3D Total - Environment Lighting in XSI

Sunny Afternoon - Twilight - Moonlight - Electrical - Candlelight - Underwater

3D environment

‘3D Environment Lighting’ is a 6-part tutorial

series. Over the course of the six chapters, this

series will be detailing techniques on lighting

an environment under a number of different

conditions. Each chapter we will cover a

step-by-step guide to setting up lights, aimed

at portraying the scene in a specific manner.

The various chapters will be tailored to specific

software packages and each will aim to show

a comprehensive and effective way of lighting

an interior of a ship that includes both natural

and artificial light. These will include a sunny

afternoon, sunset, moonlight, electric light,

candle light, and finally a submerged submarine

light. The schedule is as follows:

Chapter 01

Natural Exterior Lighting Sunny Afternoon

Chapter 02

Natural Exterior Lighting

Twilight

Chapter 03

Natural Exterior Lighting Moonlight

Chapter 04

Artificial Interior Lighting Electrical

Chapter 05

Artificial Interior Lighting

Candlelight

Chapter 06

Artificial Interior Lighting Underwater

lighting

http://www.3dcreativemag.com/tutorial_resources/issue_023_jul_2007/Tutorial01_01_XSI.zip

http://www.3dcreativemag.com/tutorial_resources/issue_024_aug_2007/Tutorial01_02_XSI.zip

http://www.3dcreativemag.com/tutorial_resources/issue_025_sep_2007/Tutorial01_03_XSI.zip

http://www.3dcreativemag.com/tutorial_resources/issue_026_oct_2007/Tutorial01_04_XSI.zip

http://www.3dcreativemag.com/tutorial_resources/issue_027_nov_2007/Tutorial01_05_XSI.zip

http://www.3dcreativemag.com/tutorial_resources/issue_028_dec_2007/Tutorial01_06_XSI.zip

Chapter 01Natural Exterior Lighting

Sunny Afternoon

Page 4www.3dcreativemag.com Environment Lighting

Chapter 01 Sunny AfternoonChapter 01 Sunny Afternoon

Fig 01

Fig 02

Fig 03

Welcome to the first part of this new set of

tutorials. This month, we’ll take a look at how

to set up “sunny afternoon” lighting for our 3D

environment. Before we start, I suggest we find

some good reference material for our project.

In Google, simply Search Images for “sunny

afternoon” to discover some pictures which will

give you an idea as to how light behaves at this

time of the day. Even better, why not just go

outside and examine how the light is behaving

in the real world? ...

1. Let’s start by taking a look at our scene.

Open the Ship Cabin_Part1_Starting.xsi

scene (download can be found at the end of

this tutorial; click on the Free Resources logo)

(Fig01).

Examining the 3D scene, we can see that there

are three main light sources, marked in red in

Fig01; the large opening in the ceiling, the small

circular window, and the rectangular window on

the back wall. We won’t consider the artificial

lights in the scene, as they will be covered in

following parts of the tutorial.

2. If you try to render the scene now, you will

notice that it’s all black, since there are no lights

in the scene. So, let’s start creating the sunny

afternoon light rig... Create a new Spot light and

position it as shown in Fig02. Use the B short-

cut key, with the light selected, to interactively

change its cone (left-click the mouse on the

cone to make it either bigger or smaller).

3. Open the Spot’s property page and change

its colour to a very bright yellow. Also change its

Intensity to 2. Enable the Shadows option and

set its Umbra value to 0 (Fig03).

Natural exterior lighting Sunny Afternoon

http://www.3dcreativemag.com

Chapter 01 Sunny Afternoon


Chapter 01 Sunny Afternoon Sunny Afternoon Chapter 01

Fig 04

Fig 05

Fig 06

4. Do a quick Render Region test to see what

happens (Fig04). Now we have the main light

source (the Sun) entering from the opening in

the ceiling and casting shadows into the ship’s

cabin.

5. Switch to the Shadow Map tab in the Spot’s

property page and enable the Use Shadow Map

option. Click on the Use Shadow Map in the

Region button and increase the Softness value

as shown in Fig05. Refresh the Render Region

again.

6. Now we need some more light in the back of

the room, near the two small windows. Create a

Point light and position it as shown in Fig06.




7. Open the Point light’s property page, set the

light Intensity to something like 0,3, and change

its colour to the same bright yellow as before.

Enable the Shadow Map just like we did for the

Spot light earlier on (Fig07).

