Monday, July 28, 2008

Six Tuts On Light And Shade, Part I, Sunny Afternoon

Sunny AfternoonTwilightMoonlightElectricalCandle LightUnderwater


SUNNY AFTERNOON


This tutorial series is intended to be used with mental ray for Autodesk Maya 8.5.

“Happiness is like the sun: There must be a little shade if man is to be comfortable.” - Let's start our exercise with this little quote by Otto Ludwig.

Welcome to the first of the six-part tutorial series, discussing possibly the most challenging kind of 3D environment: interiors. mental ray (for Maya) users typically get cold feet and sweating fingers when it comes to this “closed combat”; the royal league of environment lighting. It’s for no reason though, as all you need for the battle is a simple field manual (this tutorial), and just a little bit of patience...

So what is it all about? Let’s have a look at our object for this demonstration (Fig. 1) ...

As you can see, we have a closed room; you can tell by the porthole and the characteristic door that it is a room inside a ship. Let’s imagine that it’s a tween deck of the ferry “MS No-Frills”, used as a lounge, and the staircase leads to its upper deck.

From a lighter’s point of view, we can estimate by this analysis that there is light coming in from a) the opening in the ceiling where the staircase leads outside, and b) from the porthole and the window beside it. That’s not much, and if you ever took a photograph under such conditions you will know that, even with nice equipment, you would have a hard time catching the right moment (the “magic hour”) to illustrate the beauty of this particular atmosphere. (Atmosphere is also defined, besides by the lighting condition itself, by things like a point in time, the architecture, the weather, and occasionally also the vegetation.)

So, for our first tutorial part, we will choose the following scenario: our ship, the MS No-Frills, is anchored somewhere along the shore of Tunisia (North Africa) in the Mediterranean Sea; it’s summer, the time is around early afternoon, and the weather is nice and clear. That’s all we need to know at this stage to get us started...


Fig. 1



If you open up the scene, you will see that there’s no proper point of view defined yet. Feel free to either choose your own perspective or use one of the bookmarks I have set in the default perspective camera (Fig. 2). By clicking on one of the bookmarks, all relevant camera attributes (position, orientation, focal length, etc.) are changed to the condition stored in the bookmark. This greatly helps when trying out different views without committing oneself, and without creating an unnecessary mess of different cameras.


Fig. 2



Before we start lighting and rendering the scene, we should have a little introduction to the actual shading of the scene and about a few of the technical aspects of things such as color spaces. If you find this too boring then you might want to skip the next two paragraphs as this is not essential, but is nonetheless an explanation regarding how to achieve to the result at the end of this tutorial.

 



A Note on Shading.

All the shaders you see are built on the new mia_material that ships with Maya 8.5. This shader was intended as a monolithic (from the Greek words “mono”, meaning single, and “lithos”, meaning stone) approach for architectural purposes, and it can be practically used to simulate the majority of the common materials that we see every day. Unlike the regular Maya shaders, and most of the custom mental ray shaders, it implements physical accuracy, greatly optimized glossy reflections, transparency and translucency, built-in ambient occlusion for detail enhancement of final gather solutions, automatic shadow and photon shading, many optimizations and performance enhancers, and the most important thing is that it’s really easy to use. And it’s all in one - thus “monolithic”. I therefore decided to use it in our tutorial...

 



A Note on Color Space.

As you may already know, usually all of the photographs and pictures that you look at on your computer are in the sRGB color space. This is because, for example, a color value of RGB 200, 200, 200 is not twice as bright as a color with RGB 100, 100, 100, as you would expect. It is of course mathematically twice the value, but perceptually it is not. As opposed to plain mathematics (like 2 x 100 = 200), our eyes do not work in such a linear way. And here’s where the sRGB comes in... This color space ‘maps’ the values so that they appear linearly. This is why most of the photographs are visually pleasing and look natural, which is not in a true mathematically linear color space. However, almost every renderer spits out these old and truly linear images (because this simply is how computers work - mathematically linear), unless we tell the renderer to do otherwise. Most people are not aware of this, and instead of rendering in the right color space they unnecessarily add lights and ambient components to unwittingly compensate for this error. In Fig. 3 and Fig. 4, you can see two photographic examples illustrating the difference between a true linear (left) and an sRGB color space (right). In Fig. 5, you can see the same from a CG rendering; you’ll notice that the true linear one looks a lot more “CGish” and unnatural. Even if you brightened it up and added/reduced the contrast, you still couldn’t compensate for the fact that it’s in the wrong color space, specially if you carelessly used textures from an sRGB reference (i.e. from almost any digital picture you can find), which adds up even more to the whole mess. This is an essential issue in order to create visually pleasing and naturally looking computer graphics. If you have followed me up to here, and you think you understand the need for a correct color space, then go take a break and get yourself some coffee or delicious green tea and enjoy life for a while - you've earned it! This is all tricky yet fundamental knowledge. How this theory is practically applied in mental ray will be shown later on...


