Slide Ltd

When it came to lighting this scene we wanted to concentrate on achieving an evocative and expressive feel using a simple mental ray Sun+Sky setup (with light portals, left), rather than a traditional point/spot rig.

While we anticipated slightly more difficulty in getting the exact look we wanted, we knew we had enough tricks up our sleeves to get over any hurdles. We also liked the idea of establishing a robust and predictable lighting rig which would hold up to full scene animation with a minimum of post work required.

As an added bonus, Sun+Sky setups can also be pretty snappy to render.

Our approach here reflected the freedom of an internal project : we started off with a goal in mind but allowed the finer details to evolve over the course of production. As usual, any knowledge gained would be put to use on future commercial jobs.

Creatively, we wanted to achieve a rich image with strong contrast in both tone and colour. The central characters needed to stand out against the detail in the environment, and overall the piece should have an oppressive feel to hint at the crowded and threatening back-alley surroundings beyond the frame. Light and shadow were to play a big part in the composition.

To explore the lighting we used a combination of concept sketches and paintovers of 'low quality' renders. By flipping between these methods, we could easily identify and flag-up key areas which weren't working and get a clear idea of what needed to change to bring these up.

The images on this page are a selection of the many render tests we produced, showing the progression of the scene and assets over the course of the project.