Tutorial: Forest Fly Over

This is an excellent tutorial from Ronen Bekerman site. It is a three part series tutorial written by Javier Pintor.


Forest Fly Over Breakdown from Javier Pintor on Vimeo.

PART 1 
PART 2
PART 3

Tutorial: Leather Material

Software Used: 3ds Max & Photoshop

Leather is one of the most used materials in the field of furniture design, especially for design of sofas or couches. It is quite easy to obtain a good leather material, although the leather material quality strongly depends on the illumination in your scene (Fig.01 – Fig.03).

Fig.01

Fig.02

Fig.03

Before you start to create the leather in the material editor, you must first analyze exactly what type of leather you want to simulate in 3D Studio Max. Once you’ve made this decision, choose an image which has the pattern/texture of the real leather. In Fig.04 you can see examples of images/maps which allow us to create a perfect leather texture in the material editor. The first one is a simple image of scanned paper, which we used to create leather in Fig.01; the second one is made with Photoshop, which was used to create leather in Fig.02.

This image is used for image 2	This image is used for image 1
Fig.04

Now let's look at the steps to create leather. First you want to add the correct specular highlights. You must analyse the real leather and simulate the same glossiness and specular level in the material editor. There are no standard values. These settings depend on the type of leather and also on the illumination. If your light is very bright, you will have a very strong specular highlight in the rendering. To avoid this you must set a lower amount in the specular level slot. In the diffuse slot choose the colour of your leather material. Now go to Maps > Bump and click on the None button. The Bump map now allows you to create the leather texture. At this point you have many different kinds of maps that you can choose from. In this tutorial we will use or the Bitmap or the Noise map. Both are very useful.  If you choose Noise map, you must pay attention to only one parameter: the size of the Noise map. Usually it's very, very small; often lower than the value 1. But again, this value depends on the kind of leather that you want to simulate. In the Bump amount slot, you are able to set the strength of the texture. Normally it is never more than 50/-50. In Fig.03 you can see the result of the Noise map (Fig.05).

Fig.05 (BITMAP or the NOISE in the Bump slot)

If you choose to assign a Bitmap (an image) to the Bump slot then you must be aware of the tiling value. It has more or less the same effect as the size parameter in the Noise map (you can also assign a UVW Map to the object from the modifier list and change the Gizmo size; it will have a similar effect as tiling). Once you have completed the scene, to have more control over the specular highlights in the rendering you can use a special "MR Area Omni" light. After you have placed the light in the correct location, right-click on the MR Area Omni and disable "Affect Diffuse" (Fig.06).

Fig.06 (additional lights for additional highlights)

After this step the MR Area Omni will only create specular highlights on the materials. We will use that MR Area Omni to create the highlights that are normally visible on leather. In this way we have much more control of the position, colour and brightness of the specular highlights. Disable shadows in the MR Area Omni. This technique can be very helpful if you need more highlights than the existing light sources are already creating on the leather material. To avoid this light affecting all objects in the scene, you should use the exclude option in the modify panel. This excludes all other objects which should not receive any additional highlights (you must select the light to do this)

Photoshop:

Now let’s look at how to create the leather texture shown in Fig.01. Go to Photoshop and create a new file. From the main tool bar, go to Filter > Texture > Stained Glass (Fig.07).

This will give you a texture like the skin of a snake (Fig.08). You will have three parameters in the filter that you can change. Basically this is already a "map" that you can use in 3ds Max as a Bump map. It will give you quite good results. Fig.08 To make it a bit more interesting you can return to Photoshop and duplicate the layer of the leather (Fig.09). Change the copied layer from Normal to Multiply. This will allow you to add different colours on the original layer without losing the black leather shapes that the filter has created. Choose an irregular brush and try to create a natural looking brown colour (Fig.10). Don't make it too clean, otherwise it will look very unnatural. Fig.09 Fig.10 Now after this step go to your Multiplied layer and decrease the opacity. Don't leave the black shape of the top layer too visible. Save the image as a Bitmap. Now you have two images. The first one, which is only black and white, and the second one, which is brown. You must place the brown one into the Diffuse Colour slot in Maps, and the black and white one into the Bump slot (Fig.11). If the leather effect is too sharp you can blur both images in Photoshop by choosing Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur. The same can be done in the Bitmap settings from the Blur slot. Fig.11 You can find the informations for more materials in other Florence Design Academy tutorials or lessons. I hope you have enjoyed this tutorial. Best Regards Florence Design Academy www.FlorenceDesignAcademy.com

Fig.07

Texturing Tutorial using Mental Ray

'Texturing Image Breakdown: Squatters'

by Richard Tilbury

Software Used:

3ds Max, Photoshop and Mental Ray

Introduction:

The scene behind this tutorial is based around an industrial facility of some description, possibly a water treatment plant or pumping station. The design was inspired by numerous images of sewers, dams, storm drains and other manmade environments. I imagined that the facility was no longer in operation and had since been inhabited by squatters. The new tenants have built some temporary shelters which nestle along the sides of the plant and are now connected by a series of suspended walkways. The objective was to age a relatively clean scene by adding Dirt maps and generally make everything look a little older and more dilapidated using 3DTotal’s Total Texture collection. The three main components that compose the bulk of the environment and which will form the focus of the tutorial are the wall, pipe work and foreground cabin. Fig.01 shows the un-textured scene with the main light source located in the upper right by way of an Area Spot, which incorporates some Attenuation. I wanted to convey a sunken chamber that eventually descends to a depth that is almost beyond the filtration of natural daylight. The cabin is housed at a point at which the sunlight is quite dim and requires some artificial light in the form of two bulbs. These correspond with two Omni lights, which have been used to illuminate the walkways and foreground scenery.

Fig.01

Texturing the Wall:

Being the largest section of geometry and a significant part of the image, the wall was an obvious starting point. I decided to incorporate mental ray’s ProMaterials and, more specifically, the Concrete material. You can see in Fig.01 how this affects the surface of the geometry before the Diffuse map is even applied. The actual Color map was built up from predominantly three textures taken from Total Textures: V2:R2 – Aged & Stressed (Fig.02).

Fig.02

The upper-left image formed the basis of the wall with the remaining two being overlaid using either the Soft Light or Overlay blending modes to add variation. Before applying the texture I added some further subtle stains below the ledge that runs across the wall. Fig.03 shows the texture and where it is applied within the ProMaterial alongside the corresponding stains situated underneath the ledge (1). These have been extracted from two Color maps that are part of the V2 collection. The ones marked “1” were color corrected and then set to Multiply at 80% opacity, whereas the lower example was set to Hard Light at 100%.

Fig.03

In order to create the more worn version I incorporated a Composite map into the ProMaterial. This retains the material but allows the inclusion of various layers controlled by masks in order to add dirt and grime without adding to the original texture. The maps can be overlaid in a number of ways using blending modes as well as being color corrected. Mask channels allow control over the location of the dirt and by altering the Coordinate properties each can be placed specifically in the scene. Fig.04 shows the four Composite layers, their blending modes and opacity alongside the masks that govern their visibility. The four scenes on the right show the individual masks and reveal where the corresponding maps are visible. You can see how each one occupies a different position, which is implemented through the Tiling, Offset and Angle.

The Cabin:

As one of the main focal points in the scene the cabin was unwrapped, especially considering the low poly count and fact that Bump and Specular maps would contribute a lot of the detail. Fig.05 shows the cleaner version of the texture alongside a scene render (inset). You can see that there is some evidence of rust and dirt, but it is quite subtle compared to the more weathered one that we shall look at shortly.

Fig.05

The general rust layer is set to Soft Light at around 50% opacity and the dirt along the base of the cabin running below the door is set to Multiply also at 50% opacity. In order to create a more weathered version I set the rust layer to Overlay and ramped up the Curves slightly as well as turning the dirt layer up to 100% opacity (Fig.06). The band of dirt has been sampled from an image of old metal taken from Total Textures: V13:R2 – Textures from around the World 2 by color-selecting the orange areas. In view of these changes I also made sure to color correct the line of rivets that run vertically up the front of the cabin and below the window, as well as the two panels housed on the front (1-2).

Fig.06

To add a little more interest I included some examples of graffiti from Total Textures: V5:R2 – Dirt & Graffiti by way of a Composite map once again. Fig.07 shows where these two layers are situated on the cabin (1-2) and the settings used. You can see in the window on the far right that the base texture makes up Layer 1 and both graffiti samples utilize a mask.

Fig.07

Pipes:

This final part will orientate around the series of pipes that form the central part of the image. Because the crux of this tutorial has been to age the scene using numerous Dirt maps and textures I decided to create different stages of wear and tear. For the newer version I used an Arch & Design material in conjunction with a Color map that was applied to the central and horizontal pipe (Fig.08). The horizontal pipe corresponds with the non-metallic section of the texture, which represents a coating of paint. The vertical one uses a similar texture but is part of another template incorporating the two lower cabins.

Fig.08

The texture that comprises the two lowest pipes as well as the horizontal one has been aged using a number of images from the Total Textures collection. Fig.09 shows a few examples and how these have been incorporated into the template.