8. Render the scene again. You should get

something similar to Fig08. Now there’s also

some light in the back of the room, but it’s

still too dark. We need to use some indirect

illumination to create bounces of light all over

the room.

9. Create a PolyMesh sphere that surrounds the

whole scene (Fig09). Select the lower half of the

sphere and delete it. Select all the remaining

polygons (from the top of the sphere) and Invert

them to make them pointing inwards.

Fig 07

Fig 08

Fig 09





10. Open the Render Tree and create a new

Constant type material. Change its colour to a

very bright yellow and assign it to the Sphere in

the scene (Fig10).

11. Open the Render Region property page,

switch to the Final Gathering tab and enable

it (Fig11). Enable the Preview option to have

a quick feedback while it is rendering the FG

solution, and set the Accuracy to a low value

(like 50) for the time being. Refresh the Render

Region. Now there’s much more light than

before, and the FG solution takes into account

both of the lights and the Constant material we

assigned to the outer sphere.

12. Increase the Bounces’ value in the Final

Gathering property page and render again

(Fig12).

Fig 10

Fig 11

Fig 12




13. Set the Bounces to a higher value, like 20,

change the Multiplier mode to HLS, and set the

L (Light) value to something like 1,2. Render the

scene again. Now there’s much more light all

over the room (Fig13).

14. If you still want more light, increase the L

value to 2 and render again (Fig14).

15. Once you are happy with the lighting, it’s

time to increase the overall quality of the render.

We need to get the final image into Photoshop

for the compositing task, so we should get

everything set for the final render. Increase the

quality of the Shadow Maps (for both lights) by

increasing the Samples value (Fig15).

Fig 13

Fig 14

Fig 15





16. Select the floor object and use the 7 short-

cut key to open up the Render Tree. Refresh the

Render Tree to make it show the floor material.

Double-click on the Phong node, switch to the

Transparency/Reflection tab, and increase the

Samples value for the Reflection. Render the

scene again (Fig16).

17. Now let’s take care of the Anti-Aliasing

problem. Open the Rendering property page

and switch to the Aliasing tab. Change the Filter

type to Mitchell and set the Min/Max Values to

-2 and 1 (Fig17).

18. Now we have to set up the final render.

Later we will import it in Photoshop (or a

similar 2D application) for post-production

and compositing work. However, before we

can do this, we need to improve some more

parameters. Open the Final Gathering property

page and increase the Accuracy as shown in

Fig18. Also, click on the Automatic Compute

button to have some quick values for the

Min/Max parameters. If you don’t like how the

final FG solution looks, you will have to play a

little with these two parameters to increase the

quality. Render the scene again (this time it will

take longer) and save the final rendered image.

Fig 16

Fig 17

Fig 18




19. Now open up the Ship_Cabin_Starting.xsi

scene (the one without lights). Open the Render

Tree and create a new Constant material. Set its

colour to pure black and assign it to everything

in the scene.

20. Now open the XSI Explorer and change its

scope to Passes (number 1 in Fig20). Double-

click on Default Pass to open its property page

(number 2 in Fig20). Switch to the Volume

Shaders tab and click on the Add button. Select

Volume Fog from the browser (number 3 in

Fig20) and click OK.

21. Open the Volume Fog parameters and copy

the values from Fig21. Render the scene again

and save the Fog pass as a picture.

Fig 19

Fig 20

Fig 21





22. Now open the scene with the lights (make

sure that FG is disabled as we only need the

direct illumination for this task). Select the Spot

light from the Explorer, switch to Render mode

and assign a Volumetric property to the Spot

(Fig22). Copy the parameters which are shown

in Fig22 and render the Volume light pass.

Save it as a picture and import everything into

Photoshop, or a similar 2D software.

23. Open the final rendered image. Duplicate

the original layer, name it “B&W Copy”, and

desaturate it (Fig23).

24. Adjust the image Levels until you

exaggerate the areas with more light (Fig24).

Fig 22

Fig 23

Fig 24




25. Change the top layer blending mode to Soft

Light and decrease its Fill to 75% (Fig25).

26. Now import the Fog pass and put it above all

the rest. Change its blending mode to Soft Light

and its Fill to about 80%. If you want, you can

colourize it slightly to make it warmer (Fig26).

27. Import the Volume pass and put it above all

the rest. Set its blending mode to Screen and

decrease its Fill to 42%. Colourize it to make it

warmer and more blended with the rest of the

picture (Fig27).

If you want you can adjust the Exposure of

the image to make it darker or brighter - it’s up

to you and the mood you want to give to your

render.

