Relight

The Relight node takes a 2D image containing normal and point position passes and lets you relight it using 3D lights. Essentially bypassing the need to return to a 3D application and re-render the lighting, Relight provides a quick and interactive way to relight a 3D scene in a 2D environment.

Relight works by applying a 3D shader to a 2D image using the normal and point position passes stored in separate image channels, and lets you attach and manipulate a 3D light (or multiple lights via a Scene node).

See also Light, Spot, Point, Direct, and Environment.

Inputs and Controls

Connection Type

Connection Name

Function

Input

color

The 2D image to relight using 3D lights. This image should contain normal and point position passes.

You can create normal and point position passes using the DepthGenerator node in NukeX, for example.

cam

The camera used to render the color image.

Note:  The cam input only appears once the lights input has been connected to a light or scene node.

lights

The light node to use to relight the color image. If you want to use multiple lights, you can also connect a Scene node here.

material

The 3D shader to apply to the color image. This can be a Phong node, for example.

Depending on the type of shader you attach, ensure that you've defined the necessary properties for it.

Note:  The material input only appears once the cam input has been connected.

Control (UI)

Knob (Scripting)

Default Value

Function

Relight Tab

use alpha

use_alpha

disabled

When enabled, the alpha channel of the color image is used as a mask to limit the effects of Relight on the original scene.

normal vectors

normal

none

The channel from the color input that contains the normal pass.

point positions

position

none

The channel from the color input that contains the point position pass.

ambient

ambient

0

Sets the global ambient light level for the scene.

Step-by-Step Guides

Relighting a 2D Image Using 3D Lights