Fig. 3



Fig. 4



Fig. 5



So, let’s get started with lighting the scene... Maya 8.5 introduces, along with the mia package, a handy physical sun and sky system. This makes it easy to set up a natural looking environment and we can then focus more on the aesthetic part of the lighting process, instead of tweaking odd-looking colors. The sky system is created from the render global’s environment tab (Fig. 6).


Fig. 6



By clicking on the button, you practically create:

a) a directional light which acts as the sun’s direction;

b) the corresponding light shader mia_physicalsun;

c) the mia_physicalsky, an environment shader that connects to the renderable camera’s mental ray environment (Fig. 7);

d) a tone mapping lens shader called mia_exposure_simple, which also connects to the camera’s mental ray lens slot.

It’s also worth mentioning here that this button also turns Final Gathering ON.


Fig. 7



Now that we have a default sun and sky system set up, we are almost ready to render. Before we do the first test render, let’s make sure we are in the right color space, as mentioned. By default, we are rendering in true linear space (for an explanation please refer to the previous notes on color space), which is - for our needs right now - not correct. The lens shader we created however brings us into a color space which closely approximates sRGB by applying a 2.2 gamma curve (see the Gamma attribute) globally to the whole rendered image, as we calculate it. Generally, this is a good thing and is desirable. But if we apply a gamma correction in this way, then we would have to “un-gamma” every single texture file in our scene. This is due to the fact that the textures already have the “right” gamma (this is usually true for any 8bit or 16bit image file), and adding a gamma correction on top of that would double the gamma and could potentially wash out the textures’ colors. What a bummer!

So, we either have to “un-gamma” every texture file (boring and tedious), or instead of the lens shader’s gamma correction, we can use mental ray’s internal gamma correction (still boring, but less tedious).

As you can see from Fig. 8, we set the Gamma value in the Render Globals’ primary framebuffer menu to the desired value, which is - simply because mental ray works this way - 1 divided by the value (2.2 for approximating sRGB in our case), which equals 0.455. At the same time, we also need to remove the gamma correction of our lens shader, so we must set its Gamma attribute to 1.0 (linear equals no correction; you can select these shaders from the hypershade’s Utilities tab). Thus we completely hand over the gamma correction to mental ray’s internal mechanism, which automatically applies the right “un-gamma” value to every of our textures. There are no more worries for our color textures now. If we use “value” textures however (like for bump maps, displacement maps, or anywhere where a texture rather feeds a value than an actual color), we'd have to disable this mechanism for the particular “value” texture by switching a gammaCorrect node in front of it, with the desired gamma compensation (2.2 in our case) filled into the gammaCorrect's Gamma attribute (note: this attribute does not mean the value for the actual color^gamma function, it rather indicates the desired compensation situation, i.e. the “inverse”, or reciproke of the gamma function - no one ever would tell you about that, but now you know better). This is a long-winded theory, but now we’re ready to go!


Fig. 8



I tweaked the Final Gathering settings (Fig. 9) so that we will get a relatively fast converging, yet meaningful, result. I also turned down the mia_physicalsun’s Samples to 2.


Fig. 9



It’s kind of dark and has a few errors (Fig. 10), mainly because of insufficient ray tracing settings.


Fig. 10



Let’s now increase the general ray depths (Fig. 11) and the Final Gathering ray depths (Fig. 12). We’re also turning the Secondary Diffuse Bounces on. However, the Secondary Bounces button in the Render Globals only sets their Bounce Depth to 1; we want it to bounce twice so we’re selecting the actual node where all the mental ray settings are stored, which is called “miDefaultOptions”.


Fig. 11


Fig. 12



You can do this by typing in “miDef*” in the input line with LMB Select by name on (the asterisk is a wildcard for lazy people like me, see Fig. 13).


Fig. 13



Once we select the miDefaultOptions, all more or less hidden mental ray settings are exposed to the attribute editor. There’s also some stuff in the mentalrayGlobals node, but we’re focusing on the Final Gather tab in the miDefaultOptions right now. Let’s set the FG Diffuse Bounces attribute to 2 (Fig. 14). These ray depth settings should suffice to get the result at the end of this tutorial.


