Crafting a perfect rendering in 3D software means nailing all the details. And no matter what software you use, your success in creating realistic-looking illumination, shadows and textures depends on your professional lighting and rendering techniques. In this lavishly illustrated new edition, Pixar’s Jeremy Birn shows you how to:

• Master Hollywood lighting techniques to produce professional results in any 3D application
• Convincingly composite 3D models into real-world environments
• Apply advanced rendering techniques using subsurface scattering, global illumination, caustics, occlusion, and high dynamic range images
• Design realistic materials and paint detailed texture maps
• Mimic real-life camera properties such as f-stops, exposure times, depth-of-field, and natural color temperatures for photorealistic renderings
• Render in multiple passes for greater efficiency and creative control
• Understand production pipelines at visual effects and animation studios
• Develop your lighting reel to get a job in the industry
  

Jeremy Birn is a Lighting Technical Director at Pixar Animation Studios, where he worked on Cars and the Academy Award-winning The Incredibles. Prior to joining Pixar in 2002, Jeremy did lighting and rendering at such companies as Palomar Pictures, Wild Brain, CBS Television, and Tippett Studio, where he worked on effects for the feature film Evolution. Jeremy has taught courses at the California Institute of the Arts in Southern California and the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. More of Jeremy?s work and more about his writing is on his website, www.3dRender.com.

Crafting a perfect rendering in 3D software means nailing all the details. And no matter what software you use, your success in creating realistic-looking illumination, shadows and textures depends on your professional lighting and rendering techniques. In this lavishly illustrated new edition, Pixar’s Jeremy Birn shows you how to:

• Master Hollywood lighting techniques to produce professional results in any 3D application
• Convincingly composite 3D models into real-world environments
• Apply advanced rendering techniques using subsurface scattering, global illumination, caustics, occlusion, and high dynamic range images
• Design realistic materials and paint detailed texture maps
• Mimic real-life camera properties such as f-stops, exposure times, depth-of-field, and natural color temperatures for photorealistic renderings
• Render in multiple passes for greater efficiency and creative control
• Understand production pipelines at visual effects and animation studios
• Develop your lighting reel to get a job in the industry
  

Digital-Lighting & Rendering- Jeremy Birn

An excellent book for those artists with some experience in 3D model making and experience in either traditional art and/photography. As a professional illustrator with 25 years experience in airbrushing, 15 of those years in 2d computer art and 8 years in 3D ,this book has provided me with many revelations. This book spends a lot of time detailing proper lighting for organic subject matter, architecture, and technical renderings. Subjects included are lighting basics, shadow types, , environments, color, and production pipelines . Jeremy Birn does a great job of preparing the reader to create 3D images that exhibit a thorough knowledge of lighting for a 3D environment. Highly recommended!

buen libro sobre tecnicas de iluminacion

jeremy es un excelente profesional y en este libro nos demuestra nuevamente los conceptos y tecnicas vigentes en el desarrollo de un buen proyecto 3d.
Se centra mucho en conceptos de iluminacion indirecta..final gather, ambient occlusion y mental ray.
Muy buen libro..ojala que pronto saque una nueva edicion.

Oustanding book

Best book on lighting on rendering I have ever seen or owned. Get it! I have referred to this so many times I cannot remember.

Clear and Thoughtful

When I bought this book, I was a 3D modeling newbie. I still am, but I am now a much better informed newbie. Information about lighting and rendering is accessible and thorough. Technical where it needs to be but also full of real world examples and illustrative images. The author does a wonderful job of explaining alternatives available in current modeling, animation, and rendering applications for the experienced, or budding 3D modeler to make intelligent decisions about how to best light a scene (based on the particular needs of the project) and solid information about how those lighting decisions impact rendering.

I read this book concurrent to a self-guided education of Blender (a popular, open source 3D design & animation package). This book is application-neutral and has gone a long way to helping me understand all of the settings and terminology in that application.