Fig 25

Fig 26

Fig 27



3D Environment Lighting Natural Exterior Lighting Sunny Afternoon

Originally designed and modelled by:

Richard Tilbury

Tutorial by:

Luciano IurinoFor more from this artist visit:

www.pmstudios.it

Or contact them:

[email protected]

http://www.pmstudios.it

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.3dcreativemag.com/tutorial_resources/issue_023_jul_2007/Tutorial01_01_XSI.zip

Chapter 02 Twilight


Twilight


Chapter 02 Twilight Twilight Chapter 02

Fig 01

Fig 02

Fig 03

Natural Exterior LightingTwilight

This month, we’ll set up our scene lighting to

create a moody sunset. As usual, we’ll use

Softimage|XSI and Mental Ray to accomplish

this task...

1. Open the Ship Cabin_Sunset_Start.scn scene

included with this tutorial (download can be

found at the end of this tutorial; click on the Free

Resources logo) (Fig01).

2. Create a simple Point light and position it as

shown in Fig02, just above the opening in the

ceiling. This Omni will simulate the light entering

from the ceiling. It is not our key-light, so its

intensity will be quite low.

3. Select the Point light that you just created and

hit the Enter key to open up its property page

(Fig03). Set its Intensity to 0,5 and its colour to

R=255 G=170 B=129. Enable the Shadows and

set the Umbra value to 0. Also, enable Light

Falloff, set Mode to Use Light Exponent, and set

the Start Falloff and End Falloff values to 1 and

5, respectively.



Chapter 02 TwilightChapter 02 Twilight

Fig 04

Fig 05

Fig 06

4. Do a quick Region Render to see what’s

happening (Fig04). We have just a small amount

of light entering from the ceiling.

5. Now go back to the Point light’s property

page, switch to the Shadow Map tab and enable

Use Shadow Map. Click on Use Shadow Map

under Region. Set the Softness value to around

0,115, and the Samples value to 32 (Fig05). If

you render the scene again, you will notice that

the shadows are now softer and more diffused.

6. Now create another Point light. Position this

new light as shown in Fig06, on the back wall

area close to the windows. This Point light will

be our main light, since it will simulate the sun.

Its intensity will be greater than the other light,

and together with the shadows it will give our

scene the mood we desire (Fig06).


Chapter 02 Twilight



7. Open the property page for the new Point

light and set its Intensity to 1,2. Set its colour to

R=255 G=180 B=120. Enable Shadows and set

the Umbra value to 0. Now enable Light Falloff,

keep the Mode on Use Light Exponent, and set

the Start/End Falloff values to 9 and 10 (Fig07).

8. Now make another render-region test (Fig08).

We now have some light in the back of the

room, as well (Fig08).

9. Go back to the light property page, switch to

the Area tab and enable Area Light. Change the

Geometry to Sphere and raise the U/V Samples

values to 10/10. Also decrease the three X, Y

and Z values of Scaling to 0,5 (Fig09).

Fig 07

Fig 08

Fig 09




10. Render the scene again (Fig10). Now we

have soft area shadows all over the room, which

will help us to create the mood for our final

render (Fig10).

11. Now we need to change the background

colour to something more appropriate. Go to

the Render menu and select Pass/Edit Current

Pass. Switch to the Output Shaders tab, click on

the Add button, and pick the 2D_Background_

Color node (Fig11).

12. With the 2D_Background_Color node still

selected, click on the Inspect button and change

the Background Color to R=120 G=180 B=120

(Fig12).

Fig 10

Fig 11

Fig 12


Chapter 02 Twilight



13. Render the scene again (Fig13). Notice how

the colour outside the windows has changed.

14. Now we need some more light spread

throughout the room, so go to the Rendering

options page and switch to the Final Gathering

tab. Enable Final Gathering and Preview

Finalgathering. Use the Automatic Compute

button to automatically get fast feedback for

the Min./Max. Radius values for your scene.

Raise the Bounces value to 20 and change

the Multiplier colour to R=120 G=180 B=120

(Fig14).

15. Render the scene again (Fig15). Now

there’s much more light than before, so we can

start taking care of the final render...

Fig 13

Fig 14

Fig 15




16. Open the main Point light’s property page,

and in the Light Attenuation section raise the

Start Falloff value to 14 and the End Falloff

value to 15 (Fig16).

