First you need to have followed my other guide on how to model the trash can if you haven’t please visit and follow this guide.
First things we need to do is create a polygon plane so go to the top menu create > polygon primitives > plane, now in any view port press W and use the green arrow to move the plane down so its just above the feet, so basically the feet go through the plane as this isn’t really that important. Now press R in any view port and using the perspective view and the yellow box scale the plane so that it’s huge! Now we need to get out a resolution gate so we can see what we will render for the image.
Right the next step is to in the perspective view in the white menu and click view and go view > camera setting > resolution gate this will now create a box in the view, you see anything inside of this box will be rendered out and anything not will be cut off.
Now we go window > outliner and select the plane we created and CTRL and D so we make a copy with the copy press E and in the perspective view and with the red rotate tool turn the plane till its stood up 90 degrees, if you want to be precise with the angle open the channel settings, to do this go to the top right hand corner and under the close window x you will see a image this is the channel editor when you open this up go to the rotate X section LEFT mouse click and change it to 90 and press enter.
Now in the top view port click with the MOUSE WHEEL and press W and move the plane so that it’s behind the trash can, this will create a floor and background for the scene.
Now lets get some lights into the scene go to create > lights > directional lights, now we will use these for our two point based light system that will give a nice effect to the scene. With the first light you have created in the top view port press W and with the yellow box in the middle LEFT mouse click and drag the light so that its in front of the trash can and to the left a bit, then press E and with the green rotate tool move the light till its pointing towards the trash can. Now move to the front or side view and press W and using the green arrow move the light so that it’s a fair bit above the trash can, now press E and use the red rotate tool to point the light downwards towards the trash can.
The step above as put the first light in place now we need to play with the setting to get the light how we want it, click on the light in the outliner and now we need to open up then attribute editor, remember the channel editor well not the middle one but the one after is the attribute editor click this.
Now where we have loads of new settings we have one called colour, click in the white box that is next to the word for the colour palette to open, choose a colour you think best suited for the scene I went for a soft yellow/orange colour as this is like a spring or summer colour. Then click shadows to drop down a new section and scroll down to where it says use ray trace shadows and check the check box and that’s the first light created and set up.
Now CRTL and D the light so we have a clone before we do anything click use ray trace shadows so it’s turned of as in the real world unless there is another nearby source of light the sun only casts shadows. Now in the top view port middle click and press W and with the yellow box move the light directly across and behind the trash can, then press E and with the green rotate tool turn it till it faces directly at the trash can and towards the other light, now in the front or side view MOUSE WHEEL click and press W and move the light till its just above the floor and then press E and with the red rotate tool point the light at the trash can.
Now in the attribute editor with the light selected scroll to the word colour and change it from the colour you have selected to a colour in the opposite direction from the one you choose so if you choose the soft yellow/orange like me it will be a blue/green semi hard colour.
