Trikvlt

Lighting setup breakdown for the Balrog sculpt I did recently in Blender

A few people asked about the lighting and rendering, so I wanted to write a simple breakdown. Nothing fancy, just a setup I reuse and tweak per sculpt. Each one requires at least some light repositioning. My main goal is to keep things simple and focus on using a few lights, as if I were lighting a real photoshoot with a camera.


1. World + camera

I’m using the basic forest.hdr that ships with Blender. You can find it in your Blender install folder under:

datafiles\studiolights\world

I usually keep the HDRI strength low so it does not fight the lights. In this scene it’s set to 0.7, but this changes per sculpt, as does the HDRI image I use.

The camera is 85mm, and I use an empty as the target for the depth pass (Focus Point), which you can set as the depth target in the camera settings.

2. Shader

I try to keep everything I sculpt in real world scale so shaders and light falloff behave predictably. The shader I use is a very simple clay-style material.

I use pointiness to slightly enhance the forms and help the sculpt read under harder light. There is also a bit of subsurface scattering to soften the model and avoid a dead plastic look.

3. Key light

The main light is just a spotlight.
Moderate radius for softer edges, a controlled cone angle, and the blend set to 1.0 to give a nice falloff and gradient.

I try to position it so it creates a strong shadow shape that complements the sculpt. This light is doing most of the work, and I try to make this one read well before moving on to the other lights.

4. Additional light

This acts as a localized bounce and helps create a nice top-down gradient.
It has low power, and I use it mainly to introduce subtle color variation and keep some areas from collapsing into pure black.

5. Reflected light

Here I wanted a hint of warmth, almost fire-like, to break the monotony and add a bit of narrative to the sculpt.

I keep it weak and directional so it feels motivated. If I use one at all, sometimes I’ll use a simple white plane as a diffuser to bounce light into areas like under the chin or into the eye sockets.

6. Rim light

A small area light, fairly strong, used only to separate the silhouette from the background.

7. Compositing

Super basic. You could spend forever tweaking things here, but I tend to keep this part relatively simple and just use the basics.

I use slight sharpening, subtle glow on highlights, and mild contrast adjustment.
Final polish like vignette, grain, and color balance is done later in DaVinci Resolve Studio.

That’s it. Simple setup, adjusted per sculpt.

edit: youtube kinda messed up the quality and order of the images, but i hope you can still follow along! if not, please drop a comment and i'll clarify. Thanks!

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5 days ago (edited) | [YT] | 12

Trikvlt

Hey all. I’m testing how subtitles affect the videos.
I’d like to keep adding short behind-the-scenes thoughts, but I want to do it the right way.

Which option do you prefer going forward?

2 weeks ago | [YT] | 2

Trikvlt

Sphere to Sculpt series is underway! What character, creature, or bust should I tackle next? Leave your suggestions below.

3 months ago | [YT] | 2