Realistic Architectural Visualization with 3ds Max and Mental Ray

Acknowledgments     ix
Preface     xi
Project Files: Exercise Disk     xiii
The Living Room: Introduction     1
Preparing Materials for an Interior Space     3
Introduction     3
Starting the Scene     4
The Arch & Design Material     8
BRDF     13
Advanced Rendering Options     13
Working on the First Material     16
Working on the Sofa Material     25
Working on the Floor Material     30
Working on the Glass Material     35
Working on the Metal Material     39
Conclusion     41
Day Lighting for an Interior Space     43
Introduction     43
Interior Lighting Concepts with mental ray     44
Parameters in Final Gather     46
Basic Group     47
Final Gather Map Group     51
Parameters in Global Illumination     52
Starting the Scene     55
Establishing Basic Lighting Parameters     58
Adding Lights     61
Adding an Omni Light to Simulate Scattered Light     67
Modifying the Spot Light     73
Making Changes to MaterialsDue to Light Effects     75
Exposure Control     76
Adjusting the Exposure of the Living Room Scene     78
Mental ray Parameters for the Final Render     80
Samples per Pixel Group     80
Filter Group     81
Finalizing the Living Room Render     83
Conclusion     85
Artificial Lighting for the Interior Space     87
Introduction     87
Starting the Scene     88
Establishing Basic Lighting Parameters     90
Adding the Artificial Lights     94
Adding More Lights to the Scene     100
Adding a Lume Shader to the Lights     106
Adding Exposure Controls to Improve the Image and Final Render     114
Conclusion     119
The Harbor: Introduction     121
Preparing Materials for an Exterior Scene     123
Introduction     123
Starting the Scene     123
Applying Materials to the Background Buildings     128
Creating a Material for the Wooden Chair     134
Creating a Material for the Pavement     141
Using the Ocean (Lume) Shader for Water     145
Creating the Water Material in the Harbor Scene      149
Conclusion     159
Lighting for an Exterior Scene     161
Introduction     161
Exterior Lighting Concepts with mental ray     162
mr Sun Parameters     164
mr Sky Parameters     169
Starting the Scene     172
Establishing Basic Lighting Parameters     174
Refining the Lighting and Creating a Rendered Image     183
Conclusion     187
Working with the mr Physical Sky Shader     189
Introduction     189
mr Physical Sky and the Sun Disk     190
Moving the Sun to a Desired Location     190
The mr Physical Sky Shader     192
Sun Disk Appearance Group     192
Inherit from mr Sky Group     194
Horizon and Ground Group     196
After Dark Group     198
Non-Physical Tuning Group     198
Aerial Perspective (When Used as Lens/Volume Shader Only) Group     200
Creating Camera Haze     200
Using a Bitmap Background in mr Pbysical Sky     202
Some Notes About mr Physical Sky     206
Conclusion     208
Conclusion and Further Study     209
CAD Transfer      211
Introduction     211
Overview     211
Importing 3D Geometry     211
Linking AutoCAD Files     212
Why Transfer Files?     213
An Approach to CAD Transfer     213
A Generalized Approach to Modeling and Rendering with Linked Files     213
Exceptions to the Generalized Approach     214
Process of Linking Files     214
Linking Files from AutoCAD     215
Layers     215
File Link Manager Parameters     216
AutoCAD Layers, 3ds Max Layers and 3ds Max Objects     218
Applying Materials     220
More Complex Material Assignments     220
Mapping     221
Reloading Linked Files     221
Linking Files from Revit     223
Revit Object Database     223
Exporting 3D Model to AutoCAD     224
Linking an AutoCAD File Exported by Revit     225
Reloading a Revit Model Linked through a .dwg File     226
Materials in Revit     226
Accessing Revit Materials in 3ds Max     227
Caution About Using Revit Materials     229
Conclusion     229
Caustics     231
Introduction      232
Caustics     232
Creating Caustics in a Wine Glass     232
Creating the Lights and the Caustics Effect     241
Final Adjustments to the Image     251
Conclusion     254
Camera Effects     255
Introduction     255
Flash Effect and Depth of Field     256
Creating the Flash Effect     256
Depth of Field     263
HDRI     269
Introduction     269
Assigning a HDRI image to a light source     270
Light Point (base) Parameters     277
Adding the HDRI image to the light     277
Rendering Large Complex Scenes     289
Introduction     289
Render Passes     290
Render Passes Parameters     300
Distributed Bucket Rendering     300
Distributed Bucket Rendering Parameters     301
Network Rendering     305
Common Errors     309
Introduction     309
The mental ray Message Window     309
Photon Errors     310
Final Gather Errors     315
The Cover Image     317
Introduction     318
Adjusting Final Gather Settings     318
Image Size     319
Sampling Quality     319
Rendering     319
Lights and Materials     320
Exposure Control     321
Index     323