Week 7 Class Practical: Part 3 - Light Linking and Shadows

"Light Linking" is one of the advantages of lighting in a 3D environment compared to a physical environment. Using light linking you can specify that a light source only effects objects that are linked to it and nothing else. To view the relationships between lights and objects in the scene you need to select "Window", "Relationship Editors", "Light Linking" and then "Light Centric" to bring up the menu.

Another important aspect in making your lighting more realistic is the inclusion of shadows. The shadows are cast differently depending on the renderer used, either cast using depth maps or ray tracing. You can find the attributes for shadows in the attribute editor for the light source. 

When rendering you can really see the difference shadows can make in terms of added realism. Below are 2 screens shots of the same scene, 1 rendered in without shadows and the other rendered with shadows.

I will be making good use of lighting in my animation project in the coming weeks to help bring a sense of depth and realism to my animation using the techniques shown above.