Fig. 14



Let’s re-render (Fig. 15). It is still pretty dark, but you can tell that the indirect light contribution is sufficient (don’t worry about detailed shadowing, we’ll get to that later on), so we need to actually raise the exposure level of our piece, somehow.


Fig. 15



Remember, we’re all still on the very basic default settings for everything. One setting used to tweak the exposure is the Gain attribute in the mia_exposure_simple, which is connected as a lens shader to our camera. Let’s increase the Gain value to 0.5 (Fig. 16).


Fig. 16



That’s much better, and gives a more natural feeling (Fig. 17).


Fig. 17



Now we can start to actually make decisions on the lighting and aesthetic accentuations. For this part, please don’t feel constrained to the settings and colors that I choose - feel free to follow your own ideas! I’m rotating the sunDirection to X -70, Y 175, Z 0 to accentuate certain elements by direct sunlight, and I’m setting the attributes of the mia_physicalsky to the values you can see in Fig. 18. I increased the Haze value to 0.5 (note that this attribute takes values up to 15, so 0.5 is rather low). Then I set the Red/Blue Shift to 0.1, which basically means a white-balance correction towards reddish (towards blue-ish would be a negative value, like -0.1). I also raised the Saturation attribute to 2.0, which is it’s maximum value. I then made slight adjustments to the horizon, which does not have much effect on the global look but I experimented with what we could see through the porthole and the window.


Fig. 18



The last thing I changed was the Ground color. I gave it a greenish tint because I thought this gave it a more lagoon-like feeling, and I think it gives the whole piece a more interesting touch (Fig. 19). From my own point of view, this is a good base for what we intended to accomplish with the early afternoon in the Mediterranean Sea scenario.


Fig. 19



If we’re satisfied with the general look, we can then go about setting up the scene for a final render. Firstly, let’s increase the Final Gathering quality, because we can reuse the Final Gathering solution later on. As you can see from Fig. 20, I raised the Accuracy to 64, but more importantly, and especially for the shadow details, the Point Density is now at 2.0. With a denser Final Gathering solution we can also raise the Point Interpolation without losing too much shadowing contrast. I also set the Rebuild setting to Off, because the lighting condition is not changing from now on and we can therefore re-use existing Final Gather points.


Fig. 20



Let’s have a look (Fig. 21). As you can see, there is still a lack of detail in the shadowed areas, especially in the door region. We can easily get around this with the new mia_materials which implement a special Ambient Occlusion mode. You only need to check on for Ambient Occlusion in the shaders, as everything else is already set up fairly well by default (all I did was set the Distance to a reasonable value and darkened the Dark color a little).


Fig. 21



The main trick is the Details button in the mia_material (leaving the Ambient at full black). By turning on the Details mode, the Ambient Occlusion only darkens the indirect illumination in problem-areas, avoiding the traditional global and unpleasant Ambient Occlusion look. See Fig. 22 with the enhanced details.


Fig. 22



Note: to adjust the shaders all at once, select all mia_materials from the hypershade, and set the Ao_on attribute in the attribute spread sheet to 1 (Fig. 23) (the attribute spread sheet can be found under Window > General Editors > Attribute Spread Sheet). Also note that switching on the Ambient Occlusion in the shader scraps the Final Gathering solution; it will be recalculated from scratch. If you find the Final Gathering taking too long, turn the Point Density down to 1.0 or 0.5, as this still gives you nice results but the lighting details will suffer.


Fig. 23



Now let’s increase the general sampling quality (Fig. 24). The sample level is now at Min 0 and Max 2, with contrast at 0.05 and the Filter set to Mitchell for a sharp image.

Last but not least, if you are having problems with artifacts caused by the glossy reflections, raise the mia_material’s Reflection Gloss Samples (Refl_gloss_samples) up to 8 for superior quality. You can do this with the attribute spread sheet, as well.


Fig. 24



For the final render, I chose to render to a 32bit floating point framebuffer, with a square 1024px resolution. This can be set in the Render Globals (Fig. 25).


Fig. 25



If I want to have the 32bit framebuffer right out of the GUI (without batch rendering), I need to turn the Preview Convert Tiles option On and turn the Preview Tonemap Tiles option Off, in the Preview tab of the Render Globals (Fig. 26).


Fig. 26



Important: I also need to choose an appropriate image format. OpenEXR is capable of floating point formats and it’s widely used nowadays, so let’s go for that (Fig. 27).


Fig. 27



When rendering to the 32bit image, you will get some funky colors in your render view, but the resulting image will be alright - don’t worry. After rendering, you can find it in your projects images\tmp folder. Fig. 28 shows my final result: a pretty good base for the post production work.


