Lights and cameras

Light a 3D scene, give it air, weather and a finished look, and place and move its cameras. Lights and cameras are clips on the timeline like any other, each on a lane of its own, so their settings can be keyframed and changed over a shot.

Add lights and cameras

1. On the Player toolbar, click 3D camera and lights.
2. Under Add, choose Camera, Spot light, Point light, Sun light or Ambient light.

The new clip goes on its own lane at the top of the timeline, runs the length of the sequence and is selected so you can set it up in the Inspector.

Lights fall on 3D models and 3D layers only. Once a scene has a light, a surface facing away from every light goes dark, so add an Ambient light to keep the shadows from turning black.

Lighting set-ups

The same menu has ready-made Lighting set-ups that place lights round the selected subject: Three-point, Low key (noir), High key, Golden hour, Moonlight and From the backdrop (the key comes from the brightest part of the backdrop picture, in its colour).

The AI editor knows more set-ups by name: Rembrandt, butterfly, loop, split, rim, silhouette, blue hour, firelight, neon, overcast and under-light. Ask for one, or describe the mood and let it choose:

Adjust a light

Select a light to see its Light tab in the Inspector.

• Type: Parallel (sun), Spot, Point or Ambient.
• Colour and Intensity.
• Position, and a Target for spot and sun lights.
• Cone angle and Cone feather for a spot light.
• Radius and Falloff for spot and point lights.
• Casts shadows and Shadow darkness.

Let one light lead. The key should be clearly brighter than the next light, with the ambient at about a tenth to a quarter of the key. A scene with no strong direction looks flat however good the fog is.

Lamps, candles and neon

A lamp, candle, bulb, neon tube or lit window in the picture is two things: the object, glowing, and a light at it in the same colour.

1. Select the object (a 3D model) and raise Glow strength in its Model section. Neon reads well at 4 to 8, a bulb at 6 to 10, a window at 2 to 4.
2. Add a point or spot light at it in the same colour.
3. In the light's Light look section, set how the lamp shows itself:
   • Glow (about 80 to 120 %) for a halo round the lamp.
   • Streak for a lens flare streak.
   • Beam for a visible beam when there is fog or dust in the air.
   • Source size, in metres: about 0.05 for a bulb, 0.15 for a lantern, 1 for a window.
   • Flicker, and Flame for a real flame with Flame height, Flame width and Flame tongues. A candle flame is about 0.05 m high, a torch 0.3 m, a campfire 0.8 m.

A sun light has Light shafts instead, which show only when there is something in the air.

Useful light colours: tungsten #ffb060, sodium street light #ff9a40, moonlight #9fb6ff.

Air, weather and the look

One light carries the whole scene's air and look. Select a light, turn on Carries air and look in its Light look section, and an Air and look section appears below.

• Ground (world y): the height of the floor, so fog lies on it rather than hanging in the middle of the frame.
• Fog: Density (about 0.01 for haze, 0.03 for mist, 0.08 for fog), Thins with height (0.1 to 0.2 keeps it near the ground), Fog colour, Glow toward lights (halos round lamps), Patchiness and Range.
• Weather: up to three layers, each Off, Rain, Snow, Dust, Embers, Sparks, Leaves, Ash or Smoke, with Amount, Wind (right), Size and Speed, and Splashes for rain.
• Exposure and tone: Exposure (in stops), Auto exposure, Tone map (Filmic, Soft or None), Contrast, Saturation, Rich shadows, Temperature, Tint, and Shadow tint and Highlight tint with their amounts.
• Bloom and lens: Bloom, Bloom threshold, Bloom reach, Halation, Vignette, Grain and Colour fringe.

A 3D model also has Wetness in its Model section: 30 % looks damp, 70 % like after rain, 100 % puts puddles on everything flat. Wet surfaces darken, turn glossy and reflect the lamps, so a wet street needs a glowing lamp to reflect.

The AI editor has whole moods ready that set the fog, weather and look together: neon rain, candlelit, foggy dawn, snowy dusk, desert noon, overcast mist, storm, ember smoke, noir haze and clean film.

Walkable worlds keep their own sun, sky and lamps. See Worlds and physics.

Set up a camera

Select a camera to see its Camera tab.

• Type: One-node (aimed with Tilt (X) and Pan (Y)) or Two-node (aimed), which always looks at its Target.
• Position and Roll (Z).
• Focal length, in millimetres.
• Lens kit: None, or spherical cine primes, vintage primes, anamorphic 2× primes, anamorphic 1.5× primes, cine zoom, macro primes, ultra-wide primes or telephoto primes. Each kit has its own focal lengths, bokeh shape, distortion and colour fringes.
• Sensor: full frame, large format, Super 35, APS-C, Micro Four Thirds, Super 16, 65 mm, IMAX 15/70 or phone. Changing the sensor keeps the focal length, so the view widens or narrows as it would on a real camera. Changing the lens kit picks the kit's nearest focal length.
• Depth of field, with Focus distance, Aperture and Blur level.
• Auto-orient: Off or Along path.

35 to 50 mm feels natural. 24 mm and wider exaggerates depth and bends the edges; 85 mm and longer flattens the picture and isolates the subject. Keep the subject sharp and the blur modest.

Final quality

The camera's Render section decides how models are drawn. Turn on Path tracing for the shots you deliver: light bounces between surfaces, shadows soften, glass and water bend light, and glowing things light the room. Samples sets the quality (64 suits most shots; use 128 to 256 for glass, interiors and dark scenes). Shutter adds motion blur: 180° is a natural film blur for anything fast.

Frame the shot in the 3D workspace

In the 3D workspace (⇧ Tab over the Player; see Scenes and models), the View menu works with cameras:

• Look through: Editor view, Active camera (0) or any camera by name.
• Set camera to view: moves the camera to see exactly what you see, lens included. A camera is added if there is none.
• Lock camera to view: moving around while you look through the camera moves the camera.
• Record fly-through…: the timeline plays while you fly with the mouse and W A S D; stop playback and the path is keyed into the camera.
• Saved views: Save this view keeps the current view to come back to.

A good way to work: find the angle with the editor's view, choose Set camera to view, then look through the camera to check the shot itself.

Move the camera

• Ready-made shots: select the subject, click 3D camera and lights and choose from Shot on the selection: Wide shot, Medium shot, Close-up, Slow push in, Slow orbit, Crane up or Handheld.
• By hand: in the same menu, under Drag in the viewer to, choose Orbit the camera, Pan the camera or Dolly the camera, and drag in the Player. Key the camera's Position, Target or Focal length to animate it.
• With the AI editor: ask for an orbit, pan, tilt, dolly, push in, pull out, truck, pedestal, roll, zoom, dolly zoom or shake, with a length and an easing. For a 2.5D move past flat layers, ask it to spread the layers in depth and move the camera past them (parallax).

Every move should have a reason. A push in says "look at this"; a pull out reveals or ends; a truck or orbit explores; a crane up lifts. One move per shot, eased in and out, and slower than you think: 3 to 6 seconds for a 20 to 40° orbit. Compare the first and last frames: if you can barely see a difference, the move does not show.

Compare camera options

Not sure which angle works? Ask the AI editor or your assistant to compare camera options, for example "compare a low-angle close-up on Pip with a high-angle wide on the group". It frames each option on the same moment, side by side, with where the figures sit in each. Nothing changes in your project until you choose one and ask for it.

Related pages

• Scenes and models
• Worlds and physics
• Characters and looks
• What assistants can do