17. Render the scene again (Fig17).

18. The Specular value for the walls and floor

materials was increased to achieve a better

sensation of light spreading all over the room

(Fig18).

Fig 16

Fig 17

Fig 18


Chapter 02 Twilight



19. Render the scene again and change the

Specular value until you are happy with the

in which the materials behave with the lights

(Fig19).

20. Open the Render > Render Options menu

and click on the Copy Options of the “Region...”

button. This will apply the same settings that

we used with the Region render to the actual

Render options. In the Output tab, make sure

that Write Image to Disk is checked; insert a

name for your rendered picture in the Image

Filename text box. Pick the Image Format

you want, and switch to the Aliasing tab. Set

the Min./Max. Level to -2/1 and the Threshold

values to 0,021. Change the Filtering type to

Mitchell and hit the Render Current Pass button

(Fig20).

21. Now that we have our final rendered

picture, we need an Ambient Occlusion pass to

composite them together in Photoshop. Open

the Ship Cabin_AO.scn scene. A new Phong

material was created and assigned to every

object in the scene. An XSIAmbientOcclusion

node was put into the Material’s Surface node.

(You can see the settings for the AO on the left

of Fig21.) Render the AO Pass and save it.

Fig 19

Fig 20

Fig 21




22. Start up Photoshop and import both the

original render and the Ambient Occlusion pass.

Switch to the Ambient Occlusion image. Select

All (Ctrl + A) and Copy (Ctrl + C). Switch to the

Original render and Paste the AO pass above

it (Ctrl + V) (Fig22). Change the blending mode

for the AO pass to Multiply and set the Opacity

value to around 56%.

23. Merge the two layers together (Flatten) and

create a copy of the new Background layer

(Fig23).

24. Use the Levels tool to expose the areas with

more light (Fig24).

Fig 22

Fig 23

Fig 24


Chapter 02 Twilight



Fig 25

Fig 26

Fig 27

Fig 28

25. Apply a fair amount of Gaussian Blur to the

top layer and change its Hue & Saturation as

shown in Fig25.

26. Change the top layer’s blending mode to

Linear Dodge; set its Opacity value to 44% and

the Fill value to 85% (Fig26).

27. Flatten the two layers together. Create a

new, fully black layer and apply a Render/Lens

Flare filter to it (Fig27).

28. Change the blending mode to Linear Dodge

and set the Opacity value to 73% (Fig28).


Originally designed & modelled by:

Richard TilburyTutorial by:


www.pmstudios.it

Or contact them:

[email protected]

www.pmstudios.it


http://www.3dcreativemag.com/tutorial_resources/issue_024_aug_2007/Tutorial01_02_XSI.zip

Chapter 03 Moonlight


Moonlight


Chapter 03 Moonlight Moonlight Chapter 03

Fig 01

Fig 02

Fig 03

Natural Exterior Lighting Moonlight

This time we’ll create a typical moonlight setup

for the ship cabin scene. As usual we’ll use

Softimage XSI and Mental Ray renderer.

1. Open the Ship Cabin_Moon_Start.scn scene

file (download can be found at the end of this

tutorial; click on the Free Resources logo)

(Fig01).

2. Let’s start creating our main light (the moon).

Create a Point light and position it as shown in

Fig02.

3. Open the Point light’s property page and set

its Intensity to 1,2. Also change its colour to a

bright blue. Enable Shadows and set the Umbra

value to 0. Enable Light Attenuation and set the

Start/End Falloff values to 14/15 (Fig03).



Chapter 03 MoonlightChapter 03 Moonlight

Fig 04

Fig 05

Fig 06

4. Switch to the Area tab in the property page

and enable Area Light. Change the Geometry

type to Sphere, increase the Samples values

to U=16 / V=16, and lower the Scaling X/Y/Z

values to 0,05 (Fig04).

5. Do a quick render region test (Fig05). As you

can see, we now have the moonlight entering

from the ceiling and casting shadows all over

the room.

6. Now we need a second Point light in the

back of the room (close to the windows). Create

a new Point light and position it as shown in

Fig06.





7. Open its property page, set its colour to a

brighter tone of blue, and its Intensity to 0,2.

Enable Shadows and set the Umbra value to 0.

Also enable Light Attenuation (Start Falloff = 6,

End Falloff = 12) (Fig07).

8. Render the scene again. Now we have some

light in the back of the room, as well (Fig08).

9. Open the Render / Pass / Edit Current

Pass menu and switch to the Output Shaders

tab (Fig09). Click on the Add button and pick

2D_background_color from the list. With the

2D_background_color node still selected, click

on the Inspect button to open its properties.

