10 top tips for lighting and presenting your sculpts

If you've spent the past few days, weeks or months sculpting a masterpiece, don't waste all that hard work with a lackluster render! James W. Cain shares his top 10 tips for lighting your models…

© James W. Cain

Now there are so many options for presenting our sculpts. Presenting your work can be quite a daunting experience for learners, and even experienced artists; often after a good sculpting session it seems easier to just use a basic ZBrush BPR render and be done with it. As my focus is on digital sculpture I want to show off my sculpting without texture. How I light and present my sculpts is really important to helping me emphasize and communicate surface detail and depth.

Here are my ten tips for creating final images from digital sculpts, these are not focused on a specific software package or workflow and I've assumed a basic knowledge of your chosen renderer. They are what I've learned over the past few years when presenting my own work, focused on the general aspect of lighting and creating my final image. There's always an element of subjectivity with presentation but I hope you'll find something here to help with your next sculpt!

Tip 01: Start with area lights

To begin with, it's best to avoid creating hard shadows on your sculpts as these can look a little too dramatic and artificial (unless that's what you're going for!). Instead, area lights provide a great way of adding soft light into your render whilst still giving you plenty of options for placement and strength.

Softer shadows created by area lights

Tip 02: Use a three point lighting setup

Three point lighting is a great place to start and remains one of my staple practices when first setting up the lighting for a sculpt. First, create a top down light, and then add a subtle fill light which controls the contrast of the shadows. Add a rim light by placing a light, at an angle behind the sculpt and facing the camera. When combined, these three lights will show off your sculpts details and look really professional.

An example of a three point light setup

Tip 03: Try using a combination of HDRi and custom lights

You can use imaged based lighting on its own to great effect but it also works really well in conjunction with additional custom lights. I use HDRi lighting in KeyShot to replace a fill light when setting up my three point lighting on larger sculpts. Try experimenting with the Brightness and Exposure settings of an HDRi for a subtle effect and then adding a strong top down key light to create shadows.

Combining image based lighting with traditional lighting

Tip 04: Establish a strong primary (key) light

This is your main light that creates all your primary shadows and definition, so make sure it's the strongest/dominant light – without making it so strong that it blows out the detail). Most of the time this light will be coming from the top down, occasionally it will be either side and rarely, below. Take the time to experiment with a good position and make sure it enhances and shows off your sculpts focal point and features.

Establish a strong key light direction for a strong image

Tip 05: Add temperature or color contrast to your lighting

You can control the feel and mood of your sculpt by adding some temperature or even color to your lighting. A strong warm color used with the main light can really work well with a subtle cool contrasting color in a fill or rim light position. This can also work in reverse with strong cool fill or rim lights contrasting a warm or neutral light.

Changing the temperature of the lights for effect

Tip 06: Use a pose and interesting angle

Unless specifically required, presenting a final image of a sculpt in a head on view or in a t-pose is probably not the most exciting way of showing off your hard work! It's worth spending some extra time either posing your sculpt or experimenting with different camera angles and shots. For a character, even moving the arms into a more natural position and tilting the head can make all the difference. For a bust, move the eyes and tilt the shoulders to add interest.

Posing your sculpt increases it's visual appeal

Tip 07: Use a subtle depth of field

Using a depth of field effect can greatly enhance the realism and impact of your renders but be careful not to overdo it! Ultimately it comes down to personal preference but I find the best way to approach this is to have a ‘less is more' mentality.

Left – a strong septh of field setting; right a more subtle approach

Tip 08: Use the appropriate material

If you're presenting a sculpt without texture, make sure you pick the right material for your subject; you'll find certain materials work better with some object than with others. I've found hard surface sculpts respond well to materials with a lower roughness such as plastic, whereas materials like clay are more suited to busts and characters.

Picking the right material for the job

Tip 09: Pick the right tone and color

Following on from the previous tip, use a medium tone color for your material choice as this will offset the light and shadows. In terms of tone it needs to be light enough to contrast with the shadows but dark enough to contrast with the light. If it's too light you risk losing your highlights and if it's too dark you risk losing your shadows.

Examples of difficult to render tones

Tip 10: Use a background and floor

Give your sculpt some grounding (unless it's flying) and more depth by using a floor and background. It's really easy to add these in KeyShot but you can create a simple solution in any software by using a piece of geometry behind the sculpt.

Lighting set up in MODO with background