Fig.09

The older and more worn version uses a different texture, which can be seen in Fig.10. It shares the same template, but with the paint layer switched off. Now the paintwork has been completely removed to expose the underlying metal and as a result has become rusted over time. By using Select > Color Range I sampled some rust from a couple of textures from Total Textures: V2:R2 – Aged & Stressed and Total Textures: V17 – Urban Extras Textures, including a line of rivets which were then color corrected to match.

Fig.10

I decided to create a variation that was somewhat midway between the two using the Arch & Design material combined with a Composite map (Fig.11). The pipes use the same texture evident in Fig.08, but you can see more paintwork has been removed from the left pipe. The horizontal one has also started to rust significantly in the lower section.

Fig.11

In order to create this version I applied a Composite map in the Diffuse map channel of the Arch & Design material and then created a new layer. Fig.12a - b shows the two Composite maps for each pipe and the corresponding maps. The horizontal pipe uses a mask to help create a random pattern of rust whilst the central one uses a single map set to Multiply.

Fig.12a

Fig.12b

Final Version

Fig.13

 

'V-Ray Caustics'

'V-Ray Caustics'

by Ricardo Eloy

Software Used:

3ds Max and V-Ray

Here's a quick 10-minute tutorial on how to create good looking caustics using V-Ray without spending hours in calculations. The whole concept is pretty simple and the final setup should not take long nor stand on one’s way while working on a scene. First, we have to understand why the heck caustics take so long to calculate (if you want something that looks remotely good). And there’s only one word to explain it: waste. What most people do is to try to generate caustics using the same lights that light the scene, and that causes a huge waste oftime. Simply because you don’t need V-Ray to calculate every single photon a light emits. You only need those that actually cause the caustic effect (which are the minority, of course). Then, what if you could calculate just those photons? What if you could simply forget about all the waste and complicate settings and use your system’s resources to calculate only those few to maximum effect? That's the objective of this tutorial.

10 Basic Rules in Composition

'The 10 Basic Rules Of Image Composition'

by Maxim Ganzha

Introduction :

There are 10 main composition rules to bear in mind when it comes to creating an image. Following these rules can help to make your image more successful and visually appealing. Please note that the works shown in this article are not mine, but have all been used with permission of the artists that created them.

1. Contrast :

How you can attract the viewer to your picture? You need to have contrast in your scene. The light object should be on dark background and vice versa (Fig.01).

Fig.01 - © ms_Dessi

2. Layout :

The key objects should not be placed chaotically. It is better that they form the shape of a simple geometric figure (Fig.02).

Fig.02 - © Morro

3. Balance :

The objects located in opposite sides of frame should correspond to each other in terms of volume, size and color parameters.

4. The Golden Ratio :

The golden ratio was known even in ancient Egypt. Its properties were studied by Leonardo and Euclid. The simple definition is that the best point to place the object is one third from the horizontal or vertical border of frame. The location of key objects at these points seems natural and attracts the eye (Fig.03).

Fig.03

5. Diagonals :

One of the most effective compositions is the diagonal composition. The essence is simple –locate the key objects on a diagonal within the frame. For example, from the upper left corner to the lower right. This ruse is good because it guides the viewer’s eyes through the picture (Fig.04 – 05).

Fig.04 - © Feodor Ivaneev

6. Frame Format :

If your scene has a lot of vertical objects, use a vertical format for the frame. And if there are lots of horizontal objects, use a horizontal format (Fig.06 – 07).

Fig.06 - © Morro

Fig.07 - © Feodor Ivaneev

7. Perspective :

The choice of the perspective point can affect the emotional perception of the scene. Here are some simple rules. For character renders the best point is situated at eye level. For a full height portrait, the point should be situated at the level of belt. Try to crop the frame in such a way that the horizon won’t divide it for equal parts. Otherwise the viewer can’t really focus on the objects in scene. Try to settle the camera at the level of the object otherwise you can get distorted proportions. For example, if you look at the object from a higher point then it will seem to be shorter than it is reality (Fig.08).

Fig.08 - © Feodor Ivaneev

8. Direction :

Our mind always read from left to right, and so we perceive pictures in the same way. That’s why it’s important to try and position the key objects in an image in the right part of the frame. This will help the look and the key point to move towards (Fig.09).

Fig.09 - © Dmitry Schuka

9. The Colour Spot :

If we have a color spot in one part of the frame then we need to have something which will attract the viewer’s attention on the other side too. This could be another color spot or some action in the frame (Fig.10).

Fig.10 - © Scionik

10. Diagonals :

If you decide to make a dynamic object (car or bicycle) always leave free space behind the object. This will give the feeling that the object is just now entering the frame and not leaving it (Fig.11).

Fig.11 - © Aleksandr1