Gator762 opened this issue on Apr 18, 2013 · 23 posts
Nyghtfall posted Thu, 18 April 2013 at 1:10 PM
Quote - Off of one of the adverts here was this guy selling a tutorial "Light Master"... Is it worth it?
In a word, no.
The "Light Master" course was created by a company called Dream-Light, which is really just one guy named Waldemar Belwon. He creates light sets for DAZ 3D.
In June, 2011, Rendo was offering 15% off of Light Master. The ad claimed that the lessons taught could be applied to any 3D app, not just DAZ Studio or Poser. Dream-Light sent me a free e-Book that discussed 5 steps to stunning 3D lighting. It touched on a lot of issues I was struggling with at the time, so I signed up for the course.
Here's what I got for $168 with my Rendo coupon:
The videos proved surprisingly informative. Of the handful I remember watching, he used a virtual whiteboard to sketch out various points of theory behind different lighting techniques. He used Lightwave to demonstrate them, and DAZ to render a sample scene he had already set up using its built-in lights. As I watched, I found myself thinking of ways I could put those same techniques to use in Poser. I watched one Live Group Coaching session which I enjoyed, but didn't participate in. I never took advantage of my Dreamlight Club membership.
The following Christmas, on the advice of another artist, I picked up a book that has a wealth of information and insight that far* *exceeds any topic covered by Dream-Light:
Digital Lighting & Rendering (2nd Edition) by Jeremy Birns, a Lighting and Technical Director for Pixar.
In retrospect, I wish I had known about that book before I'd ever heard of Dream-Light. Their "Light Master" course is a massive rip-off by comparison.