Digital Tutors - Mental Ray Rendering Techniques Interiors (CD 1,2) (T0127)

Learn a production workflow to rendering interior sets and time-saving mental ray techniques that can be used for Film, Games, and Architectural Visualizations. Contains 4 hours of project-based training - Great for intermediate artists.

Popular highlights include:

* Setting up Environmental Geometry
* Light Placement Techniques
* Emitting Photons from Light Source
* Visualizing Photon Maps in Viewport
* Tuning Photon Intensity
* Smoothing GI Photons with Final Gather
* Incorporating Maya and mental ray Materials
* Adjusting Photonic Attributes of Materials
* Altering Geometry for Optimum GI
* Rendering Images to HDR Format
* Adding realism with Ambient Occlusion
* Fine-tuning Renders with External Apps
* Adjusting Exposure with Camera Lens Shaders
* Using Multi-bounce Final Gather as GI Alternative
* Creating and Storing Rendering Presets

Lesson Outline:

1. Introduction and project overview 1:38
2. Identifying key points to be aware of when approaching mental ray lighting 5:24
3. Adding and positioning direct sunlight into your scene 8:24
4. Creating an outside environment as well as adding materials to the walls and door frames 8:03
5. Creating a photon casting light and adding rough Global Illumination to the scene 6:39
6. Adding blurry reflections to the room’s floor and altering its photonic material attributes 10:42
7. Using the mental ray CIE_D light to simulate warm sunlight in the room 7:54
8. Using Final Gather in your scene to smooth out the Global Illumination result 7:05
9. Fine-tuning the photonic attributes on the window shades 6:50
10. Using the mental ray BSP diagnostic to control the scene’s memory usage 16:19
11. Building the leather material for the room’s couch and chair 10:26
12. Using the mental ray Dielectric material to simulate a glass tabletop 8:54
13. Creating chrome table legs using the mental ray DGS material 8:25
14. Controlling how lights and photons interact with translucent surfaces 6:47
15. Altering the room’s geometry to prevent unwanted areas of light leaking 12:21
16. Adding bevels to the room’s walls to prevent photons from becoming stuck 7:11
17. Fine-tuning the Final Gather minimum and maximum radius to increase rendering speed and quality 9:11
18. Using the mia_exposure lens shader to control your camera’s exposure settings 8:41
19. Setting up proper materials and attributes for the room’s exterior windows 9:35
20. Adding a directional ambient occlusion pass to enhance shadow detail in your renders 12:42
21. Setting up final output options in preparation for a batch render 4:23
22. Using an external image editing application to finalize your rendered frames 8:56
23. Resetting your Maya scene in preparation for a nighttime light setup 5:48
24. Adding light to the room’s lamp and altering the light’s decay attributes 5:46
25. Using the mib_light_point shader to gain a higher level of control over the light’s falloff 8:38
26. Adding primary and secondary Final Gather bounces to simulate Global Illumination 10:10
27. Generating nighttime renders from Maya and making final alterations in an external application 13:14

Total Run Time:
3:50:60