Much like the first step there is different ways to go about step two. Sometimes I finish the rest of the pose, normally finger posing, adding in the rest of the props, maybe add volumetric light model and then start on the lighting. Or, I would save the advanced posing for a partial step three and do the lighting now. This particular scene I did the former, but I may add some volumetric light later.

There are fewer tools needed to do the lighting, but more launch and console options. What I use all the time is the advanced light entities, more editable compared to the regular game's lamps. However, there are limitations on shadows in the game that you can find workarounds for most of the time. One problem for me was the maximum amount of shadows able to be cast is too low, this launch option -numshadowtextures will allow you to set to a higher amount of shadow-casting lights. Do not set it too high or it will eat performance, I usually have it set to twelve. Console options like r_flashlightdepthres, mat_depthbias_shadowmap and mat_slopescaledepthbias_shadowmap controls the quality of the shadows, how biased they are and the resolution of the shadows. The console commands for those I set around 8192, 0.0000005 and 2 respectively in my autoexec.

The image used here as you can see has six projected_light boxes on the bottom. When I flip my view over to the camera I have situated, I like to have my projected light settings boxes positioned depending on where they are lighting my scene. It's helpful to me to remember what light is lighting up what and keeps the long boxes out of view of my scene, of course there are many times where I use a lot more lights than that and it gets cluttered at the bottom. It's really up to you to experiment and see how many lights you need in your scene and not run too low of fps, and the good thing about advanced light entities is you can toggle each individual light's shadows off if needed! Remember, shadows cost performance.

Before I have all lights set up, normally, I turn on some post processing which you can find in the spawn menu tabs. Color modification can really affect how the scene looks and you'll have to tinker with it for a while to find what you like, but I always use it. Sharpen is another post processing effect I use, can help add more detail to a blurry scene. Bloom is another good one, but can sometimes not play well with color modification or too bright of lighting which is why you might set this one, if you'd like to have it, before you add a whole bunch of lights. I don't always use bloom, however it's nice for scenes with open skies usually.

Quick tips for lighting, at least what I think of, is I like to keep the scene lit evenly usually. Having lights that don't cast shadows can help with that, only after you think you've set the shadows where you'd like them. Shadows aren't entirely dark in real life so a low brightness light with shadows turned off can improve on the image in too dark of areas. Also note, your post processing effects like color modification get saved but turned off if you quit the game, to come back later and reload your save.

* One important command I forgot to mention and one that you'll have to change often depending on what you want your shadows to look like is r_projectedtexture_filter. The higher it is the blurrier the shadows look, and the lower it is the sharper the shadows look. Setting it too high or too low messes the shadows up so find a good middle for your scene.

Be sure to save your game once you're done with this step! Don't be afraid to ask questions.

step 1: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/26677119/
step 2: You are here.
step 3: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/26716161/
step 4: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/26727126/