Great resource

This is a great resource if you are using any 3D modeling program. It teaches the fundamentals of how to light effectively, without selectively featuring one program. If you are clever you will recognize the interfaces in some examples, but he will list the different names of features and tools for multiple programs. This book is worth its weight in platinum if you are looking to improve the quality of your lighting, texturing, and over all skill. It is easy to read with lots of good examples of different lighting situations. I really recommend this book.

Excellect resource!!

This is a unique book in the areas of lighting & rendering. Additional chapters have been added( indoor & outdoor lighting, production pipeline process and more..). This is a worth upgrade from the 1st edition. I recommend it to CG artist at all levels!

Super!

Arrival was a little slow, but it was in perfect condition when it got here and is the best lighting reference I own!

Must!! Invaluable resource!!!!!!

This book is a ’must have’ for any artist in the CG industry. The book covers topics on caustics, global illumination, final gathering, subsurface scattering and HDRI.

The additional chapters on interior/exterior lighting, color, texturing have all been expanded with greater detail than the first edition.
I recommend it to all artists and lighting TD in CG.

Excellent buy!!!

I needed it for my Maya Lighting class, excellent book if you are new to lighting and rendering. Looking for a understanding of lighting & rendering terms along with good examples of the techniques, this is what you are looking for. It is not software specific, just a guide to lighting in the CG world.

Excellent overview of Digital lighting

I use DAZ Studio and many of the advanced features mentioned in this book are not available to me. Still, I found this book to be an excellent source of information. My renders have improved greatly, just in lighting alone. I am nearly through my first reading and can’t wait to read it again. This book is a must have for anyone wanting to do digital rendering. It has also helped me in photography as well. I will never look at lighting in a room the same way again. Excellent!

Learn your particular rendering software, then buy this book.

A must have

I purchased several books on texturing, rendering, and lighting for the digital world and have discovered that this one was by far one of the most useful. Despite not having anything geared towards a specific program (or perhaps because of that), this book was able to cover tremendous ground that can be applied to any program. What I loved about this books specifically is that it improved my rendering techniques in all my digital art, as I use multiple programs. Highly recommended.

Really Good Book..

I’m an artist not a writer, so bare with me. This book is great and straight to the point. It doesn’t go into the history of a pixel or where CG began..It’s concise and easy to read. It’s general information that every CG artist wants too or should know because sometimes other artist don’t want to share. Plus coming from a writer who is/was in the industry is a major plus! Definitely recommend it...

Highly recommended

I had a big 3D project on my plate last year and wanted to learn more about lighting. This book has taken my 3D art to a new level. The writer took the info as far as he could without being application specific but I was able to apply everything in this book to my 3D program. It’s the only lighting reference I look to. A fantastic book.

Good book.

This is the best book on lighting I have read. There are many books out there that touch on lighting but nothing as complete as this. There were many new concepts in it for me. I liked that he covered faking global illumination and went over the real way of setting it up. I work in video games and we have to fake it. He also covered some other basic 3D concepts and even though I would call myself an veteran of 3D I was able to gleen some new things. Great book and I would recommend purchasing it for the beginner and advanced user.

it’s a digital lighting bible

I’ve seen many books about CG lighting, and this one is definintealy the best. It became much more solid since the first edition.
Well, what a beginner in cg wants to know about cg lighting? To understand the basics, such as: how to light indoor and outdoor scenes in any renderer?At evening, in daylight? How about artificial lights simulation, such as torches? How to light characters? What kind of hidden controls are available that I could use to make my lighting more effective? What about the colors of lights? This book replies these questions elegantly and in a very organised manner.
I’ve read it many times and still find useful tips, such as bitmap rgb range values for gi lighting that work best with lighting, more sophisticated use of gobos instead of regular lights, lighting techniques to produce some quick tests etc.
I would say it’s a gift to cg world, because I don’t know how would I study cg lighting without such a valuable source, there’s not a book about cg lighting to compare in quality.