Fig 07

Fig 08

Fig 09




10. Set the Background Color to a medium

shade of blue (Fig10).

11. Make a render region test of the window

area to check whether the background has

changed (Fig11).

12. Open the Render option page and click on

the Final Gathering tab. Enable Final Gathering

and Preview finalgathering options. Leave the

Accuracy to 30 for the time being. Click on the

Automatic Compute button and set the Bounces

to 20. Change the Multiplier colour to something

similar to the one shown in Fig12.

Fig 10

Fig 11

Fig 12





13. Render the scene again (Fig13).

14. Now we are ready to do our final render.

Open the Render option page again, and in the

Output tab set a name for the image file, an

image format, the number of frames you want to

render (which in this case is 1), and make sure

that Write Image to Disk is checked. Switch to

the Aliasing tab and set the Min. Level to -2 and

the Max. Level to 1. Set the Threshold values

to 0,02 and the Filtering type to Mitchell (Fig14).

Hit the Render Current Pass button to render

your final image.

15. We also need an Ambient Occlusion pass.

Last month we saw how to obtain one, but we’ll

repeat it now for those who have not had the

chance to read the previous tutorial. Open the

Ship Cabin_AO.scn scene file: a new material

with an AO shader was created and assigned to

every object in the scene. You can also have a

look at the AO shader’s parameters in Fig15.

Fig 13

Fig 14

Fig 15




16. Render this new pass and save the picture

to use it later on in Photoshop.

17. Open the original render in Photoshop;

duplicate the Background layer and desaturate

it (Fig17).

18. Use the Levels tool to expose the brightest

areas of the image, but try not to burn them too

much (Fig18).

Fig 16

Fig 17

Fig 18





19. Apply a Gaussian Blur filter to this layer and

change its Hue & Saturation, as shown in Fig19.

20. Change the top layer’s blending mode

to Linear Dodge and set its Opacity to 54%

(Fig20).

21. Collapse the two layers together (Flatten).

Now import the AO Pass image in Photoshop

and paste it over the Background layer of the

original rendered image (Fig21).

Fig 19

Fig 20

Fig 21




22. Change the AO Pass layer’s blending mode

to Multiply; if needed, use Levels to adjust

(Fig22).

23. Finally, you can use the Exposure and

Shadow/Highlight tools to improve the overall

look of the image (Fig23).

Fig 22

Fig 23




Richard Tilbury

Tutorial by:


www.pmstudios.it

Or contact them:

[email protected]

www.pmstudios.it

[email protected]

http://www.3dcreativemag.com/tutorial_resources/issue_025_sep_2007/Tutorial01_03_XSI.zip

Chapter 04 Electrical

Chapter 04Artificial Interior Lighting

Electrical


Chapter 04 Electrical Electrical Chapter 04

Fig 01

Fig 02

Fig 03

Artifical Interior Lighting Electrical

This month we’ll see how to create an artificial

lighting situation for our ship cabin scene. As

usual, we’ll use Softimage|XSI (version 5.11 and

above) and Mental Ray. Before we can start,

we need a little information about how artificial

light works. I suggest you do a quick search in

Google for reference images; you’ll notice that

large spaces are lit by a fair number of light

bulbs, which usually give general lighting a

strong, greenish component.

1. Open the ShipCabin_Part4_ARTIFICIAL_

Start.scn scene file included with this tutorial.

(download can be found at the end of this

tutorial; click on the Free Resources logo)

(Fig01).

2. First of all, we need to make sure that the

light bulb objects will not cast shadows. Select

all the three components (light bulb, guard and

base), click on the Selection button and double

click on Visibility (Fig02).

3. In the properties page that appears, switch

to the Rendering tab and disable Caster and

Receiver in the Shadow section. Repeat this

process for the other bulb light on the right

(Fig03).



Chapter 04 ElectricalChapter 04 Electrical

Fig 04

Fig 05

Fig 06

4. Now we can create the first Point light which

will act as a light bulb. Create a new Point light

and position it as shown in Fig04, just over the

light bulb on the farthest left (Fig04).

5. Open the Point light’s property page and set

its Intensity to 0,6. Leave the colour as pure

white. Enable Shadows and set the Umbra

value to 0. Enable Light Falloff and set the Start

to 5 (Fig05).

6. Now switch to the Area tab. Enable Area

Light and change the Geometry type to Sphere.

