Exercises and Tutorials

Textures

Textures: the following texture types and methods are discussed in this tutorial:

• Tiling textures – textures can be tiled if all edges match on repeat; some Photoshop work can be done to site photographs to generate textures used in the 3D model. The tiled textures can be scaled to avoid distortion.
• Baking textures – this involves ‘baking’ an image of some parts of the render ahead of time for selected objects. For example, a light on a wall can be ‘baked’ and reapplied to the 3D model, thus saving render time due to fewer lighting calculations.
• Colour maps – colour maps define the surface colour of your texture material without any light or shade factors.
• Airbrushing – the use of 3D painting tools to apply photo or graphic textures to a 3D surface in software programs such as ZBrush, Mudbox or Blender.
• Normals – normals designate the face on which the texture is applied. Thus, the texture needs to be applied to the front face of a surface. Normal maps are 2D flat-packs on which the user can paint detail without adding to the modelling count.
• UV texture maps – UV textures are 2D flat-packs of the 3D model with the textures applied to specific regions.
• Bump textures – bump textures are greyscale images. They are duplicates of a full-colour image, but in greyscale. Both colour and greyscale image are loaded together. The greyscale texture is read by the renderer and gives the impression in the render process that it ‘bumps’ (raises or recesses) the surface, when it actually makes no such modifications.
• Displacement maps – displacement maps are like bump textures, though rather than simulating a raised surface, they effect the actual geometry and raise or depress the surface.
• Transparency – some software programs cannot interpret transparency settings; others can use a texture with transparent surfaces and allow that surface to be seen through. This also depends on file type – JPEGs do not have transparency capability, unlike TIFF or PNG file types.
• Mask maps – mask maps allow two textures to be displayed on one surface.

Lighting

Lighting: the following lighting types are discussed in this tutorial:

• Specular maps – specular mapping is the application of light and dark on a texture surface, which can be painted in.
• Sky portals – sky portals define the sky and sun settings within a 3D model. An interior will not render correctly if the sky portal is not in place. Sun positions, strength, size and brightness can all be controlled. Sky portals can sometimes be geo-referenced and seasonal choices and time zones can be applied.
• Photometric lights – photometric lights make reference to manufacturers lighting specifications and can be used to add precision to the rendering and allow the simulation of different fixture choices in the design proposal.
• Particles – particles can be used to simulate realistic snow, rain and smoke. You can add physics simulations, like avoidance, gravity and bounce.

Environment

Environment: the following environments are discussed in this tutorial:

• Atmospheres and effects – how to use atmospherics and effects in your 3D model.
• Skydomes – how to set-up a skydome for realistic environments.

Rendering

Rendering: The following steps are discussed in this tutorial:

• Material override – this applies one material to every element; this is especially useful to evaluate the lighting design in the 3D model, as you can source the colours that lighting choices provide.
• Cached geometry – cached geometry is useful if no further geometrical changes take place as it allows a shorter computation time.
• Raytracing – raytracing enables indirect illumination, depth of field, refraction and shadows.
• Radiosity – radiosity calculates indirect light and is part of global illumination.
• Indirect illumination – indirect illumination bounces light around the scene.
• Final gather – Final gather adds indirect illumination to landscape scenes. You may cache the final gather to reduce high-resolution render time.
• Global illumination – global illumination can be a separate setting or be part of indirect illumination.
• Photons – photons are closer to what occurs in nature; they are RGB separated colours that react in different ways to permeable and opaque surfaces.
• Caustics – caustics are indirect illumination of concentrated light from transparent objects – refraction and the scattering of light from reflective surfaces.
• Ambient occlusion – ambient occlusion adds a natural look to surfaces through soft shadows; it is the opposite of ambient light or global illumination.
• Importons – importons merge together and remove unnecessary photons.
• Irradiance particles – irradiance particles fire importons into the viewport, which locate a surface for their placement. From this point indirect and direct illumination is stored within the particle. This is a useful tool for naturalised objects.

Post-production

Post-production: this tutorial discusses:

• Render passes – how to set-up render passes to give greater control of elements in post-production and animation.

Sponza model

Sponza model: this tutorial discusses:

• Sponza model – the Atrium Sponza Palace, Dubrovnik, is an elegant and improved model created by Frank Meinl. The original Sponza model was created by Marko Dabrovic in early 2002. Over the years, the Sponza Atrium scene has become one of the most popular 3D scenes for testing global illumination and radiosity due to its specific architectural structure, which is particularly complex for global illumination lighting.

Miscellaneous

Miscellaneous: this includes other 3D links, source files and tutorials.