Comprehensive, easy to follow, in depth. Must buy.

I’m a keen amateur 3D artist who is gradually learning the craft of 3D. I’ve got to the point where I needed a better grounding in the key areas of lighting, texturing and modelling.

Jeremy Birn’s book is a mine of useful information and professional expertise. It is very easy to read, and indepth, and manages to convey complex technical information without being confusing or overwhelming. It is interesting to read, and easy to digest.

You do get the sense that he knows the 3D industry well and is writing from great experience, not just by the depth of information, but by the scope of topics he addresses that go beyond the creation of art, and covers how you might use these skills in a professional environment. I even found these bits helpful e.g. don’t light your scene until most of the modelling is pretty settled - saved me lots of time!

It also manages to do so in a way which applies to different 3D packages, so you are not penalised by not owning 3DS Max or Maya or whatever.

There is a nugget on every page - I read a bit, and then try to use it in a project, and I have learned so much already.

Three criticisms that rob it of the 5th star:
1) It is slightly short on illustrations perhaps, especially for a book which is all about visual art, but this doesn’t seem to detract from the book’s overall impact.
2) Not quite enough thought has gone into the practical examples and exercises at the end of each chapter - they are quite brief. But then you can always create projects to test things out in your own software package.
3) A CDROM with some examples and projects would have been welcome e.g. load up one of the scenes in the book (provided in 3DS format perhaps, so as to be package independent), texture it, and practice different lighting rigs, or try to reproduce the book’s illustrations.

I guess pros could learn a lot from this book, but so will keen amateurs who are not going to make a living from it but want to excel in their art nonetheless.

I’ve tried to apply some of this in my own art, some of which can be seen on www://craftycurate.blogs.com

Designers, photographers, 3D designers...

This is for you all, probably every one knows what is shadow but i bet no one know how many ways there are to make it. I need it expecially for shadows problems on 3D graphics, it gave me a special cool knowledge about colors that no one more than the author can give you !

Move a step beyond the rest

If you’re a hobby 3D graphhics artist or thinking of entering into the world of computer graphics, then this book is an essential resource to give you that realism factor often missing in artists works seen today.

The Book is superbly presented in glossy paper format with excellently reproduced colour images, that generously fill the book as examples on how to achieve the right lighting for that perfect shot you were trying to setup, but till now had no idea of how to achieve it.

This volume is a how to for novice and advanced artist alike, brilliantly guiding you through the ins and outs of rendering the most perfectly realisticly shaded 3D image possible.

The first edition had chapters guide you through Lighting workflow, three point lighting, Shadows (a must),Qualities of light, Colour, Exposure, Composition and staging (worth the price of the book alone), Materials and rendering algorithms(tips to turn a good work into a masterpiece)and Compositing(the absolute icing on the cake).

This vastly expanded 2nd edition has even more must know techniques and inside tips to push your work to professional levels, extra chapters include comprehensive guides on how to: *Apply advanced rendering techniques using subsurface scattering, global illumination, caustics, occlusion, and high dynamic range images
* Design realistic materials and paint detailed texture maps
* Mimic real-life camera properties such as f-stops, exposure times, depth-of-field, and natural color temperatures for photorealistic renderings
* Render in multiple passes for greater efficiency and creative control
* Understand production pipelines at visual effects and animation studios
*Develop your lighting reel to get a job in the industry

There is a Lot one can learn from this brillianlty updated and expanded 2nd edition and dare I say that it has to be if not the best then one of the very best presentations on this topic I’ve ever had the good fortune to study from.

If you own the first edition, then you just have to get this new 2nd edition as its like owning a completely new volume.

An excellent book for all software

I loved this book - particularly the lighting sections, (which are the bulk of the book). The many illustrations are exceptionally well chosen to illustrate the effects in question, both from real life photos and from CGI rendering.

