A guy on a Discord critique thread told me my highlights looked like toothpaste and I completely redid my lighting layer after that.

Now I always check my values in grayscale first and it stopped me from making everything look so flat and shiny, has anyone else gotten a weirdly specific critique that actually helped?

3 comments

3 Comments

max_brown17d ago

Grayscale check is definitely solid advice but it won't fix everything alone. The bigger thing is making sure your light source has a clear direction and falloff, not just a flat grey map.

taraross16d ago

Man that reminds me of the first time I tried lighting a scene with just one practical lamp. Spent three hours tweaking it only to realize I'd parked a coffee mug right in the sweet spot.

irisowens17d ago

Oh man, @max_brown is spot on with that direction and falloff part. It's one of those things that sounds simple but actually takes a while to get right, especially if you're used to blasting everything with flat key light.