Real world lighting setups can be created in Cinema 4D, such as the 3-point arrangement – Key, Fill and Back lightslighting_thumbnail.

Key light – use ‘Infinite’ light
This is the main source of light in a scene (Directional).

Suggested adjustment: Alter Colour and Shadow.

Fill light – use ‘Light’ (Omni light)
This brings light back into areas of shadow in front of a subject (placed behind the camera opposite to Key light).

Suggested adjustments: Alter Intensity and use the check boxes for;

  • Ambient Illumination – Floods the entire scene with light
  • Diffuse – isolates the light across surfaces (good for general use)
  • Specular – isolates the highlights of a surface

Back light – use ‘Light’ (Omni light)
This separates objects from the background and is generally used to add a sliver of light along the edge of an object (placed behind the object).

Suggested adjustments: Lights can be assigned to objects using the Project tab in its attributes, then choosing to ‘Include’ or ‘Exclude’ objects.

Tips
A ‘Target’ Tag can be added to light to point at particular objects.

Visible light
Lights can also exist within a scene, joined to an object (placed in its hierarchy and zero out its position) and even animated.

Suggested adjustments:

  • (General Tab) Change colour, shadow, type.
  • (Visible Tab) Change Inner and Outer size.
  • (Details Tab) Set the Fall Off so the light dissipates.

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