To best understand the whole idea of building a set design, illuminating it and creating shadows, it is best to use an example of a default “News” studio, which is loaded first during default launch of Production 3D. In this studio, AMBIENT type of light has been used to slightly illuminate the scenography. In addition, there is one POINT light to illuminate the elements in the background (elements of the studio’s backup facilities) as the intensity of light depends on a distance from its source. Therefore, the elements that are really far back don’t need such strong light. Since there are 3 talent figures in the studio that may take part in the camera’s production thread, each of them has a separate SPOT light assigned with its appropriate INNER and OUTER cone settings. This stage design is not only properly lit, but also its performance requirements are not high.

In this section, properties of studio lights are being defined. You can change the parameters of these lights, turn them on and off, change their color, direction and positioning in the studio. You cannot, however, add or clone new lights. For that reason, these buttons are dimmed. Picture below.

There are the following types of lights in the studio:

• Ambient – a type of light that fills an entire studio and illuminates all the objects evenly. Ambient light does not come from any particular direction and it falls on all the elements of 3D scene, helping you lighten or darken them.

You can only set the power of this light. If you enter a 0 value in the Power field, the light will be turned off. The maximum brightness Ambient light reaches at 2.00
To make it easier for the user to set the lights, when the Light tab is turned on, different types of lights will be represented by different objects that appear in the studio. This allows you to rotate and move these objects and thus control the direction of light and its location.
Ambient light is the only one that will not be represented by any object in studio because it fills the entire studio and you only set its strength.

Generally , only 3D Rotate Gizmo or 3D Move Gizmo is available for light objects. The 3D Scale Gizmo is off because it is not possible to increase or decrease a light object. However, you can adjust the color, intensity, or direction of light by using the appropriate light-type controls.
You can choose the following types of lights from the drop-down list: Directional, Point, Spot.

The Directional light has only a color and a direction parameter. This source emits a parallel light, which means it travels across a stage in the same direction. Sunlight is the best example of such light.
Directional type of light creates shadows for the indicated objects. When directional light is directed upwards, it does not create shadows. Imagine a situation in which a talent figure is illuminated from underneath the floor (light penetrating the floor). The talent object would then cast a shadow on a ceiling, which wouldn’t look naturally in the set design. It is possible to lighten up each direction of the studio with Directional light, but it simulates the real world’s sunlight type of light, so it casts shadows on the objects below. Because of the system performance, it is best to use only one Directional light. The rest should be of a different type.
Below we see the cone object representing the Directional light source editor in the studio. The base of the cone is the place where the light emits. Where we point the base of the cone in this direction will be the direction of light illumination.
Note that for this cone a 3D Rotate Gizmo appears immediately. Even if you have previously set the 3D Move Gizmo mode, after selecting Directional light from the drop-down list, the Gizmo will be changed to 3D Rotate. This is due to the properties of this light, as it has only a color and a direction, and does not have a specific position.
A cone representing this light in the studio is always suspended in the middle of a ‘ceiling’.
Directional light has always an object’s representation with coordinates x = 0m, y = 3m, z = 0m, i.e. usually at the center of the studio. This position has no effect on the light’s final effect, and is intended only to make it easier to be found in the studio for changing its direction with Rotate Gizmo. This means, if you have a different type of light, such as Point, placed anywhere in your studio, then after changing the type of light from Point (which has a position in the studio) to Directional, the position of this light object will remain unchanged only until you save the studio file to the editor. Afterwards, the object representing the Directional light will appear again in x = 0m, 3m y = z = 0m position in the studio.
With the 3D Rotate Gizmo we can easily set the direction of the light. Remember that our studio also produces light reflections from glossy materials: walls, ceilings, furniture, etc. Therefore, often light reflections can give us additional effects that must be checked by the user. Simply by editing the camera, you can check the random positions of the studio, light as the source (stream glow) does not unnatural reflect in the material .
Color of the light and its intensity can be set with a color wheel operating on RGB (Red, Green, Blue) system. Changing the dash marker’s position on the wheel allows you to set the color by changing the color tone parameter. If you hook the cursor on a small circle, you will be able to move it inside the square. Current color will be visible in the middle of the small circle. If you want to turn the light off completely, you need to move the circle to a black area inside the square.

You can set the color of the light more precisely by clicking on white arrows next to numerical values.
By changing the color of the light, you also change the color of the object representing light, in this case the cone.
Generally , the 3D Rotate Gizmo is used to set the direction of the light. However, you can precisely adjust the direction of the light with help of the values in X, Y and Z fields in the Direction section.