Set both the Sample values to 10. In the Scaling

section, set all the three values to 1,5. This

will give our light some nice soft area shadows

(Fig06).





7. Make a quick render region test. If needed,

adjust the area shadow’s parameters and the

light intensity (Fig07).

08. Duplicate the Point light and position it right

above the second light bulb, on the right (Fig08).

09. Do another render region to see what’s

happening and to check the overall intensity of

the lighting in the scene (Fig09).

Fig 07

Fig 08

Fig 09




10. Now we need a third Point light in the back

of the room, where it’s much too dark. Duplicate

one of the two Point lights and position it in the

back of the cabin (Fig10).

11. Open the render region property page.

Switch to the Final Gathering tab and enable

Final Gathering. Also enable Preview in order

to get quick feedback of the FG solution whilst

rendering. Set the Accuracy to a low value, like

30. (We’ll increase the quality only for the final

render.) Set the Bounces to 10 and the Multiplier

colour to a medium green. Hit the Automatic

Compute button to get some starting values for

the Min./Max. Radius. Quick-render the scene

again (Fig11).

12. Once you’re happy with the FG solution, you

can increase the overall quality of the render.

Set the Rays value to 350 and set the Multiplier

colour to a darker, and less saturated, one

(Fig12).

Fig 10

Fig 11

Fig 12





13. Open the Render property page (Fig13) and

hit the Copy Options from Region button. This

will transfer all the rendering parameters from

the Render Region properties to the Render.

In the Output tab, set a name for the picture

and the number of frames you want to render.

I suggest you use the .TGA file format to have

the alpha channel information included with the

rendered picture (Fig13).

14. Switch to the Aliasing tab. Set the Min./Max.

Level values to -1/2. Set all the Threshold

values to 0,02 and the Filter type to Mitchell.

15. In Fig15 you can see the final rendered

image. Now we also need an Ambient Occlusion

pass to composite it over the rendered picture in

Photoshop.

Fig 13

Fig 14

Fig 15




16. Open the ShipCabin_Part4_ARTIFICIAL_

AO.scn scene file. In Fig16 you can see the

AO shader that was created and assigned to

every object in the scene. You can also see its

parameters on the right of the image (Fig16).

17. Render the AO picture and save it (Fig17).

18. Open both the original render and the AO

pass in Photoshop (or similar 2D application).

Copy the AO pass and paste it over the original

rendered picture. Change the AO pass’ blending

mode to Multiply (Fig18).

Fig 16

Fig 17

Fig 18





19. Use the Levels tool to adjust the contrast; try

to enhance the details without making the image

too dark (Fig19).

20. Flatten all the layers together and create

a copy of the Background layer. Desaturate it

(Fig20).

21. Use the Levels tools to expose the areas

with more light (Fig21).

Fig 19

Fig 20

Fig 21




22. Change the blending mode to Linear Dodge

and the Opacity to 31% (Fig22).

23. Flatten all the layers again. Now create a

new blank layer and fill it with pure black. Use

the Lens Flare filter to create a flare effect

(Fig23).

24. Scale and position the flare layer over the

first light bulb (on the left), as shown in Fig24.

Then duplicate the flare layer and position it

over the second light bulb (on the right) (Fig24).

Fig 22

Fig 23

Fig 24




Richard Tilbury

Tutorial by:


www.pmstudios.it

Or contact them:

[email protected]

www.pmstudios.it


http://www.3dcreativemag.com/tutorial_resources/issue_026_oct_2007/Tutorial01_04_XSI.zip

Chapter 05 Candlelight


Candlelight

Page 47www.3dcreativemag.com

Chapter 05 Candlelight Candlelight Chapter 05

Environment Lighting

Fig 01

Fig 02

Fig 03

Artificial Interior Lighting Candlelight

This time we’ll see how to light the ship cabin

with some candles. Only one candle will be

visibile, on the left of the room; the other two will

just light the scene and cast shadows, but will

be out of view (one on the right, and one in the

back of the room).

01. Open the 3DENV_Part5_CANDLE_Start.scn

scene file. (Fig01)

02. First of all, we need to create a soft, ambient

lighting for our scene, which will resemble a

night time situation. Create a polygonal sphere

which surrounds the whole scene. Select the

lower half of the sphere and delete it. Select all

the remaining polygons and flip them to make

them point inward. (Fig02)

03. Create a new Constant material with a

blueish color and assign it to the sphere. (Fig03)






Fig 04

Fig 05

Fig 06

04. Open the Region rendering property page

and enable Final Gathering (Fig04). Set the

Accuracy to a low value for now (50 will be ok)

and hit the Automatic Compute button.

