In the last page we created
the scene that we will use to
apply the lighting effects in
3D Studio MAX ( 3DS MAX ). If
you have not created the scene,
you can download it here
(chap3-lighting.max)
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| Let's
setup the lights. Shall we? - Tutorial
/ Lesson |
Now
that our scene is opened in 3D
Studio MAX ( 3ds max ), click
on the Create
panel and inside it, choose the
Lights 
tab to access the various lights
in 3D Studio MAX ( 3DS MAX ).
Within the Lights rollout, you
will see different types of lights.
Click on Omni button
to choose it. Now click somewhere
inside the perspecitve viewport.
One omni light has been placed
at the location where you clicked.
The scene might have got really
dark by now. Don't worry. Remember
about the default lights that
3D Studio MAX ( 3DS MAX ) creates
for every scene for generic illumination?
Those lights gets turned off when
you create your own light. The
scene went dark because your light
placement is not up to the mark.
Don't worry. We have got light
placement tools in 3D Studio MAX
( 3DS MAX ). Make sure that the
light you just placed is the currently
selected object in the scene.
The light should appear like the
icon 
in the perspective viewport. If
it is highlighted and the create
panel or modify panel shows the
name Omni01 it
means our light is the currently
selected object. If not, use the
Select by Name 
tool to select the Omni we just
placed.
Now we need to
use the Place Highlight
tool located near the right end
of the main toolbar (toolbar below
the menu bar). Most probably you
cannot locate that tool since
it is hidden within the Align
tool  .
Located the Align tool?
Click and hold on it for a moment.
A list of tools rolls down, dont
release your mouse yet. Hold the
click and move the mouse down
until the mouse is over the Place
Highlight
tool. Now release the
mouse. The Place Highlight tool
becomes active in 3D Studio MAX
( 3ds max ).
The Place Highlight
tool in 3D Studio MAX ( 3ds max
) is a very effective tool. We
can click and drag over our teapot
using this tool to specify the
area where the light that is currently
selected needs to illuminate.
The light in 3D Studio MAX ( 3ds
max ) adjusts its position to
make the proper illumination. |
|
With
the Place Highlight
tool active in 3D Studio
MAX ( 3ds max ) and the
Omni01 (light we just created)
selected, click-drag the
mouse over the teapot in
the perspective viewport.
Don't release the mouse
until you could attain a
decent illumination near
the right bottom region
of our teapot as shown in
the figure. The region where
you need to click-drag the
Place Highlight tool is
zoomed in the figure using
a circle. The results need
not be accurate. You need
not try to be a perfectionist
at this stage. Be relaxed. |
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|
Download
the 3D Studio MAX ( 3ds
max ) Training Video which
demonstrates the usage of
'Place Highlight' tool in
3D Studio MAX here
|
|
The
download is a RAR file which
contains the training video
file compressed using MPEG-4
codec. Click
here for instructions
on viewing the video. |
|
Now
create one more Omni light
in the scene repeating the
same steps you used for
creating our first Omni
in 3D Studio MAX ( 3ds max
). Create it somewhere,
and make it the currently
selected object in the scene.
Now click on the Place
Highlight
tool once more to make it
active. It shows a yellowish
color as shown above if
it is active. Now click-drag
near the left middle region
of the teapot in the perspective
viewport to align the second
omni properly. Refer the
figure for accurate placement. |
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|
Now
that we have aligned both
the lights, properly in
the 3D Studio MAX ( 3ds
max ) scene, let's perform
a render to see how it looks.
With the perspective viewport
active, press Shift+Q.
The rendering result should
look like the figure to
the right. Did i mention
what an omni light means
in 3D Studio MAX ( 3ds max
)? It is simply a light
that casts light in all
directions around. It is
very simple to handle because
it has no direction of illumination.
We can compare the omni
in 3D Studio MAX ( 3ds max
) to our incandescent bulbs
with no reflector behind
it. We used Omni here due
to its mere simplicity. |
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|
| The
scene doesn't look real. right?
We will deal with various light
properties to make the scene look
more realistic in the next
page>> of this tutorial. |
