Rendering Tutorials

http://think.maxwellrender.com/search.php?&per_page=20

NO CLASS JUNE 25

Sorry for the last minute cancellation. Please have your housing assignments and the tutorials ready for review next week on July 2nd.

Renderng Tutorial

MAYA SOFTWARE:

Open the cube tutorial
Make a new cube and scale it on the x and y to 50’ by 50’, use it for a plane under the cubes
Open the hypershader and create a phong, blinn and lambert.
Adjust the colors and transparency of materials.
Apply the materials randomly to the cubes.

Import the GI lighting system.
File>import>GI lighting system.
Select the imported GI lighting system groups in the options window and press ctrl G to group the GI Lights. Scale the lights out and surround the cubes.

Create a directional light, scale it move it up and duplicate it. Move the duplicate light over and rotate it towards the cubes. Go to the attribute editor of the duplicate directional light, scroll down and open the shadow tab. Click on the ‘use depth map shadows’. Adjust the resolution to over 512.

Select the perspective camera in the option window, open the attribute editor for the camera, and open the environment tab. Adjust the color to white.

Open the render settings window.
Under the ‘common’ tab adjust the image size to 640x480, and adjust the resolution to 200.
Under the Maya software tab, change the “quality’ to “production quality”, open the ray trace tab and click the ray trace box.

Render the scene

When the render is finished, save the render as a jpeg.

Save the file.

AMBIENT OCULSSION:

Open the cube tutorial and make three new materials.
Adjust the color and transparency of materials.

Select the perspective camera in the option window, open the attribute editor for the camera, and open the environment tab. Adjust the color to white.


Right click the mouse on “crate maya node” box and select “create mental ray node”.

Open the “textures” tab, and middle click the mouse on “mb_amb_occlusion”, hold down the middle button, and drag over to one of the materials. Select “ambient color” from the list. Double click on the “mb_amb_occlusion”, and in the attribute editor increase the samples to 512. Repeat for all materials.
Apply the materials to the cubes.
Open the render settings window.
In the “render using:” box select “mental ray”
Under the ‘common’ tab adjust the image size to 640x480, and adjust the resolution to 200.
Click on the Mental Ray tab, and change the production preset box to “Production”

Render

Save render as jpeg.

Save file.

Maxwell rendering:

Open the cube tutorial
Make a new cube and scale it on the x and y to 50’ by 50’, use it for a plane under the cubes

Go to window> settings and preferences > plug-in manager and click on all the boxes, and click refresh.

Open the hypershader and create three Maxwell materials.
Double click on the Maxwell materiasl and use the wizard to create a glass and car paint and plastic.
Apply the materials to the cubes.

Open the render settings window.
In the “render using:” box select “Maxwell”
Under the ‘common’ tab adjust the image size to 640x480, and adjust the resolution to 200.

Click on the “Maxwell” tab.

Increase the time to 20 minutes
Increase the samples to 1000

Click on the “Environment” tab.
Click on sky options

The physical sky will create a realistic sky, and is controlled with the various controls.
At minimum adjust the hour and click on the enable sun.

The sky dome will create a blank background-- adjust the color.

Render the scene.
The Maxwell render window will start up. When it starts you can go back to the maya file and continue working.

When the Maxwell rendering is finished, save the file as a jpeg.

VECTOR RENDERING:

Select the perspective camera in the option window, open the attribute editor for the camera, and open the environment tab. Adjust the color to white.

Open the render settings window and select Maya Vector in the render using box.
In the image format box, select “encapsulated postscript (eps)”.
Change the image size to the 320x240 preset, in the preset window.

Click on the Maya Vector tab.
Change the “Detail level preset” window to “high”

Click the fill objects box off

Click the include edges box on

Change the “Render optimization” box to “Good”

Render the scene.

When the render is complete you need to open the eps file in either Illustrator or Photoshop. The eps file will be deep in the Maya files and the path will be on the common tab of the render settings window.
It looks like this:
Path:C:/Documents and Settings/your name/Documents/maya/projects/default/scenes//


In Illustrator or Photoshop overlap the vector on other renders

the can

The Can

1. The first step in making the soda can is to create a profile in section, this will be used as a source profile for the revolve tool to generate the can so. You should only draw 1/2 of the can in profile. Use the Grid Snap to ensure that the starting and ending points of your CV curve fall directly on the Y-axis, and don't forget to draw the profile in one of the side viewports so the can will be oriented the correct way. When you are done drawing your curve, hit the 'Enter' key on your keyboard to complete the tool.

2. After drawing the curve you can select CV's and adjust their position to more realistically approximate the shape of the can in profile.

