Renderers (real-time e.g. Eevee; path tracer e.g. Cycles)

Use real-time and path-traced renderers to create lighting, materials, and reference images for paint-overs or tracing.

What it is

A renderer turns a 3D scene into an image. Real-time engines such as Eevee provide fast previews for judging composition, lighting, and materials. Path tracers such as Cycles calculate light more accurately but take longer, supporting detailed light, reflections, and contact shadows for paint-overs.

You can block out a scene in Eevee, adjust cameras, poses, and lighting directions, then switch to Cycles after the scene is set. For simple hard-surface forms, flat lighting, or cartoony styles, you may use Eevee throughout and tune its settings for a stable base image.

In Eevee, you can set usable shadows, reflections, and ambient light without inconsistent results. In Cycles, you balance noise, render time, and light quality to produce a clean reference image.

Why it matters

Choosing the appropriate renderer and settings helps your 3D base support 2D work. Weak control can lead to slow, noisy renders or fast previews with misleading light and shadow. Paint-overs may then show mismatched form lighting, invented reflections, or other corrections that reduce the value of the 3D base.

You can check it when

✓You choose between an Eevee preview and a path-traced render based on the lighting detail and reference quality the scene requires.
✓A Cycles render is clean enough to paint over, with no distracting noise or fireflies, and its render time remains practical for your hardware.
✓Your Eevee renders maintain consistent light direction, shadows, and reflections that match the materials in the scene.
✓Similar scenes produce similar lighting quality because you can track and reuse the renderer or preset settings used across a project.

Renderers (real-time e.g. Eevee; path tracer e.g. Cycles)

What it is

Why it matters

You can check it when

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