HOW DO I QUICKLY ITERATE LIGHTING FOR LOOKDEV USING REDSHIFT AND CINEMA 4D?

3D rendering can be a massively time-consuming process for artists, which can tie their primary machine into render cycles.

- Mike Griggs

That means having to wait until a render is done before moving on to the compositing process. This is why it's important for 3D artists to always prioritise making the most efficient use of a render system possible, especially when they're in the early stages of the look development process.

Look development is best served when an artist can quickly develop numerous alternatives, which they can then refine to a few key options. Cinema 4D and Redshift from Maxon offer systems that can make iterating looks using only a couple of renders straightforward.

The first of these is using Light Groups in the Redshift AOV system. A Light Group is a system that can create individual render passes of a collection of lights (or a single light). For example, when using a conventional three-light setup - with a key, fill and rim light - with an HDR dome light, if the artist assigns each of these lights to their own individual Light Group, then come render time Redshift will create up to five different render passes at the artist's discretion. Four of these will be just each individual light, with the fifth being the complete pass that has all the lights integrated at once.