3D Style Environment Research
For my 3D style piece, I wanted to look at environments that accentuate character performance with harsher and more stripped and focused lighting that will bring to detail the nuances of the character’s facial performance. Considering this, I thought of contextual applications of real-life interviews to help ground this documentary in its more realistic and serious nature. My initial environmental idea that was conceived in my head was a simple, minimally modelled room reminiscent of a police interrogation room where nothing draws massively the viewer’s attention away from anything apart from the subject that is speaking.
In a similar light, I thought the use of an office which includes each individual’s nameplate and objects that seem relevant and symbolic of different elements that represent them as people or what they are saying to the audience to give them a further sense of personality without having to inherently speak it.
3D Environmental Concepts
Expanding on this design idea, I started making some simple models of this harsh metallic table and chair, without creating a surrounding environment so it is easier to single in on the character performance.
The main element I wanted to focus on with this environmental piece was the overall lighting. My plan was to make it very intensely focused and bright on the character’s face, by creating a slight downcast to make prominent the sharper points of the face. In the book Aesthetic 3D Lighting: History, Theory and Application, states how “moods are often triggered by particular lighting scenarios” and accentuates the example that stylising lighting of horror movies light can be “placed at unusual locations so that the lights create exaggerated highlights and shadows” (Lainer, 2018, pp. 4). As this is similar to the overall tone I wished to create within my render, I started my testing with the most primary light in the scene. The overhead light.
As clearly visible in the above picture, I was able to create an effective-looking mesh light with enough dimness in the bulb to create a gloomier, overcast look. However, I still needed to populate the scene with additional lights to add clarity to the overall setting and massively reduce the noise.
Creating a ‘3-point’ lighting set up, I added a main frontal area light to reduce noise and light up the front of the scene, a light on the character’s left, to help increase the shadows cast over their facial features, and a backlight to help form a slight rim light around the silhouette of the character.
As stated by Lanier, it is important to consider the reflection, transmission and absorption of light (2018). They state how when the wavelength of light interacts with a material surface, the light is “absorbed and the light energy is converted to heat” (this seems to appear on darker surfaces), or it can be absorbed and re-emitted, creating reflection (Lanier, 2018, pp.7). Since the hue of the material tends to be lighter on a reflective surface, I created a backplane with a standard grey tint, so that aspects of the area lights would reflect and light up the back of the chair, creating an object separate from the background and foreground.
When adding my character performance into this set-up, I really wanted to focus on upping the texture specular so that the character would reflect on the surface of the table, exemplifying the idea of coldness and of solitude further.
Below is the finalised look that I was able to create, I wanted to keep the character’s specular level higher to give them a ‘glossy’ and toy-like appearance to separate it from reality in a way that purposely feels performative and intentional. I feel for this premise project adequately portrays the mood and overall feel I am aiming for with visual conveyance. However, if I do decide to push for this visual there will be many more things taken into consideration, such as further detailed texturing of both assets and character, and more extreme lighting set ups (Perhaps with the inclusion of colour theory) to convey further emotional expression.
References
.Lanier, L. (2018). Aesthetic 3D Lighting: History, Theory and Application. New York, New York: Routledge.