Lighting for Animation

Rohini Tekchandaney · April 3, 2007

Hi, I have been an assistant cinematographer for the past 2 years. I've always been curious about lighting for animation. I know its not about cinematography per se but I was hoping someone here would have the know-how about how it works.

Is there a particular person who designs the lighting that goes into animated films or is it the animator himself/herself?

If so, I'm quite interested in doing that. So how would I go about it? What do I need to learn and where?

Is there anyone here who could help me understand how it works? I don't know anyone in animation so I have no clue how to go about this.

Any feedback would be great.. Thanks.

Kamaljeet Negi · August 18, 2007

Rohini, you should meet Animation guys at the Famous Studio in Mahalaxm, Mumbaii. They have animation department and do most of the animation shooting out there. It's not much different from lighting anything else. Hope it would be helpful. Cheers!

Xavier Plaza · August 18, 2007

Perhaps help you this link if you are talking about lightning animation (3D)

http://www.cinematography.com/forum2004/in...l=monster+house

Best

Xavier Plaza

Jonathan Bowerbank · August 18, 2007

In related news, Pixar is hiring:

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/eby/tfr/398870035.html

If only I had experience with the Arrilaser :/

Chris Keth · August 19, 2007

It can be just like lighting for live action, but the tools are different. For stop motion (where I have some experience), for example, a baby is an enormous light and functions like a 12K or 18K HMI. For practical lighting, fiber optic cables are extremely useful. You can rig those up and run them to a bare bulb somewhere and it's great.

You do often have to light to pretty deep stops because the camera is essentially always shooting macro. That's really not a problem, though, because of the small areas being lit.

Laura Elizabeth Wilcox · October 3, 2007

For animated films, it is done in the computer. Lighting TDs, can often also have a merged title as a Compositor, Using packages such as Mental Ray, or proprietary software for creating the lighting effect. Gnomon has some courses/lectures in lighting in Los Angeles, they also have dvd's available, most CG schools also have classes for lighting artists, teaching more traditionally, how to light in Maya which is somewhat useful, but not as much as say mental ray. A good lighting artist is always needed at a visual effects studio, and your skills will not limit you to just animated movies, possibilities are endless from game cinematics, to cg props needing to be lit for commercials, features, or television.