Fig. 28



Since we rendered to a true 32bit image, we have great freedom for possibilities. See Fig. 29 for my final interpretation where there is no additional painting, only color enhancement. Try it for yourself!

I hope you have enjoyed following this tutorial as much as I enjoyed writing it!

Discuss on cgtalk


Fig. 29

Credits:

Original concept and geometry - Richard Tilbury

Original idea - Tom Greenway

Editor - Chris Perrins

Tutorial - floze



Sunny AfternoonTwilightMoonlightElectricalCandle LightUnderwater
  

241 comments:

  1. dude, i cant thank you enough for these tutorials. really great stuff. you are indeed a prince among men.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks man,but where is the scene which we can practise.

    ReplyDelete
  3. very thx ,if have video,i well crazy!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi, Amazing tuts bro...

    Specially thax for those light fundamentals...

    ReplyDelete
  5. i can't thank u enough man. this is just the tutorial i'm looking for .
    thanx again,and again ,,,,,,

    ReplyDelete
  6. Sweet! nice work.
    What do you do your colour treatment in?
    Photoshop is pretty sad when it comes to dealing with 32bit files.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Great tut, but I can't seem to find a link to the scene file.

    ReplyDelete
  8. cant find a file either. would love to do this tutorial with that file.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Great tutorial! The lightings you have produced have actually very dramatic...

    ReplyDelete
  10. Thank you so much for this detailed lighting tutorial, it's very hard to find Maya + MR lighting tutorials nowadays.

    Thanks once more,
    Robert.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Looks detailed. can't find the scene file though.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Hey, great work, will you post a link for the scene file? so it's possible to better follow along?

    Thanks in advance :)

    ReplyDelete
  13. Great Tuts. Please post the scene file.

    ReplyDelete
  14. That's a Amazing tut, really helpful to me.. can't find the scene file, can you mail to me??
    vincent7482@gmail.com
    Thank you very much...

    ReplyDelete
  15. Hi Floze, I am Nicolás Sparnocchia. I from Argentina. I'm learning about environment from mentalRay at Maya, and I found your work. It's great. I ask me if you were posting or publising the Scene,
    I Could get it.
    Thanks.

    can you mail to me the answer?
    to sparnocchia@yahoo.com.ar

    ReplyDelete
  16. Great great tutorial, I can't thank you enough.... is it there any chance of sending me the scene files ?

    My email is paulourenco@hotmail.com

    If the file is to big please send it by megaupload or flyupload.... pleeeeeeeease

    Thanks again

    ReplyDelete
  17. I really would like a link to the scene file. grat Tutorial.. cya!

    ReplyDelete
  18. This is absolutely amazing tutorial!
    It's rare that you find tuts that show you how to "finish" a piece and thats what you have seemed to do here.
    I've tried to make my own scene, using a grand type staircase with a big glass dome.

    but I would be verryyy interested in the scene that you have here just to practice. It's gorgeous.
    My email is dorito_125@yahoo.com
    If you can send it to me I would be very appreciative, I know others are also interested so maybe I could host it for you.
    Thanks again!

    -Andrew

    ReplyDelete
  19. hi mate,
    fantastic tutorial, i've been looking around for something like this for a while. would love to get the scene file if thats possible!!

    my email is andrewwilliamsnz@gmail.com

    thanks,

    andy w.

    ReplyDelete
  20. One thing thats confusing me is where you are getting the Gamma value 2.2?? Care to explain.

    ReplyDelete
  21. The gamma 2.2 derives from the sRGB standard which is typically used in the source textures. To get a deeper understanding of why and what gamma is being used, please check this site:

    http://www.poynton.com/GammaFAQ.html

    Thank you everyone for your comments! If I missed anyone who requested the scene from me, please try again!

    ReplyDelete
  22. I would appreciate a copy of the scene file also.
    Thanks so much for your efforts.

    ReplyDelete
  23. @Mitch: Drop me an email or post your address please!

    ReplyDelete
  24. Hi~!

    My teacher introduced your blog and i got huge idae for my project which is churhc interior under moonlight. For further study, would you send me a scene file?
    my email is pbr0925@gamil.com
    i appreciate your tutorial.
    Have a nice day!!!

    ReplyDelete
  25. Hi great tut, i will love if you can send me the scene files.... my mail :

    edlnovo@gmail.com

    Thanks a lot!!

