Well, from my current work I can pick out a couple details for what call “scene building”. First, what the final version of the background looks like in general.

The main thing I realized while building the scenes myself, rather than using just maps, is that you can't do everything the way it looks good logically.

That is, there is a table and there should be a plate on it for a good shot. However, in relation to the characters, if you lay the plate close to the table, it will be too small, so it is better to put it above the table. In my background, half of the obyekto does not weigh close to the wall, and is located as it would look good in the frame

Also, if you need to build some...interesting lighting for a scene, you may run up against the limit of the cfm engine. Namely, only 8 light sources can create a shadow. Therefore, I usually use 3-4 lights to create the main lighting and a couple more for additional lighting.

In my case, a couple of light sources are a bit further away from the scene, which create the main light. The light from the lava lamp is positioned high above the lamp, with a slight turn towards where the character will be.

The additional light, such as the lighting of the lava lamp itself, or garland, is used with the “Disable/Enable Shadows” setting, to disable their shadow creation

Therefore, if the light source is a background light, or its “interaction” on the character is not significant, it is best to disable its shadows.