Introduction
In this article, you will learn the 5 key steps to create photorealistic renderings, whether you have been using 3ds Max for years or are just starting out you should find this article useful.
We will cover the 3ds Max user interface, and then we will create a virtual 3D photography studio. From there we will look at setting up the lights and camera to get the most realistic renders we can. Don't worry about alpha channels, secondary engines, or image samplers. The key to realism is simplicity.
What Software to use?
First up, for those of you that are new here… (If you aren't feel free to skip this bit). We will use Autodesk 3ds Max and V-Ray from Chaos Group as our render engine.
What is 3Ds Max software? 3Ds Max is a 3D modeling software for architects, designers, and video game artists.
What is V-Ray? V-Ray is used to render in 3ds Max. V-Ray has a complete set of lighting, shading, and rendering tools that can be used with 3ds Max.
The following tips are taken from a free kickstarter course that can be found here. Feel free to just jump straight over there if you want a step-by-step guide.
Now, let's get started,
1. Learn the User Interface (UI). These are the keys to the kingdom, this is how we navigate through 3D space. The first lesson introduces the user interface of 3ds Max.
2. Get your 3d model into 3ds Max. There are plenty of places to get a 3D model if you don't have your own. In this video, I show you how to bring in a 3D model you have made, been sent or downloaded.
3. Create your virtual studio. We are virtual photographers so we need to do as real photography. This is how we achieve 'photo' realism.
4. Setting up your camera and lights. Realistic lighting is the key to photorealistic renderings. As we are creating a studio scene we will be using artificial lighting (interior lights) as opposed to a HDRI or sun.
5. Interactive render. Finally, we use the interactive render to see our 3D rendering. Interactive render saves render time and allows us to see our results before the final render. Once we are happy we can render locally or use one of the cloud services such as Chaos Cloud. As you will see when it comes to rendering our final image there is no need to change the 3ds Max or Vray 5 render settings.
If you want to explore how we can add post-production to our image then have a watch of the whole mini course.
Conclusion
Photorealistic rendering has become very popular, and it’s easy to see why. Entertainment is moving to digital. Just think back to the last music video you saw, I bet it had an element of CGI in it. Products are already there, if you viewed a product in an online store it was likely 3D. Advertising has been doing it for years. And now, photography is moving to full CGI for a ton of reasons.
Will you be prepared? Do you want step-by-step instructions to implement all these tips?
Watch all the lessons here, free!