    ReplyDelete
  26. Hi great tutorial. Would it be possible to see the scene. much appreciated my emial is goobatastic@hotmail.co.uk

    Cheers

    ReplyDelete
  27. Great one :)
    The explanation is superb.
    Dying to try it with the real scene, would u send it to nyengir.nyengir@gmail.com

    Thanks

    ReplyDelete
  28. Thanks Floze:
    Rather than posting my email here, I sent you a PM on CG Talk.

    ReplyDelete
  29. these are amazing.
    I would love to have the file so I can play with it.
    My email is jeanieinc@gmail.com
    thank you!

    ReplyDelete
  30. Hi floze
    It's a great tutorial.
    Would it be possible to see the scene. please~~
    my emial is mallori@nate.com
    thanks a lot~!!

    ReplyDelete
  31. Thanks much for posting your tutorial. I've been using Max for several years now, am am starting to use Maya at home. One of the areas I hope to become more knowedgable and skilled at is lighting and materials - thanks for the jumpstart.

    I also would greatly appreciate being able to use your tutorial scene.

    ReplyDelete
  32. Hi Floze,

    Excellent tutorial on what is a tricky area to understand!

    Please may you send me the scene file so I can have a go?

    jjrumball at hotmail . com

    Best,

    James

    ReplyDelete
  33. truly speechless at the quality and clarity within this the first tutorial. I can't wait to read the rest. An earlier post asked where and how you did your post work.

    Any chance you could elaborate on this point?

    could you also send me your scene file: josh@roarender.com

    Regards,
    Josh

    ReplyDelete
  34. Hi thanks for the great tutorials im just attempting to learn how to light interior scenes properly in maya and these tutorials will really help. please could you send me the scene files at nickward@3dmodelmaker.co.uk

    thanks again!

    ReplyDelete
  35. Great tutorial, could you send me the scene file?

    kristianturner.3d@googlemail.com

    thanks a lot

    ReplyDelete
  36. Hello Sir, excellent tutorial,
    Can you please graciously send me the scene file for underwater ship.

    Thank
    Matt.

    mskonicki@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  37. Great tutorial!
    This is one of the best tutorial I have ever seen.
    Can you please send me the scene file?
    leesh629@yahoo.com

    Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  38. Great great tutorial, please is it there any chance of sending me the scene files ? Merci beaucoup!

    My email is kadisung@hotmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  39. Hi mate,

    very nice tutorial. i didnt know that mental ray was overwriting the gama. thanks a lot.

    it ll be great if i can have a look of the scene. can you send it to my email in your spare time?
    kiremitcialper@yahoo.com

    cheers mate,

    alper

    ReplyDelete
  40. Floze, Wonderful tutorial. I have passed it on to my friends learning Maya and it has been a wonder. Curious if I could get a copy of the file though. Iamyogi@gmail17.com

    Thanks Again!

    ReplyDelete
  41. GREAT tutorial...
    I will be very happy if you send to me the scene file

    oneside09@hotmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  42. Hi, great tut! Is it possible to receive the scene file to follow the tutorial? thanks

    julienlambe@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  43. Great tutorial(s).
    Could you please send me the scene file?

    Thanks,
    Franky

    frankybartjones@hotmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  44. Great tutorial!

    Could you send me the scene file?

    seraph204@gmail.com

    Thanks a lot!
    Inchul Pae

    ReplyDelete
  45. Very helpful lesson. Could you send me the scene file? My email address is joseph.cruel@gmail.com.

    Cheers! Joseph

    ReplyDelete
  46. Will you Please send me the Scene file??

    my address is
    Sharis_abhi@yahoo.com

    Thanks in advance

    ReplyDelete
  47. i to would like a copy of the scene file if you could.
    Thanks
    paul
    jazzcat@hfx.eastlink.ca

    ReplyDelete
  48. Beautiful tutorial! I just came across it today and would love to work through it on my machine.
    Would you mind sending me a copy of the scene file?

    Thanks!

    RobM

    list@studionoumena.com

    ReplyDelete
  49. nice tuts
    thank you very much.

    Would you mind sending me a scene file?
    i just want to practise.

    pairatch_tae@hotmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  50. Floze, I've been looking for a detailed tutorial on lighting in Mental Ray for the longest time. Thanks so much for making everything so easy to follow and understand. Can you please send me the scene file?

    jpendlet@gmail.com

    Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  51. Floze nice tutorials, I've been looking for a tutorial on lighting in Mental Ray for the my demoreel. Thanks so much for such a good help. Would you mind sending me a copy of the PDF file.

    nilscres@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  52. Hey Floze

    Awesome tutorial , thank you so much for the effort! Helped out tons!

    Would you mind sending me the scene file please ? christo.panda@gmail.com

    Best Regards
    Chris

    ReplyDelete
  53. Great tutorial.
    But do you prefer to work in cm or in meters (real world scale models) for a more "physical" result?

