THINKING ANIMATION TUTORIAL - PART THREE - (Advanced 100% CG) Light Your Playblast in Maya Viewport 2.0
This is Part Three of the "Lighting a Playblast in Maya's Viewport 2.0" series. 💥
If your character rigs, props, cameras, and sets haven't been cleaned up, I recommend starting with Part One of this tutorial to address shot hygiene - https://thinkinganimation.gumroad.com/l/shothygiene.
This is a video rental. You will have access to the video for 72 hours.
It's essential to tidy up your scene before proceeding with lighting, regardless of who created the clutter.
This 24-minute video comprehensively covers lighting an advance 100% CG shot in Viewport 2.0. It's more than just a tutorial—it's a valuable resource designed to help you create a convincing playblast with depth for your demo reel, an essential skill for any CG artist, animators or previs artist.
This tutorial covers advanced lighting setups, including deleting cast shadows, creating native Maya spotlights, adding colored lights, animating lights, cameras, motion blur, depth of field (DOF), and specific Viewport 2.0 settings. Following this guide, you can create playblasts that stand up to fully rendered shots.
Advanced Lighting with 100% CG Environment for Playblasts: Topics Covered
- Playblast, Viewport 2.0, and Render Settings:Â Learn specific settings to achieve the highest resolution for your playblasts.
- Geometry Settings:Â Discover how to disable geometry from receiving and casting shadows.
- Maya Native Spotlights:Â Configure spotlights to cast optimal lighting in Maya, including settings for shadows and colors.
- Explanations and Demos:Â Get detailed demonstrations on creating complex lighting for a 100% CG scenario.
- Final Scene Setup:Â Prepare your final scene for playblasting with DOF, motion blur, and high-resolution output.
💥 Rig Used: Marsha from iAnimate.net
💥 Props Used: Whiskey Glass
💥 Tools: The Key Machine
💥 Maya Versions: Most of the Viewport 2.0 functions will also work with Maya 2022 and later versions. This tutorial is created using Maya 2024.
💥 Audience: This webinar is for advanced Maya users and animators looking to learn how to set-up a shot for a character animation cleanly.
💥 Speaker: Angie Jones - Mentor | Author | Director - ThinkingAnimation.com
This session is ~24 minutes
MARKERS
00:01:28:16 START
00:02:22:18 DEMO LIGHTS
00:02:51:20 DELETE CURRENT LIGHTING
00:03:06:18 NO CAST SHADOWS FOR CEILING
00:03:47:11 REFER TO SHOT HYGIENE SCENE IF CONFUSED
00:03:51:08 CREATE FIRST LIGHT
00:03:54:15 SPOTLIGHT SETTINGS
00:04:45:14 SPOTLIGHT LOCATION
00:04:58:23 SPOTLIGHT SCALE
00:05:11:17 SHADOW SETTINGS
00:05:59:02 VIEWPORT 2.0 SETTINGS
00:07:18:21 CHANGE LIGHT COLOR
00:07:30:15 MORE SPOTLIGHTS
00:07:40:04 WHY THIS SPOT IS AT THIS ANGLE
00:08:10:01 DUPLICATHING LIGHT WITH THE SAME SETTINGS
00:08:26:19 TURN CEILING OFF
00:08:40:07 WIDER CONE ABGLE ON OVERHEAD LIGHT
00:09:20:21 ADD BLUE BOUNCE FROM WINDOW
00:10:22:23 AD FIRELIGHT FLICKER
00:11:37:11 ANIMATE FIRELIGHT
00:11:55:05 RED AND ORANGE FLICKER
00:12:15:15 SPOT TO POINT LIGHT
00:12:42:23 ANIMATED CYCLE FOR FIRELIGHT
00:13:39:16 ADD LIGHT FOR PEGGY
00:14:20:09 BOOKCASE LIGHTS
00:15:49:03 SPOTS ON THE BOOKCASE
00:17:01:09 DOF ON CAMERA
Lighting your playblasts in Viewport 2.0 is an excellent way to enhance your demo reel. After watching this 24-minute video, you will understand advanced lighting techniques, depth of field (DOF), motion blur, and the complexities of working with moving characters, cameras, and a 100% CG set. This video explains the reasoning behind specific lighting choices and how to adjust lights, colors, and shadows to create depth and drama. This tutorial, "Advanced Lighting a Playblast in Viewport 2.0: Shot Hygiene," is Part Three of the series. If you need to clean up your scene before lighting it, I recommend starting with the "Shot Hygiene" session and possibly watching the "Simple Lighting a Playblast" tutorial.