05. Do a quick render region test to see what’s

happening. (Fig05)

06. Once you’re satisfied with the basic

nocturnal ambient light, we can go on and

create the first Point light which will act like a

candle light. (Fig06)






07. Open the light’s property page and copy the

parameters from Fig07. Don’t forget to enable

Area shadows and set the parameters for it, too.

08. Do another render region test. (Fig08)

09. Now duplicate the Point light and position it

close to the seat in the right part of the scene,

just out of view. (Fig09)

Fig 07

Fig 08

Fig 09






10. Create a third copy of the Point light and

position it in the back of the room, as shown in

Fig10. Refresh the Render region.

11. Set the Start Falloff for the first light to 5, and

render again. (Fig11)

12. Play a little with the falloff parameters of the

various light, until you find the best “mood” for

your scene. Try not to make the lights too bright.

(Fig12)

Fig 10

Fig 11

Fig 12






13. Select the sphere and open its Visibility

options. In the Rendering tab, disable the

Primary visibility, so it will not be visible in the

rendering and you will be able to change the

background color later in Photoshop. (Fig13)

14. Now we’re ready to set the final rendering.

Open the Render property page and hit the

Copy Options from Region button; this will

transfer all the rendering parameters from the

Render Region to the Render panel. Enter a

name for the output picture and pick TGA as file

format (this will help to keep information about

the alpha channel in the rendered picture).

(Fig14)

15. In the Aliasing tab, set the Min./Max. Values

to -2/1. Change the Filter type to Mitchell and

the Threshold values to 0,02, as shown in Fig15.

Fig 13

Fig 14

Fig 15






16. Render the current pass. (Fig16)

17. Now we also need an Ambient Occlusion

pass to enhance the details. Open the 3DENV_

Part5_CANDLE_AO.scn scene file. A new AO

shader was created and assigned to every

object in the scene. You can see its parameters

inf Fig17.

18. Render the AO pass and save it as a

picture, too. (Fig18)

Fig 16

Fig 17

Fig 18






19. Open both the original rendering and the AO

pass in Photoshop or similar 2D applications.

Select the AO pass, copy it and paste it over the

original rendering picture. Change its blending

mode to Soft Light and its Opacity to about 72%.

(Fig19)

20. Flatten the two layers together and create

a copy of the Background layer. Desaturate it

and use the Levels tool to enhance the brightest

areas in the picture. (Fig20)

21. Change the blending mode to Soft Light and

set the Opacity value for this new layer to 74%.

(Fig21)

Fig 19

Fig 20

Fig 21





22. Flatten all the layers together and use the

Exposure tool to enhance the exposure of the

picture. You can also use the Lens Flare effect

on a new layer to create the flame effect on the

visible candle. (Fig22)

Fig 22




Richard Tilbury

Tutorial by:

Luciano IurinoFor more from this artist visit::

www.pmstudios.it

Or contact them:

[email protected]



http://www.3dcreativemag.com/tutorial_resources/issue_027_nov_2007/Tutorial01_05_XSI.zip

Chapter 06 Underwater


Underwater


Chapter 06 Underwater Underwater Chapter 06

Artificial Interior Lighting Underwater

Welcome to the last part of the 3D Environment

Tutorial series. This time we’ll create an

underwater scene for the Ship Cabin. Just

imagine it sunk and laying on the ocean bed,

with a big spot of light coming from outside. This

is what we’ll try to do using Softimage|XSI and

mental ray renderer.

1. Open the 3DENV_Underwater_Start.scn

scene file. (Fig01)

2. First of all, let’s create a new spotlight, like

the one shown in Fig02. What we want to do is

concentrate the light coming from above on the

area marked with the red circle.

3. Open the Spot’s property page and copy the

parameters from Fig03. Change its color to a

medium blue, set its intesity to 2 and make it

cast shadows. Also, pull the Umbra value all the

way down to zero.