    (http://forum.mentalimages.com/showthread.php?t=5078)

    Thanks

    ReplyDelete
  54. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  55. Please send me the scene file ,can't wait to try with the scene file . :)
    awesome . awesome !!!
    dinohich@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  56. "personal details of floze:
    does not drink or smoke..."

    aha...

    figures.

    Great job - Great help. Still trying to wrap my stoned head around the gamma and LWF stuff.

    ReplyDelete
  57. Love the tutorials! Would also love the scene file. My email is matt@thewhipplefamily.com

    Thanks in advance!

    ReplyDelete
  58. Amazing Tut. Thank you.
    I think it's very helpful to all of the illuminator. Can you give me a permission to translate it in Korean? And Can I get the scenefile?
    My email address is ungsung@gmail.com
    Thank you.

    ReplyDelete
  59. Hey Floze

    Awesome tutorial , thank you so much for the grate effort,can u mail me this tutorial in PDF format, I have scene file with me.
    Its grate to keep such a awesome tutorial. Thanking You
    nilscres@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  60. Wonderful tut !!!
    Thank you very much, it's amaizing!
    I would like to try it step by step on your file, is it possible to have it please?
    Thank you in advance, and please, keep going :)

    monzon@numericable.com

    ReplyDelete
  61. thank you so much! i have been studying Maya and the tutorial of your`s is more than helpful! could you please be so kind to share the scene files in order to exercise? thanks in advance! with best regards! Vadim, e-mail: awol@bk.ru

    ReplyDelete
  62. Thanks so much! For some reason we never used mental ray in class...

    ReplyDelete
  63. Excellents renders!!!. Please, can you send me the scene files??. My mail is tribadelics@gmail.com
    Thanks again!!

    ReplyDelete
  64. Thank you so much. Could you send me scene files, please?

    my address is kubrick000@naver.com.

    ReplyDelete
  65. Really great tutorial.
    Can i too please get the scene file top follow along with.

    craigmf@hotmail.com


    Cheers

    ReplyDelete
  66. Hi Floze. Excellent tutorial - looks like the definitive work on the subject from my research!

    Can you send me the scene file to if@voom.org

    Cheers!

    ReplyDelete
  67. Good tutorial, if you could send me the scene, I would appreciate that.

    ppgona@gmail.com

    thank you very much

    ReplyDelete
  68. wow, great tutorial with real understanding and useful explanation. thanks so much.
    Please send the scene file so I canpractice more.
    info@cg-anim.com
    thanks

    ReplyDelete
  69. Finally find a tutorial worth looking into! Thank you for this Floze!
    Could you also mail me the scene, so i can study this some more?
    johan.e.lindgren@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  70. Thanks for the great tutorial Floze!
    Could you plz mail me the scene on aviral123ster@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  71. Hmm, haven't heard from you Floze yet.
    Is there anyone else here who have these scenes, give me a mail to johan.e.lindgren@gmail.com please :)

    ReplyDelete
  72. Great tutorial.
    Could you please send me the scene file?

    Thanks,
    Stephen

    stephen.lutkus@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  73. could you send me the scen file, please?
    my email address is snakerufus@libero.it.

    thanx

    ReplyDelete
  74. Hi there, tutorial looks sweet, can i have the scene file to follow tutorial easier?

    please would really love to do your tutorial in scene if can email me at

    regan_music@hotmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  75. superb...its really great.I got more technique from you..thanks....Also I give u a lovable hug from india...

    ReplyDelete
  76. I very like this tutorial,please give me a scene file.Thank you!

    ReplyDelete
  77. I am searchzhu,from china.Please send scene file to searchzhu@126.com.Thank you very much!

    ReplyDelete
  78. First of all, thank you so much, what a great tutorial that you share with us. I have been trying to apply this linear workflow for work. but unfortunately, I got confused with the gamma, degamme...and etc. therefore, I think I need to take anther deep look into this whole linear workflow. Would u mind sending me the scene file that I could follow your tutorial here. thanks again.

    email: totochi1231@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  79. Would you send me the scene file to stream0626@163.com ?

    Thank you very much!

    I like these tutorials!

    ReplyDelete
  80. Thanks for the excellent tutorial. It's on par, if not better than, the best training DVDs I've seen. Can I please have the scene too? p.thorn.ru@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  81. Floze!!! wonderful tutorial. Is the first tutorial were it explains every step of the lighting part, right to the finish.

