3D Lighting Courses and Certifications

3D Lighting 101 with Nomad Sculpt

Master lighting for 3D sculpts: set up multiple lights, tune roughness, metalness and glow, use color for mood, and render a finished project in Nomad Sculpt.

• Coursera
• 4 weeks, 2 hours a week
• Self-Paced
• Paid Course

FlippedNormals

Blender Lighting Tutorial for 3D Beginners - Learn How to Light

Learn to light Blender scenes with point, sun, spot, and area lights, plus HDRI setups for softer, more natural illumination.

• YouTube
• 22 minutes
• Self-Paced
• Free Video

Reallusion

The Ultimate CC5 3D Lighting Guide - Create Cinematic Realism with Free Presets

Master cinematic 3D lighting in Character Creator 5 using free presets to enhance realism, adjust shadows, and create stunning portrait to full-body renders with professional results.

• YouTube
• 11 minutes
• Self-Paced
• Free Video

Cinematic Lighting in Maya: Fundamentals & Scene Setup

Light cinematic scenes in Maya: control Arnold rendering samples, set up lights and cameras, apply substance materials, and add depth of field and LUTs.

• Coursera
• 3 weeks, 2 hours a week
• Self-Paced
• Paid Course

Career Certificate

Cinematic Lighting in Maya

Light and render cinematic scenes in Maya: scene setup, interior and character lighting, and advanced multi-scene projects for portfolio-quality renders.

• Coursera
• 4 weeks, 10 hours a week
• Self-Paced
• Paid Course
• 3 courses

Cinematic Lighting in Maya: Interior & Character Lighting

Light and render interiors and characters in Maya: craft volumetric fog and gobos, design golden hour, midday and night setups, and polish renders in Photoshop.

• Coursera
• 3 weeks, 2 hours a week
• Self-Paced
• Paid Course

Cinematic Lighting in Maya: Advanced Scenes & Projects

Light advanced 3D scenes in Maya: cinematic camera placement, dramatic multi-light setups, displacement maps, rocky landscapes and oceans, backplates, and post-production finishing of renders.

• Coursera
• 3 weeks, 2 hours a week
• Self-Paced
• Paid Course

Lighting in Unreal Engine 5 for Beginners

Learn to light Unreal Engine 5 environments from scratch for daytime and overcast moods using real-world lighting principles.

• YouTube
• 45 minutes
• Self-Paced
• Free Video

How to get the best possible lighting when in sculpt mode in Blender. Light settings and turntable creation. Eye texture and material setup.

• Outgang
• Self-Paced
• Paid Course

Polyfjord

Cinematic Lighting in Blender

Create cinematic results in Blender with a single light source by shaping illumination, shadows, and mystery around a mocap character.

• YouTube
• 15 minutes
• Self-Paced
• Free Video

Wenbo Zhao

Lighting Fundamentals - Master One Light in Blender

Explore how inverse-square falloff, light quality, shadow density, and reflectors shape purposeful one-light product renders in Blender.

• YouTube
• 56 minutes
• Self-Paced
• Free Video

FlippedNormals

The Ultimate Guide to Portrait Lighting in Blender

Learn a reference-driven approach to portrait lighting in 3D using simple key, fill, rim, and colored-light setups.

• YouTube
• 20 minutes
• Self-Paced
• Free Video

eyedesyn

Lighting Mistakes Beginners Make - Light Solo for Cinema 4D Introduction

Improve Cinema 4D lighting with Light Solo by isolating lights, refining their contributions, and correcting flat, overexposed, unintentional, and uncolored lighting.

• YouTube
• 22 minutes
• Self-Paced
• Free Video

New Plastic

Cinema 4D Tutorial - Octane Light Basics

Learn Octane lighting in Cinema 4D through photography-inspired control of light types, color, shadows, exposure, and bloom to shape scene mood.

• YouTube
• 26 minutes
• Self-Paced
• Free Video

Stylized Station

Beginner's Guide to Interior Lighting in Unreal Engine

Learn to build stylized interior lighting in Unreal Engine using point and spot lights, color contrast, light functions, and overlapping colored projections.

• YouTube
• 32 minutes
• Self-Paced
• Free Video