It really does not matter what software package you are using, the lighting is very similar in all packages I know, and the advice on where (and why) to place your spotlights, area lights and so forth is universal. Keeping rendering times down is also a continual concern in this book.

What is going on under the hood is also well explained, for those who are unsure of the difference between final gather and ambient occlusion.

I also really liked a computer training book where I did NOT have to sit in front a a screen typing to learn from it. Indeed many of the exercises involve looking around yourself for examples of soft shadows, indirect lighting, and many more.

Probably best for beginner to medium level graphics types, but I’d be surprised if anyone did not learn something useful from it.

Highly recommended.

nice!!!

very nice book easy to learn and very usefull for render and light, this book is a bible of cg lighting!!!

learn concepts not technicalities

this book is amazing if you need to learn about lights - not how to use them specifically with a software package!
jeremy does touch on specifics that stand out in the different 3d applications, however it is more a "what to do with lights in order to achieve certain effects" rather than how to do it in maya, max, lightwave,...
it’s very easy to understand, and anyone involved with 3d graphics should read this, even if you don’t plan on specializing in lighting or rendering!

Great book

My only wish is that I had read this 5 years ago when I first started in 3D graphics. Great book for anyone who is interested in bringing their artwork to the next level.

Very Good

As an intermediate level surface modeller I found this book extremely helpful. Among its numerous plus points are that it is not application dependant, it explains theory in lucid plain English and it is one of the few instruction books which does not resort to the use of ’filler’ information which is self evident, of marginal relevance, or easily available on the web.

There wasn’t a chapter in which I did not learn something new. The stellar chapter for me was on architectural lighting - how to get a 3d scene (indoors or outdoors) looking ’real’ rather than a lit model. For character modellers there’s the basic information about 3 point lighting and theory beyond that.

The book is very well illustrated and the author and production team have been at pains to ensure that the quality of the illustrations is such that subtle colour changes in before and after shots are apparent.

I am not sure about 3d experts, but I would definitely recommend this book for beginner to intermediate level as the ’lighting bible’. Lighting makes or breaks a render and this is the best book I have found which explains the theory in an clear methodical way.

Ultimate guide to digital lighting

The explanations in Jeremy’s book, while not written for the total novice, are easy to understand for anyone who’s studied 3D graphics either as a creator or a programmer. He does an excellent job of laying down the groundwork for the philosophy of lighting design, then follows up with details about techniques for implementing it that are product neutral.

A must have for anyone who’s interested in creating high quality 3D images and animations.

Tells you about lighting not how to light

First the book gives you ideas and suggestions about lighting & rendering, but very little info about how to actually achieve the effects he talks about. Secondly is there is no CD/DVD with the book so any real time application is all up to the user.

Excellent

If you do 3D and need to understand lighting, for any application, get this book. Period.

Pretty Good

This book is helpful if you do not already have an existing knowledge of lighting and rendering, and it even has it’s perks if you do. However, I purchased this book to help me with Maya, and while it did shed some light on my understanding, I felt just getting in there and doing the tutorials and playing around was far more effective. I would recommend it though because it still helped me out despite previous knowledge.

great book

This is a great book. It isn’t really software specific but it will help you understand 3d lighting none the less.

just great!!!!!

I never take the time to right a review- but for this book I will. I am new to computer animation and I am knowledgeable in autocad 7. I found this book to be very useful and insightful. Buy the book, it’s worth every penny. One of the strenghts of the book is the broad over view of lighting this book takes; while at the same time it’s examples being clear when referring to specific examples of issues you might have while lighting a cg scene. :):):)

Master 3D Lighting and Rendering

The previous edition of Digital Lighting and Rendering by Jeremy Birn is very popular with those who wish to master 3D lighting and rendering as well as with those who teach this subject. It is suggested reading for digital lighting courses at several universities. This second edition is updated to reflect advancements in techniques and technology for digital 3D software.

