I'd like your opinion...

Nottravisgames

Thank you. Yeppers, natural light it is. But noted re the cave. Oddly enough that is on the stocks (if the MC and Sarah can ever learn how to play the bloody game...;) ) and I've been messing around with torchlight to some quite good effect.

NanasBananas

In the interest of uselessly chiming in to agree with something that's already been decided, I just wanted to chime in and say I agree. Natural light feels much more immersive, it sells the idea that we're part of the scene much better... I think adding some artificial light could potentially be appropriate for really dark scenes (like if we ever find ourselves inside a cave at nigh, say), but as a general rule I think the more natural you can make it look, the better.

Nottravisgames

HDRI. I have to be mindful of processing time still sadly.

Nottravisgames

Thanks everyone. Natural light it is. I've tweaked the brightness a little and it looks natural yet clearer. Appreciate the assist ;)

Miss Bumhole

Artificial lighting makes these images look more awful and weird. Natural lightning is the way to go.

Quinfax

I would probably say natural light because the artificial one looks like she's pasted into the scenery

Dragon423

Natural light is better in my opinion

Bagendenten

Whichever makes the process of developing the game faster to be honest, they both look good!

Nottravisgames

Thanks guys. I've tweaked the natural light and am running some more tests. Will advise :)

Also I'm curious, when you say "natural light" are you using Iray's "Date/Time" lighting system, or are you lighting with an HDRI?

Well, since you asked...the natural light one definitely looks better. The artificial light looks flat. But if you want to brighten the right side of her face a bit I'd recommend one of two options. In your renders settings, bump up the ISO to 150 or 200 (or somewhere in between) and give that a test to see how it looks. Your shadow play will remain the same but your image will lighten up a bit. Alternatively, you could add a distant light source coming down on that side of her face. Set the temp to about 5100k and start at 500 lumens and slowly increase it until you feel the balance is right. As long as the distant light is cast at fewer lumens than your primary light source, it'll lighten it without disrupting your shadows.

Exia

Nature light looks better. If you want to make it look like the characters are pasted onto a bg you should just have done 2d spirits.

Michael

I like the first one too. Too much light on the subject even just to make her more visible just doesn't look right. It's like she has her own personal spot light following her around.

Huitieme

I would say that the artificially lit one gives more details about the model, but I guess the natural one has more "charm" and seems, well, more natural.

If I focus on it, the artificial looks a bit like Sarah is just pasted on the background, while the natural one makes her look more, well, natural with the environment. As long as it's not too dark (which I don't think it is in this case), I'd go with the natural where possible in the outdoors. Hiding a bit of skin in the shadows doesn't hurt if it makes the whole composition better.:)

Sulring Durgul

Or perhaps with more diffused light? The surroundings are quite dark and don't reflect much...

Sulring Durgul

That's a tough one... Would it be possible to do natural lighting with a brighter ambient light source ?

Definitely natural light. If I didn't see the comparison, I would be happy with the artificial just as well, but I'm getting a lot more "Would you like to see more" vibes from the first one. :)