    Thanks A lot,

    By the way, would love to have your scene to practice with. My mail:
    sala58@hotmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  82. Great tut! Thanks a lot!

    Would you send me the scene file to lilo68@gmail.com

    TIA

    ReplyDelete
  83. Very interesting tutorial. May I have a scene file too.

    My e-mail: r_rendom@rambler.ru

    Thank you!

    ReplyDelete
  84. Very interesting! Thank you for the great tutorial! Please can I get a scene file?

    My e-mail: tigertomato@gmail.com

    Thank you very much!

    ReplyDelete
  85. Hey mate this is awesome, would i be able to look at the file scene?
    My email is

    robjamez@gmail.com

    This would be awesome to add this to my talk on lighting.

    ReplyDelete
  86. Nice share and job. Could you , please, give me the scene file. My mail is poumpouny@yahoo.fr
    Thanks

    ReplyDelete
  87. Awesome tutorials i cant thank you enought man. Could you send me the scene file to alvarogranadosp@yahoo.es?
    I wanna try it right now!

    Thanks a lot!

    ReplyDelete
  88. awesome tutorial thank u so much can u pls send scene file ? thanks

    ReplyDelete
  89. Just a an awesome beautiful tutorial that should be a template for anyone doing a tutorial on anything. Clear,Concise,Gorgeous.

    Can I also join the bandwagon and get the scene file?

    digitaltoon@gmail.com

    I will pay you in many karma points : )
    Thanks and I hope you are well, happy and eventually can do a dvd on more lighting techniques...

    ReplyDelete
  90. plz can you explain the connection in this part? cuz I cant understand what atributes I have to connect. PLZ!
    Great tutorial.

    If we use “value” textures however (like for bump maps, displacement maps, or anywhere where a texture rather feeds a value than an actual color), we'd have to disable this mechanism for the particular “value” texture by switching a gammaCorrect node in front of it, with the desired gamma compensation (2.2 in our case) filled into the gammaCorrect's Gamma attribute

    ReplyDelete
  91. that's the extremely tutorial about lighting i have never seen that before. Can you send the secne file to me? thank you so much

    email:
    chriswong225@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  92. Best mentalray tutorial have ever seen. Please can you send me the scene file.
    coolzpixel@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  93. Hey floze thanks for the great tutorial it helped me alot.
    Can you please send me the scene file youngbin1979@hotmail.com

    Thank you.

    ReplyDelete
  94. Hi floze, i want to add my admiration and gratefulness for this brilliant work.
    I would also like to have the file if possible at sinan@sinanhu.com

    Great thx

    ReplyDelete
  95. amazing! i wonder if you would change anything with the latest mia_portal_light. i was looking for the documentation when i came across your tutorial. hope its not too late to ask for scene file too. my e-mail is gkanomi@yahoo.com.

    thanks and have a nice day!

    ReplyDelete
  96. very informative tutorial! I enjoyed reading through it... could you please send the scene file to
    contact@digitalzink.com
    Will there be anymore tutorials in the future?
    Thanks much!

    ReplyDelete
  97. Thanks for the great stuff Floze! on here and in the CGtalk forums!

    *jumping on the wagon* can i get the scene too?

    richmondlu16@gmail.com

    Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  98. hello, how can i say,how this tutorial help me, and clear my concept,really i am thank ful to you sir,

    jyotish


    mail id jyotishkumarnath@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  99. What a great tutorial, can I please get the scene too -

    Steve@abrahart.com

    Thanks and regards. !

    ReplyDelete
  100. Hi Floze,

    Well written tutorials. I've learned a lot doing the first two with my own seen. I'd appreciate if you could send the scene you use in the tutorial so I can better follow along in the rest of the tutorials.

    Thanks!

    elaydi@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  101. for those still looking for the scene file, if you read up on the cgtalk forum and then, maybe, hop over to 3dtotal.com you'd see they are still selling this tutorial w/ the scene file for L8.95. He didn't make the file so can't give it away. The tutorial is fairly cheap if you want the scene file and more follow along pictures.

    Thanks for the great tutorial!

    ReplyDelete
  102. Floze,
    Thank you so much for such a great tutorial! I cannot find a link to download the sample file anywhere. Could you please email me a copy? Also would it be possible for you to do a brief tutorial on how you set up materials using the A&D material?
    the texture work is also amazing! you can email me at:
    badugah at gmail dot com.
    thank you!

    ReplyDelete
  103. One of the most detailed and intelligently designed tutorial I have ever seen on the web. Plus u have cleared a big confusion of Mental Ray global .455 settings. I would love to go through this project practically, please if you could provide me the scene file.
    Thanks a lot for sharing this great stuff.
    Yahya
    smyahya@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  104. congratz buddy. This is one of the best posts on environmental lighting I've seen. Would love to get the scene file to play around with.

