The easiest way to create dramatic lighting in KeyShot

by Will Gibbons | Last Updated:   January 2, 2019

Use a physical light for more realism and drama

Escape the routine of creating renderings that look like… well… renderings. The secret is in lighting (or one of the secrets anyway). If you use the basic default environment in KeyShot for your renderings, your results are likely going to look flat and lifeless. You need to inject some drama into your images.

Limit the number of light sources to add drama

The easiest and quickest way to improve the lighting in your scene is to use physical lights (not an HDRI) and as few lights as possible. This will result in brighter areas and much darker areas creating contrast. Further, by using physical lights, your shadows and highlights will have more natural roll-off or falloff which produces a more convincing result and overall more pleasing image. In just a few minutes, this tutorial will show you how!

In this tutorial you’ll learn how to:

• Import a model
• Add a plane
• Apply an area light material
• Use Cloudy plastic material
• Rotate a light around an object
• Adjust material samples
• Control shadow sharpness
• Back-light a model
• Use the geometry view

Cut to the chase and become a KeyShot master!

It’s honestly the best online KeyShot training available. With 15 hours of 100+ video lessons, follow-along project lessons, feature-based lessons, 14 chapters, project files and quizzes, it’s pretty epic. If you need more convincing, check out the product page with testimonials, course previews and more by clicking here!

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Will Gibbons is an industrial designer-turned rendering specialist. He's trained and worked with some of today's most recognizable brands and now is focused on creating the best product visualization content on the internet.