Light of the POINT type is a spherical kind of light, which illuminates all the objects around it in the studio. In contrast to the type light Direction, this type has attenuation value depending on the distance from the source. The objects are less illuminated the further away they are from the source of light. This light does not have a single specific direction, it shines in every direction. It doesn’t make shadows.
The light in the studio will be represented not by the cone but by the ball glowing in all directions.
This sphere (ball) has a specific position in the studio, so it will be important to position it with 3D Move Gizmo.
3D Rotate Gizmo you can also use, if you want to move the ball in some specific direction in the studio and the 3D Rotate Gizmo (arrows) axis are oriented in different directions. You can then rotate the object: the ball, to move the 3D Move Gizmo in the right direction and then move it with the 3D Move Gizmo.
Color of this light can be set in the same way as in the previous case, with the help of the color wheel. If you want to turn it off completely – choose black. The intensity, however, is controlled by the distance of the object Point light from the illuminated object.
Generally , the 3D Rotate Gizmo is used to set the direction of the light. However, you can precisely adjust the direction of the light with help of the values in X, Y and Z fields in the Direction section.

n the Attenuation section you can set the type of attenuation of this light:

• Constant – constant light attenuation coefficient,
• Linear – linear light attenuation coefficient,
• Quadratic – square light attenuation coefficient.

Maximum attenuation of light is reached when entering a value of 2.00 .
If you enter a value of 0 in all the fields, the light will travel in the studio without any attenuation, it will neither be diffused nor weakened with the distance from the source. This will, by removing attenuation, maximize the illumination of this light.
In order to test the performance of these coefficients, you have to make a number of attempts typing different Constant, Linear and Quadratic values, and checking what lighting effects you get in the studio.It is best to start testing at initial values of Constant = 1.0, Linear = 0.5, and Quadratic = 0. Let’s observe how the light affects objects in the studio. The further they are away from the light source, the more light dampening is visible.
Basically the three define an equation describing how the light appears at a distance. An attenuation factor is used for describing how a light’s intensity diminishes over distance.

Spot type of light – a spotlight type. Spot has parameters of color, position in the studio and light direction.
SPOT type of light creates objects’ shadows. The most common use of this light is to illuminate a talent form from above. However, you should remember not to set this light’s position and direction directly above the figure as the talent area is flat. Most often the light is placed a little ahead of the figure and in a proper direction towards the talent’s outline. Then you will get a shadow effect behind the inserted talent. This light should illuminate a group of objects located close to each other, e.g. a desk, a platform and a talent. This type of light should be treated as a single light source illuminating the most important part of the studio, where the main production thread is located.
Light emitted from a spotlight is made up of an inner circle (representing the light source without dampening and adjustable with the INNER value) and an outer circle (the intensity of which is getting increasingly dampened and being regulated with the OUTER value). The light intensity decreases moving from a bright center to a darker outer contour. The light’s color is set as before – with a color wheel. Choose black if you want to turn the light completely off.
Spot light is also represented by a cone object. The cone can be placed anywhere in the studio and pointed in any direction. Therefore, use the 3D Rotate Gizmo to set the direction of the Spot light and the 3D Move Gizmo to adjust its position in the studio.
In addition to setting the spotlight with the 3D Move Gizmo, you can make accurate and precise changes in the light’s position in the studio using the X, Y and Z fields’ values in the Position section. What’s more, you can introduce accurate and precise changes to the direction of light, previously set using the 3D Rotate Gizmo, with the X, Y and Z fields’ values in the Direction section.
In the Cone section, set Outer and Inner values. A value of 150 (expressed in degrees) is the maximum angle of this cone.

If you set the same values in Outer and Inner fields, you get a spotlight cone with circle of a very sharp boundaries. The further the Inner value is away from the Outer value, the fuzzier boundaries the spotlight will have.
Most often, in the studios’ projects you will find already pre-set different types of lights. But it may happen that in the studio’s project prepared in the Wizard, you will have to select and set your own lights as the Default lights have been be selected.

In the Multiview area, in the windows at the top left of the screen, you can display image from cameras or every video signal source and other multimedia files . There are two preview windows on the right side of the production screen:
PREVIEW (caption on the green bar) and PROGRAM (caption on the red bar)

• PREVIEW – presentation of an item chosen to broadcast next
• PROGRAM – presentation of a currently broadcasting signal (system output)

Mulitiview view on the production screen for Reckeen 3D Studio.