Fig 01

Fig 02

Fig 03



Chapter 06 UnderwaterChapter 06 Underwater

Fig 04

Fig 05

Fig 06

4. Switch to the Area tab and enable Area

Light. Set the geometry type to Rectangle and

increase the Samples values. (Fig04)

5. Switch to the Photon tab and enable both

Global Illumination and Caustics. Change the

number of emitted photons to 100000. (Fig05)

6. Open the Render Region property page and

switch to the Final Gathering tab. Copy the

parameters from Fig06. You can keep a low

value for the Accuracy for now as we’ll increase

it later for the final rendering. (Fig046)





7. Move on to the Photon tab and enable both

Global Illumination and Caustics. (Fig07)

8. Let’s go back to the Spot light’s property

page. Open the Visibility rollout, switch to the

Rendering tab and make sure that the light is a

caster of Global Illumination and Caustics, too.

(Fig08)

9. Select the floor and walls object and make

sure that both are receivers and casters. (Fig09)

Fig 07

Fig 08

Fig 09




10. Now we can do a quick render region test to

see what’s happening in our scene. (Fig10)

11. We need one more light for the darkest part

of the scene (the one close to the camera).

Create a new Point light and position as shown

in Fig11.

12. Open the Point light’s property page and

copy the parameters from Fig12. Render-region

again.

Fig 10

Fig 11

Fig 12





13. Now we can set the final rendering. Open

the Render property page and copy the options

from Region (use the opposite button). Set the

type of output, the file name, the picture format

and the number of frames you want to render

(just one, in this case). (Fig13)

14. Switch to the Aliasing tab and copy the

parameters from Fig14. These will make the

aliasing quality better and sharper.

15. Hit the Render button and wait for the final

rendering to be done. (Fig15)

Fig 13

Fig 14

Fig 15




16. Now open the 3DENV_Underwater_AO.scn

scene file. In Fig16 you can see the Ambient

Occlusion shader used to obtain the AO Pass.

17. Render the AO Pass and save it as a

picture. Make sure to use the same output

settings as for the original rendering (same size,

same aspect ratio, etc.) (Fig17)

18. Now we need the Spot Light to act as a

volume light, and also we need it to cast volume

shadows. So open the 3DENV_Underwater_

Volume.scn scene file. Open the XSI Explorer

and explore the scene’s passes. As you can

see, a new PureBlack material was assigned

to the Background Object Partition. This will

make all the objects in the scene appear black;

in this way we’ll isolate the Volume light, so we

can render it and composite it in Photoshop or

similar 2D applications. (Fig18)

Fig 16

Fig 17

Fig 18





19. Select the Spot light and explore its

properties. As you can see, there’s a new

Volumic node between its nodes. If you want

you can double click on it and inspect its

parameters to change the volume effect. (Fig19)

20. Render the Volume pass and save it as a

picture. Just like earlier, make sure that you use

the same output size and aspect ratio as for the

original rendering and AO Pass. (Fig20)

21. Lastly, we need a particle layer to composite

over the rendering. Open the 3DENV_

Underwater_Particles.scn scene file. As you can

see from the capture in Fig21, a particle system

was created and associated with the floor

object, so as to make it emit particles.

Fig 19

Fig 20

Fig 21




22. If you open the Render Tree, you can find

the particle shader assigned to the system.

A new sprite node was created with a default

bubble picture as an input (you can find the

bubble texture in your default XSI/data/samples

directory). (Fig22)

23. The particle solution is cached, so you

just have to play it and choose a frame where

the particles are all over the scene. Then you

can render the particles pass and save it as a

picture. (Fig23)

24. Now that we have all the elements needed,

we can start compositing inside Photoshop.

Open the AO Pass picture and paste it over the

original rendering. Change its blending mode to

Multiply. (Fig24)

Fig 22

Fig 23

Fig 24





25. Flatten the two layers together and import

the Volume pass. Change the blending mode to

Screen and play around with the Levels tools to

achieve the desired effect. (Fig25)

26. Now take some time to use the Exposure

tool to improve the image’s exposure. (Fig26)

27. Import the Particles layer and paste it over

the rendering. Change its blending mode to

Color Dodge and use the Levels tools if needed

to make the particles more evident. (Fig27)

Fig 25

Fig 26

Fig 27




28. Flatten all the layers together. Duplicate the

Background layer, desaturate it and apply a fair

amount of Gaussian Blur to it. (Fig28)

29. Change its blending mode to Soft Light and

use the Levels tool to set the strength of the

effect. (Fig29)

Fig 28

Fig 29



3D Environment Lighting Part 6 - Underwater

Originally Designed & Modelled by

Richard Tilbury

Tutorial by:


www.pmstudios.it

Or contact them:

[email protected]



http://www.3dcreativemag.com/tutorial_resources/issue_028_dec_2007/Tutorial01_06_XSI.zip

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