Just curious
 

I'm a traditional artist in the sense where I do all my work using pencil, pen and ink. Now I'm big on refrencing real life and lately I've converted to using 3d programs as well. It's great for when you lack any real life modals or even just wondering what a starship would look like wiht a certain light source hitting it. I'm just curious to see if If anyone else is doing the same?

Larry Weinburg has just finished celebrating 10 years since he first invented poser1 and he said he made the 3d program originally for the very reason you are talking about, so that pen & ink and sculpture artists can see how light falls on 3d images at various angles.

Lighting is such a key piece of the puzzle. Without a decent lighting setup, even the best modelwill look like trash. The trick is to master lighting and make it work for you - to bring out the good aspects of a mesh and hide the bad.

That's right, the lighting is everything. It's the difference between photorealistic and a cartoon.