manager and switch the light from “Point“ to “Spot“.