The first few chapters cover traditional lighting concepts and answer basic questions such as which is the best lighting for various situations. Then, the author moves into more specific topics, beginning with shadows and occlusion. He discusses techniques for casting various types of shadows and what purpose shadows have in the scene. You cannot have shadows without light. Therefore, the author covers the different types of lighting such as global illumination, natural and artificial light. He also discusses how to light the characters in your scene and how lighting defines the character’s form and movement.

When you model the characters and objects for your scene, they start out with a smooth, dull gray color and you will use shaders to give them color and texture. Birn discusses how to use several shaders including raytracing, Reyes algorithms and GPU acceleration. Besides shaders, you can also use texture mapping to add color and texture. Birn covers the types of texture maps, how they are made and how to align them to your model.

Eventually, it is time to build your scene or animation which requires placement of characters, objects, lights and cameras. The author discusses several rules for composition and staging. Once all the staging is complete, it’s time to render your scene and Birn covers many professional tips for this technical subject including multiple renderings and flexibility.

Jeremy Birn has worked in the technical lighting field for many years. His recent works include Cars and The Incredibles.

Excellent Book.

I’ve read this book cover-to-cover and will read it again. I am a digital artist of beginning to intermedaite skill and found the book very educational on the types of shaders common to most higher-end 3D applications, as well as types of lighting and the use and positioning of the lights in a digital set or scene. The book covers everything from mental ray type renders to HDRI, though it is not 3D application specific. I would highly recommend this book, even to a beginner in the digital arts; it is very informative, eplains many do’s and dont’s, and some of the errors that new or inexperienced artists make with their lighting and rendering. By far one of the best books I have read on the subject yet.

The Best book on 3D lighting and rendering

The wizards at Pixar Animation Studios practically invented this field, so it’s not really surprising that the best book on lighting and rendering in 3D graphics comes from the accomplished Pixar lighting artist Jeremy Birn. This book goes above and beyond what you’d expect for a computer how-to book, and actually provides an education in the thought process behind lighting techniques and choices of algorithms.

It’s written at a professional level, not dumbed-down with long descriptions of how to press each button, but at the same time it’s very readable and easy to understand. This is not another book that re-explains the software manual, either, it goes into specifics on things like what exactly to look for in adjusting a sub-surface scattering shader, that could only come from an experienced master with years of film experience.

The illustrations and screenshots are great, full color and inspiring artwork throughout, with lots of before/after comparison images to drive home the point of every topic and technique. The Production Pipelines chapter could have been illustrated better, there were schematic diagrams of visual effects pipelines and feature animation pipelines, but that was the one section where more illustrations of each phase could have added. Outside that chapter, there were multiple images on almost every page.

The support from the author is excellent -- unprecedented in what I’ve seen -- he provides monthly lighting challenge scenes to download and light, and gives feedback and lighting advice on a forum where readers post their images and works in progress. Huge props for that level of support and communication with the readers!

pretty good

This is a very good introduction/overall look at CG lighting. There isnt anything too indepth, nor are there any tutorials. It is one of those reference books one should have in their library because it is really the only book of its kind out there. Im still waiting for a really great book on CG lighting, although several have come close. This being one of them.

A book about ideas and concepts

Working with 3D for years as a hobby, my knowledge isn’t extensive, but I had a few ideas of what should be covered in a book on lighting and rendering. Little did I know just how few my ideas were. The current edition of Digital Lighting and Rendering was released in early 2006 and looks to succeed the first edition, which came out in 2000 and has been used as a textbook in some computer arts classes. It adds newer techniques and ideas, such as sub-surface scattering, and some concepts, such as global illumination and ambient occlusion are expanded and placed throughout the book. The book is accessible for readers who have at least some experience with 3D software.

One of the first things I noticed about the book was there wasn’t a CD with it. That’s not a big thing to me, since I use Linux and Blender, most of the CD’s that come with books are worthless to me, but I thought it was strange it didn’t come with one. However, reading the book, it becomes apparent that this book is more about ideas. The text is specific enough to stick with lighting and rendering concepts, but is general enough to describe things that are common to most 3D programs. It isn’t bound to any one software platform, but occasionally discusses the idiosyncrasies of some of the more popular 3D software. The author does have a website, and also has a monthly lighting and rendering contest hosted on CGSociety forums.

