3ds Max 2019: Advanced Lighting

Course details

Realistic lighting is easier, faster, and better than ever in 3ds Max. Photometric lighting and a choice of rendering options gives you the power to create a convincing illusion. This course focuses on architectural visualization, but the techniques apply to other domains such as motion picture production. Instructor Aaron F. Ross provides a conceptual overview of advanced lighting and rendering, then demonstrates how to construct various lighting scenarios in 3ds Max. You can see how to render scenes with exterior and interior daylight, practical artificial lighting, and manufacturer photometric data. The course includes a chapter on special effects such as light decay and atmospheres. By the end of the course, you'll have seen how to control the powerful lighting tools in 3ds Max to achieve photorealistic results.

Learning objectives
Physical lighting and gamma correction
High dynamic range and exposure control
Global illumination
Exterior daylight
Image-based lighting
Advanced environment options
Geometric backdrops and material emission
Interior daylight
Importing photometric data
Studio lighting
Spot light image projection
Atmospheric effects

Concepts

0. Introduction

01 - Advanced lighting overview
02 - Using the exercise files

1. Concepts

03 - Photometric lighting
04 - Gamma correction and linear workflows
05 - High dynamic range imaging
06 - Exposure and tone mapping
07 - Global illumination
08 - Color temperature

2. Exterior Daylight

09 - Understanding 3ds Max gamma correction
10 - Creating a sun positioner
11 - Setting viewport display options
12 - Exposure control and tone mapping
13 - Adjusting Sun & Sky
14 - Exterior daylight rendering with Arnold
15 - Arnold render settings and materials

3. Image-Based Lighting

16 - Image-based lighting with an environment map
17 - Environment settings in Arnold
18 - Apply a custom map to the backplate
19 - Image-based lighting with an Arnold skydome light
20 - Aligning a sun with an environment
21 - Exterior sunlight with an Arnold distant light
22 - White balancing a map
23 - Constructing a geometric backdrop
24 - Self-illuminating a backdrop with Emission

4. Interiors

25 - Interior daylight with Physical Sun & Sky
26 - Physical material emission for environments
27 - Approximating sunlight with a photometric disc
28 - Filling shadows with area soft lights
29 - Interior artificial light in ART
30 - Importing photometric data from an IES file
31 - Interior sunlight with an Arnold distant light
32 - Ambient sky light with an Arnold quad light
33 - Collimating an Arnold light beam with Spread
34 - Focusing an Arnold light beam with Lens Radius

5. Studio Lighting and Effects

35 - Photometric far attenuation decay
36 - Attenuation with the Arnold Decay filter modifier
37 - Projection with a photometric projector map
38 - Projection with an Arnold Gobo filter
39 - Art directing an Arnold Gobo filter
40 - Scene-wide Arnold environment fog
41 - Setting Arnold properties for volume rendering
42 - Light fog with Arnold Standard Volume

Conclusion

43 - Next steps

3ds Max 2019: Advanced Lighting

Authors

Aaron F. Ross