3. To create the hard creased corners that the can has in a few places, you can use the 'CV Hardness' tool, this increases the strength (or weight) of the CV relative to other CV's in the curve. To use this select a CV on the curve and choose the 'CV Hardness' Tool under 'Edit Curves' The curve should make a sharp bend at the CV.

4. Right-click on the curve to select the entire curve (instead of just one of the CVs) and click the 'Revolve' tool in the toolbar at the top. This will revolve your curve around the Y-Axis and create a surface. You can press the 5 key to shade the surface. Also, you will need to hit the 3 key on the keyboard to increase the display resolution of the surface so it appears less facetted.

5. You can move the new surface aside and select CVs on the original curve to adjust the surface shape again to appear more realistic.The Top

1. To focus work on the top of the can, and also so that you could later give it a different material than the bottom, it is best tp detach it from the bottom of the can. This also more realistically represents how the can is actually constructed as two separate sheets of metal. To detach the top, right click on the surface and choose 'Isoparms', click on one of the isoparms going around the can and drag upwards along the can until you get near the top. When you release the mouse, a yellow dotted line should remain on the surface of the can to show you which isoparm you have selected. If you now choose 'Detach Surfaces' from the 'Edit NURBS' pull-down menu the surface of the can will be separated at the isoparm you selected. Now it is two separate pieces. You may need to hit the 3 key to increase the dipslay resolution of the surfaces so they appear less faceted.

2. To cut the hole in the top of the can, switch to the top view and begin drawing a curve that is the shape of the hole. Use the grid snap to ensure the shape is symmetrical. When drawing, do not complete the curve, but draw all but the last point. Select the curve after you finish drawing and use the 'Open/Close Curve' tool to close the curve. The 'Open/Close Curve' tool is located under the 'Edit Curves' menu. When you use the tool, click on the options box (select the little box next to the name when you choose the tool) and make sure the option of 'Ignore' is selected under 'Shape'. Click 'Apply' and the curve will be closed.

3. In the top view, select the new curve and the top of the can. Choose 'Project Curve on Surface' from the 'Edit NURBS' pull-down menu. This will project the curve onto the surface so you can use it for a trim operation.

4. Select the top of the can and return to the perspective view. Select the 'Trim Tool' from the 'Edit NURBS' menu. The surface will turn into a white lattice. Click the cursor in the area you wish to keep and hit the 'Enter' key, the hole will be trimmed away. You will need to hit the 3 key again to increase the display resolution of the surface.
The Pull-tab

1. To create the pull-tab, draw a curve in the top view that is approximately the size and shape of the pull-tab. Use the 'Open/Close Curve' tool to close the curve, and move the CVs to adjust the shape.

2. Select the curve and choose the 'Bevel' tool from the 'Surfaces' menu. This will create a beveled edge surface for your tab. The proportions will most likely be completely wrong, so adjust the height of the extrusion and the depth of the bevel edges by changing the 'Width', 'Depth' and 'Extrude Depth' settings in the Channel Box on the right side of the screen. If you click on one of the settings (such as 'Width') and then select the 'Show Manipulator' tool on the left of the screen, small blue graphical manipulators will show up on the surface and you can interactively adjust the settings.

3. Once you have a satisfactory beveled surface created, you can make a top for it by creating a planar surface patch. Right-click on the beveled surface and select 'Isoparm', click on the top edge of the beveled surface to select the edge isoparm, it should be highlighted in yellow. Next choose the 'Planar' tool from the 'Surfaces' menu, a surface will be created that fills the top of the pull-tab.

4. Switch to the top view and draw a curve to create a hole in the pull-tab. Use this curve to project on the surface and trim, the same way you cut a hole in the top of the can.

5. Once your pull-tab is complete you will need to move it into position on the top of the can. Before you do this it is important to delete the 'history' from the surface, if you do not, as you move them to a new position the trimmed hole and other elements will change. To delete the history, select the beveled surface and the top face and choose 'Delete By Type->History' from the 'Edit' menu. Now you can move the pieces into place on the top of the can.

6. Use the move and rotate tools to position the tab properly at the top of the can.

House Assignment

House project: Compositional modeling
Due: 6/18/08
You will be assigned to model one of the following buildings:


Deliverables:

A CD that contains-1. A PowerPoint presentation that consists of:
1) An introduction - 1 slide of building info and 1 slide of various photos of the building.

2) Process – At lest 2 slides of screen shots with short explanations of how you modeled the building.

3) 5 perspectives of the model.
Each perspective should be shown as:
1 wire frame print screen,
1 shaded print screen,
1 vector render 640x480 at a resolution of 200,
1 Maya software using global illumination at a resolution of 200,
1 Mental ray rendering with ambient occlusion at a resolution of 200, and
1 Maxwell rendering.ONE IMAGE PER POWER POINT SLIDE

3o images total

2. The Maya file of your 3D model.