I give the book four out of five stars. Overall the book is an excellent reference, but since my bias is towards Blender, it misses the last star due the oversight of not mentioning that fine program.

A generous update from the 1st Edition

The author has extensively updated this industry standard since its first release six years ago, and the result is a book that should absolutely be on every Color & Light Artist’s shelf. What was a very good reference is now even better, with more sage advice, clear and logical insight regarding lighting different kinds of scenes (e.g. indoor, outdoor, daytime, nighttime), more information on technologies that have become popular in recent years (such as global illumination), and the addition of complementary materials at the author’s web site. I have been using the 1st Edition of this book as a required text in my rendering classes for several years, and this much anticipated new version ties in even better. Even if you already own the 1st Edition, you are likely to find this update a worthwhile purchase. I would love to see this book’s sister, Digital Texturing & Painting, rise to the same level of insight and clarity.

excellent tool !!

Very usefull and instructive book. It covers all aspects of digital light and the natural one, the author doesn’t apply the vast information covered to an especific software, so you can apply all this rich information with the software that you actually use. This book is a must for every people that whant to go deep in to digital light and renderings.

Required Reading Indeed

As above, i’ve just finished reading the book cover to cover whilst lighting and (waiting for) renders at work and was thoroughly impressed. It covers an incredible range of topics from the very basics of lighting theory (which we can all use a reminder of every now and then!) through to some more complex ideas and concepts.

With the associated website (3drender.com) where there are numerous lighting challenges to download and particiapte in (the author himself critiques the work!) this will certainly improve your skills and also just give you a bit of nudge into looking at the world through the eyes of a 3D lighting artist.

Don’t mistake me, this is not a specific piece of training material, but it is an invaluable source of reference, from the tables covering some suggested RGB values for lights to various physical properties as well. It really should be required reading for anyone vaguely interested in the lighting end of the 3D pipeline, and even for seasoned professionals it is great to have everything in one very well constructed, well written, and easy to navigate book.

Highly recommended.

Terrific, the best book I’ve read on the topic!

This book is amazing! It opened my eyes to so many things about lighting and rendering it’s as if I’ve had a full course in lighting design, one in rendering, and some cinematography and color theory along the way. The best part is the way it keeps giving you new ideas, from other ways to add colors with different lights to tricks you can do in compositing.

The book is brilliantly simple, clear easy-to-understand writing throughout, even when describing very technical subjects like Polynomial Texture Mapping the author manages to keep the text readable, relevant, and useful, and he has lots of good pictures of things (renders, screenshots, diagrams, and photographic examples), to help pin down issues like the specific things to look for in adjusting subsurface scattering skin shaders. I’ve read the book cover to cover ~ and I’m going to be keeping it around my desk for years as a reference as well!

Most of the book is not software-specific, especially in terms of lighting techniques or creating texture maps the advice will work for anyone. The book only mentions 3D Studio Max (what I use) once in a while, and only has a few screenshots of settings in Max (along with lots of references to Maya, Renderman, Mental Ray et cetera) but still the whole book was completely useful to me, actually more useful because of its content than most of the software-specific books they keep cranking out with 3D Studio Max in the title.

The lighting challenge scenes are great, you have to download them yourself (there’s no CD with the book...) but it’s absolutely amazing that the author himself looked at my work and gave me feedback (spot-on feedback too!) when I posted my test render on the discussion forum. I’d have bought 10 books if it I had to, to get direct interaction with a top lighting expert working at Pixar! This book deserves more than 5 stars to reflect the amazingly generous author whose support goes above and beyond just writing a terrific book.

Kudos and Congratulations for such a great book, Mr. Birn!