Shadows – Selecting enabled allows you to turn ON shadows in the studio, both for objects and for talents. For more see chapter “Shadows” below.
The Show Ground Grid function – enabling this feature will result in displaying a grid on the studio floor, which will facilitate objects’ positioning. Grid squares have sides with a length of 100 units, that is 1 meter.
The Show World Axis function – switches on an additional 3D Gizmo for the studio. This 3D Gizmo shows directions in the studio all the while making the orientation easier.

The SkyBox function – it is an additional function for creating objects, a method that enables adding *.dds files to the studio project – that is, typical files simulating the space outside the studio depending on camera angles. This will be the most distant space, often completely outside the studio. You have several types of SkyBoxes at your disposal: ‘Cube’ (default) – *.dds files, ‘Cylinder’ – bitmap files (*.png., *.jpg, *.jpeg,*.bmp) , ‘Sphere’ – (*.png., *.jpg, *.jpeg,*.bmp) and ‘Sphere reflect’ – (*.png., *.jpg, *.jpeg,*.bmp). These files contain a flat image, which can be applied on the SkyBox of a given type, yielding e.g. a three-dimensional view of the sky.

After loading a Cube type Sky Box, you can set the following image parameters:

• Movement – this parameter simulates bringing a SkyMap closer to the studio and moving it away. You can observe how the SkyMap moveWhen you are creating a set design, you can use a measuring instrument that will show current overall performance of the Reckeen system. You can turn this function on with a button in the Studio Editor (see the image below).ing the slider on a range from None to Strong.
• Rotation – by default, values for this parameter are assumed in degrees from 180 degrees to (minus) -179.99 degrees. When the SkyMap file is loaded, this parameter is set to 0. Entering further Rotation values will make the SkyMap rotate on its axis to the right or to the left. If you type in ‘180’, then the SkyMap will turn around and an initial view will be placed exactly behind the camera directed straight ahead towards the studio.
• Sky box type: Cylinder – space around an observer is created by wrapping a flat image on a cylinder. After loading Cylinder type Sky Box, you can set the following image parameters:
  • Offset – controls the SkyMap’s cylinder shifting up / down in relation to your studio’s floor. Negative values shift it down, positive values up. Values are assumed by default in % and the maximum value is 100%. At 100% your cylinder is shifted up to the top and its bottom edge is at your studio’s floor level. At (minus) -100% the SkyMap’s cylinder is shifted totally downward and its top edge is at the floor level of your studio.
  • Scale – adjust the ‘wrapping’ of the loaded cylinder’s image. Values are assumed by default in %. At 100% the cylinder is wrapped without gaps in the image, the image is 100% filled up. Values above 100% will cause the image wrapped on the cylinder to overlay, while values below 100% will result in creating a gap in the image.

• Rotation – its default values are set in degrees from 180 degrees to (minus) -179.99 degrees. If the parameter is 0, the camera standing in the studio and pointing straight ahead ‘sees’ the center of the image. By entering the next Rotation value, you will rotate the image on its axis to the right or to the left.

Note: Sides if images to be displayed as panoramas on cylinders should have multiples of 1024 as their lengths in pixels: 1024, 2048, 4096, 8192, 16384
For example: files with resolutions: 8192×2048, 8192×4096, 16384×2048
Files with other resolutions may be displayed in inferior quality or may slow down the system.
In the case of a Cylinder type SkyMap, you have to be careful about reflections in the studio. It may happen that a glossy floor reflects the ‘top’ part of the cylinder, which is, in fact, an empty hole, resulting in the unnatural look of the studio’s floor. It is not a case with Cube, Sphere or Sphere reflect types of Sky Boxes that fill the whole sphere.
Sky box type: Sphere – this type of SkyMap requires .jpg files, but specially prepared. Some cameras can take this kind of panoramic pictures. After loading this file, a full sphere is created around the studio.
When you load a Sphere Sky Box, you can set the same image parameters as with the Cube.
Sky box type: Sphere reflect – just like with the Sphere files, this type of SkyMap requires .jpg files, but specially prepared. You can get such panorama files by using certain cameras or by preparing them by a graphic designer. After loading such file, a full sphere is created around the studio.
After loading the Sphere reflect type Sky Box, you can set the same image parameters as with the Cube.