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Three-point Lighting in 3DS MAX

09.08.2007 Category: 3D (Lighting)

Three-point lighting is a very common

lighting technique used in cinematography
and photography. Three-point lighting is a
very flexible technique and it can be used
to illuminate the subject in an attractive
way. Three-point lighting consists of three
separate lights which can be used to
control the lighting, shading and shadows
of the subject:

Key light
Fill light
Back light / Rim light

Key light is the main light source, it Picture 1. 3-point lighting in 3D Studio MAX.
illuminates the subject the most and it
defines the overall lighting design of the
scene. Key light casts the strongest
shadows to the subject.

Fill light is less bright than key light and is

used to illuminate the parts of the subject
that cannot be reached by key light. Fill
light is also used to soften the shadows of Second Picture is devoted to
key light and to decrease the contrast of
original tutorials about 3D
the subject's surface.
graphics, Photoshop,
Back light is used to illuminate the edge of
the subject from behind in order to Photography and Web Design.
separate the subject from its background.
Back light can be very bright. Even if it's
bright is doesn't compete with key light
because it highlights only the edges of the Picture 2. Using the default lighting (as in the picture above) in 3DS
subject. Back light is also known as rim MAX is not the best option.
light because it gives the subject a rim of
light.
Lighting Tutorials
The idea of three-point lighting works also in 3D graphics but the practice has some differences compared to real Mental Ray Lighting Tutorial
cinematography. In this tutorial I discuss the three-point lighting setup in 3D Studio MAX.

Picture 2 is rendered with 3D Studio MAX's default lighting. In other words, it has been rendered before any light has
been created. The default lighting of 3DS MAX works well while modelling the subject but is not a good solution in
the rendering of the final image. There are at least two apparent problems in picture 2. Firstly, there are no
shadows. And secondly, as you can see the left side of the face is left in darkness and merges with the
background. Let's illuminate the face with three-point lighting setup in 3DS MAX.

Key Light

Key light represents the main light source.

In real life the main light source usually
shines from above, so let's place the key
light above the face.

Create a Target Directional light, place it

according to picture 3 and give the
following parameters to it:

General Parameters:
Shadows: On
Intensity/Color/Attenuation:
Multiplier: 0.8
Directional Parameters:
Hotspot/Beam: 0,5
Falloff/Field: 0,51 Picture 3. In this case the key light is placed so that it shines from
Shadow Map Params: the front and above of the character. Key light is the main light
Bias: 0.0 source of the scene.
Size: 2048
Sample Range: 4.0

(The settings above are used with a real

size person. If your model is of different
size you must change Hotspot/Beam and
Falloff/Field accordingly. With this setup
the shadows are pretty sharp. Feel free to
soften the shadows by increasing Sample
Range.) Render a test image. The lighting
should be similar to picture 4.

Picture 4. The picture above is rendered with key light only.

Fill Light

Create an Omni light according to picture

5 and give the following parameters to it:

Intensity/Color/Attenuation:
Multiplier: 0.25
Advanced Effects:
Specular: Off

(The intensity of fill light is always much

less than the intensity of key light. It's
often a good idea to turn Specular off in fill
light so that it affects the diffuse
characteristic of the surface only.)

Picture 6 shows the face rendered with fill

light only. You can try that by turning off
the key light. It's often a good idea to test Picture 5. Fill light is used to illuminate the part of the face that key

lights one at a time. When multiple lights light can't reach. The intensity of fill light is much less than the

are turned on it's not always easy to figure intensity of key light.

out how individual lights affect the

illumination.

In real life fill lights are sometimes replaced

by reflectors which reflect the light of key
light. In 3D Studio MAX you can create the
same effect by using a lighting technique
called global illumination which creates
indirect light by tracing light as it bounces
from surfaces.

Picture 6. The picture above is rendered with fill light only.

Back Light / Rim Light

Back light is needed when the contrast

between the subject and the background is
not enough. In real life the effect of back
light is much stronger because of hair,
clothes and other fuzzy surfaces. In 3D
graphics surfaces are usually perfectly
smooth and there are no little particles to
pick up the light. Therefore, there is often a
need to create several back lights in 3D
graphics.

Create an Omni light according to picture

7 and give the following parameters to it:

Intensity/Color/Attenuation:
Multiplier: 1.0 Picture 7. Back light is placed behind the character.
Advanced Effects:
Specular: Off

(It's often a good idea to turn Specular off in

back light so that it affects the diffuse
characteristic of the surface only.)

Picture 8 shows the face rendered with

back light only. Back light can be bright
because it illuminates the edge of the
subject only.

Picture 8. The picture above is rendered with back light only. Back
light is placed so that it illuminates only the edges of the subject.

Three-point Lighting Rendering

Picture 9 shows the final rendering with

three-point lighting setup in 3D Studio
MAX. Compare this picture to the picture
rendered with the default lighting of 3DS
MAX to understand the differences between
them.

Picture 9. The picture above is rendered with three-point lighting

setup in 3D Studio MAX.

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