I am hoping this question is not terribly vague...here goes:
I am looking for some helpful hints on lighting models. using v6, i am very reliant on the sun tool, and it does look great. however, i am looking for that next level, where material and small variations in form really begin to look slick. what kind of lights, shadow parameters, material types...any info would be much appreciated.
The question is pretty vague, you'd have to post up some sample images of how it looks now to be able to really help. Material would be based on what materials your project employs. Lighting would depend on whether it's an interior or exterior shot. Shadow parameters would depend on whether you want a crisp and accurate raytrace shadow, or something more abstract as in a shadow map. If you rae just looking for something cool that you can take w/you to the bathroom, you can throw a few lights in w/shadows flying everywhere, and bump up the reflectivity on all your materials.
Well it is a bit vague, but I'd say try some global illumination. The easiest way to do this with max6 is by using the light tracer plug in which comes in max six.
To do this on the tool bar click: Rendering > Render > Advanced Lighting Tab
Go down to "Light Tracer" in the pull down menue. Then make sure the "Active" box is checked.
This will bring up a whole series of parameters that will take a while to figure out (use the max help and search for "light tracer"). Set the bounces to "1" (default should be "0".
Now go: Create > Lights > Skylight
Set the multiplier to about .6
Now: Create > Lights > Target Direct
Set the multiplier to about .6 as well, and make sure under the directional parameters rollout the hotspot and falloff are large enough to encompass your sceene.
Hopefully you've got a bitchen workstation as light tracer can renderings can take quite long depending on the complexity of the sceene, particularly if you have any reflections. But in terms of small variations in form looking slick it can do wonders. Basically it simulates the light that is reflected from all the tiny particles in the sky, so it makes the nice soft subtle shadows one might see on an overcast day. It's fairly good for outdoor lighting, but for interiors forget about the skylight altogheather.
Here's a couple of random examples from old projects:
If you really want to add complexity to the rendering itself, psycho mullet is right about using Global Illumination. But if you really want to get further in advanced rendering, you should try one of the plugins for max that are specialized in that, the three main ones being Brazil, Final render and vray, which in my opinion the easisest to start with.
Final Render is my pick, but none of them are 'click and go'. Just be aware that you'll need to learn a lot before you can make a great rendering.
Light Tracer is probably the easiest, but it takes sooooo long. If you don't want to spend the cash on a renderer (assuming you have bought Max...), use Mental Ray that comes with it. It'll be the hardest to learn, but it will also be free.
I'm sort of assuming you're a student, but if you're purchasing these legally for an office, metal ray can get expensive when it comes to rendering nodes, if you're just using one machine it's not so bad though, vray is actually quite affordable. I've been using brazil lately and I'm really liking it. If you're using GI in a production environment, French and mbr are right, light tracer is waaaay to slow, it's just not practical, but I think it's do-able as a student, and if nothing else it's just an easy way to expose you to the world of GI.
All of the GI engines are a bit different and have a bit of a learning curve (mental ray's is STEEP), and everything is scene dependant, so there is no magic settings, you have about a million variables, and you'll have to tune alot of them for every scene, but for me, the results are worth it.
I agree. While I have much respect for their technical abilities, I have more respect for the business (assuming they are doing well) they've created. A kind of cross breed between 3D rendering, architecture, and motion graphics.
After seeing that new one, all I can say is 'WOW'! They've been good before, but this is great stuff!!
3d smax v.6 rendering question
I am hoping this question is not terribly vague...here goes:
I am looking for some helpful hints on lighting models. using v6, i am very reliant on the sun tool, and it does look great. however, i am looking for that next level, where material and small variations in form really begin to look slick. what kind of lights, shadow parameters, material types...any info would be much appreciated.
The question is pretty vague, you'd have to post up some sample images of how it looks now to be able to really help. Material would be based on what materials your project employs. Lighting would depend on whether it's an interior or exterior shot. Shadow parameters would depend on whether you want a crisp and accurate raytrace shadow, or something more abstract as in a shadow map. If you rae just looking for something cool that you can take w/you to the bathroom, you can throw a few lights in w/shadows flying everywhere, and bump up the reflectivity on all your materials.
Well it is a bit vague, but I'd say try some global illumination. The easiest way to do this with max6 is by using the light tracer plug in which comes in max six.
To do this on the tool bar click: Rendering > Render > Advanced Lighting Tab
Go down to "Light Tracer" in the pull down menue. Then make sure the "Active" box is checked.
This will bring up a whole series of parameters that will take a while to figure out (use the max help and search for "light tracer"). Set the bounces to "1" (default should be "0".
Now go: Create > Lights > Skylight
Set the multiplier to about .6
Now: Create > Lights > Target Direct
Set the multiplier to about .6 as well, and make sure under the directional parameters rollout the hotspot and falloff are large enough to encompass your sceene.
Hopefully you've got a bitchen workstation as light tracer can renderings can take quite long depending on the complexity of the sceene, particularly if you have any reflections. But in terms of small variations in form looking slick it can do wonders. Basically it simulates the light that is reflected from all the tiny particles in the sky, so it makes the nice soft subtle shadows one might see on an overcast day. It's fairly good for outdoor lighting, but for interiors forget about the skylight altogheather.
Here's a couple of random examples from old projects:
http://www.surphasia.com/images/temp/GI/ReSeat_01_clie.jpg
http://www.surphasia.com/images/temp/GI/dr_02.jpg
http://www.surphasia.com/images/temp/GI/040528_01.jpg
http://www.surphasia.com/images/temp/GI/040528_04.jpg
If you really want to add complexity to the rendering itself, psycho mullet is right about using Global Illumination. But if you really want to get further in advanced rendering, you should try one of the plugins for max that are specialized in that, the three main ones being Brazil, Final render and vray, which in my opinion the easisest to start with.
too bad there's no edit button on this forum...
Final Render is my pick, but none of them are 'click and go'. Just be aware that you'll need to learn a lot before you can make a great rendering.
Light Tracer is probably the easiest, but it takes sooooo long. If you don't want to spend the cash on a renderer (assuming you have bought Max...), use Mental Ray that comes with it. It'll be the hardest to learn, but it will also be free.
I'm sort of assuming you're a student, but if you're purchasing these legally for an office, metal ray can get expensive when it comes to rendering nodes, if you're just using one machine it's not so bad though, vray is actually quite affordable. I've been using brazil lately and I'm really liking it. If you're using GI in a production environment, French and mbr are right, light tracer is waaaay to slow, it's just not practical, but I think it's do-able as a student, and if nothing else it's just an easy way to expose you to the world of GI.
All of the GI engines are a bit different and have a bit of a learning curve (mental ray's is STEEP), and everything is scene dependant, so there is no magic settings, you have about a million variables, and you'll have to tune alot of them for every scene, but for me, the results are worth it.
I want and edit button too...
That should say "AN" edit button... damn...
Yeah, I second the edit button...
slighly off topic, but damn kdlab does some nice shit with 3dmax
I agree. While I have much respect for their technical abilities, I have more respect for the business (assuming they are doing well) they've created. A kind of cross breed between 3D rendering, architecture, and motion graphics.
After seeing that new one, all I can say is 'WOW'! They've been good before, but this is great stuff!!
holy crap, those guys are good.! really amazing.
it is quite an appealing niche to be in. . . I don't think Id watch The shining on an Ispec- scare the crap out of me. . .
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