Degree in Animation and VFX

Become a professional in 3D computer generated imagery, including special effects and 3D artwork. The Degree in Animation at La Salle Campus Barcelona is the first official undergraduate degree program in Catalonia.

Lighting II

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Description
The subject is focused on mastering the knowledge of the studentsregarding the lighting, render and post-production in a CG pipeline. The student has had an introduction to lighting in a previous subject. This acquired knowledge will be used not only to paint a scene with light, but to tell a story and emphasize the narrative while giving support to the character’s emotions. Apart from mastering the technical aspect of lighting, the student will practice and develop the artistic skills required to be a professional lighting artist ready for an internship in the industry. At the end of the course, the student will be fully enabled to light a scene with a character, telling a story without movement or dialogue. Also, the student will be able to create a mood to complement the moment and the place of action in the film/series.
Type Subject
Tercer - Obligatoria
Semester
First
Course
3
Credits
5.00

Titular Professors

Joel Dalmau Barbera
Professor

Professors

Arnau Barrabeig Capdevila
Josep María Sáez Sendra
Objectives

The main objective of this subject is for students to be able to Illuminate and compose images with an animated film style, always looking for the highest possible quality. For this, we first try to improve the aesthetic criterion through the analysis and understanding of the functioning and the light resources that are used in cinematography, both real image and animation. Once the students have their heads full of images we begin to generate our own creations, in a progressive and incremental way, through the delivery of several exercises. Each exercise has a theme and an assigned complexity, but students have the freedom to choose the camera shot, the style or the characters that appear, in this way we do not put limits to the creativity and ambition of the student. In order to try to get closer to a real production, each year we review it with all the students, as a review, and then we have to redeliver it with the corrections made.

Contents

Classes and exercises are done with Maya, Arnold and Nuke

- Techniques and basic concepts of lighting in the cinema.
- Review and extension of shading with Arnold.
- Review and expansion of the use of the Arnold rendering engine.
- Correct use of lights.
- Work with Layers and AOV's.
- Composition of Layers and AOV's with Nuke.
- Interior lighting techniques.
- Outdoor lighting techniques.
- Work with atmospheres and volumetric.
- How to illuminate characters correctly.
- Generate correct compositions that help reading the frame.
- Learn to copy the frame of a movie.
- Interpret a Colorkey.
- Work on scenes with multiple characters.
- Optimization of scenes.

Methodology

The course consists of 24 sessions of 2/3 hours each. During which, various active teaching methodologies are put into practice, as well as project-based learning.

At the beginning of each session, the doubts that have arisen in the practice of the previous class are resolved, a new syllabus is taught through master classes and demonstrative methods and it is concluded by practicing the new knowledge acquired.

Throughout the course, 4 full assignments are carried out, which provide students a strong knowledge of the subject.

Evaluation

The percentage of the evaluation will be distributed as follows:

25% Interior daytime lighting
25% Interior night lighting with one character
25% Lighting with a film frame as reference
25% Lighting free shot with 2 characters

Deliveries must meet the requirements and deadlines.

10% general is intended for attendance and participation in class.

Basic Bibliography

Digital Lighting, Jeremy Birn