Introducing 3ds Max® 2008

Chapter 10. 3ds Max Lighting

Light is everything. By light we see, and by light we show. Light shapes the world around us and defines shape, color, and texture. Computer graphics hang on every word light has to whisper. Without faithful lighting, any good computer graphic will fall to its knees and fail. Lighting is the most important aspect of CG, and it just simply cannot be mastered at a snap of the fingers. The trick to correctly lighting a CG is understanding how light works and seeing the visual nuances it has to offer.

In this chapter, you will study the various tools used to light in 3ds Max. This chapter will serve as a primer to this most important aspect of CG. It will start you on the path by showing you the tools available and giving you opportunities to begin using them.

Topics in this chapter include:

• Basic Lighting Concepts

• Three-Point Lighting

• 3ds Max Lights

• Common Light Parameters

• Ambient Light

• Lighting the Red Rocket

• Creating Shadows

• Atmospheres and Effects

• Light Lister

Basic Lighting Concepts

On a conceptual level, the lighting in 3ds Max mimics the real-world direct-lighting techniques used in photography and filmmaking. Lights of various types are placed around a scene to illuminate the subjects as they would for a still life or a portrait. Your scene and what's in it dictate, to some degree at least, which lights you put where. A number of considerations must be kept in mind when settling on a methodology and light types for CG, but the overall concept of lighting is strikingly ...