    Please send to jezusK@hotmail.com when you have a minute.

    Thx

    JK

    ReplyDelete
  105. Hi.

    Just found this tutorial, and it looks great.

    Could you please email the scene file to me? kjetil@grab.no

    Thanks
    Kjetil

    ReplyDelete
  106. Hi! Nice tutorial. Very detailed. Can you please send me the scene file also? Many thanks. (zephirusblog@gmail.com)

    ReplyDelete
  107. Yes this post has been going for a while now and its still relevant today.
    I have Maya 2010 and I am trying to learn it.
    This is a great Tutorial and I would love to try it with the file too please if you would be so kind.

    David.lee100@btinternet.com

    Thanks again and are you planning to do any more?
    Dave

    ReplyDelete
  108. Hi, i'm Raffaele from Italy. Great tutorial. Can i have the scene files, plese.
    My e-mail adress is
    snakerufus@tiscali.it
    thanx!!!

    ReplyDelete
  109. Hi! I am Eugene from Ukraine. This tutorial is what i wanted to find. Can you please send me the scene file too? Thanx!

    ReplyDelete
  110. Sorry, I forgot to write my email - zheka118@yandex.ru .
    Thanx!!

    ReplyDelete
  111. I am Mehdi Ahmadi from Iran

    Thank you.
    is it there any chance of sending me the scene files ?
    I would appreciate a copy of the scene file also.
    Thanks so much for your efforts.

    My Email:
    mehdiahmadi3d@yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete
  112. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  113. This is great... you mention to open the scene file but there's no apparent link. Is this omitted on purpose or do you have the file somewhere else for sharing?

    shaneholloman@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  114. An absolutely spectacular tutorial. Been looking for something like this for a long time. Can't believe it took me this long to find it. Would you be willing to send me the scene file, or a link to where it's posted. Thank you so much.

    Lance Hitchings

    lance@hitchingsdesign.com

    ReplyDelete
  115. HEy Dude Nice Tutorial, and saw you turkey pictures they are awesome, especially That Muslim Girl Picture it was too good .

    Please email me the scene file for this tutorial

    anilakkala@gmail.com

    Thanks in Advance.... :)

    ReplyDelete
  116. very cool tutorial! thx for sharing!
    could you send me the scene file?
    borgus@gmx.de

    ReplyDelete
  117. it's an amazing tutorial,,we help us very much,,thank you again ,,and please ,can you please sent me the scene file too ?? i'm AUREL from ROMANIA.

    aurel.cmn@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  118. Beautiful tutorial! Very insightful many thanks for posting this for everyone.
    I would really appreciate the scene file so i can follow the tutorial a bit closer.
    Thanks again!!!

    e81@mac.com

    ReplyDelete
  119. hi floze, great tutorial! Can you send me the scene file to sgheavenland@hotmail.com? Im dying to try this tutorial! Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  120. Great detailed tutorial! Can you send me the scene file so I can try it? anguyen005@gmail.com

    Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  121. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  122. please! Can you send me the scene file. For learning ilumination. I am live in Brazil and want learn Maya and Mentalray. Thanks!
    My email: oseiasmr@yahoo.com.br or oseiasrm@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  123. Floze,

    I read a bit on CG Talk that you couldn't release the scene, but if indeed you can distribute it legally (all these requests for the scene make me anxious) I would be most grateful.

    Robert.Ranney@gmail.com

    Thank you sharing your knowledge with the cg community!

    ReplyDelete
  124. absolutely outstanding tutorial!!! i almost droped down from my chair when i was reading this.
    i see that many people request the scene file so i would like to get a copy as well please.
    please send it to: heawen_jany@azet.sk

    thanks a lot!

    ReplyDelete
  125. your tuterial is so cool.
    it will be better if i could get scene file.
    would you mind sending scene file to me ?
    my email is : nectorgeist@gmail.com

    thanx so much.

    ReplyDelete
  126. Awesome tutorial, would love to get the scene file if u can email it to me shanehamdan@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  127. Hello floze,
    great tutorials!!, Can you please send me the scene file :
    nrks@hotmail.fr
    thanks a lot!! ^_^

    NrKs.

    ReplyDelete
  128. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  129. i begged the scene file about a month ago but i couldnt get yet.
    why?
    are there someone who is same to my case?
    nectorgeist@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  130. Great detailed tutorial! Can you send me the scene file so I can try it? sigifs@naver.com
    please~!

    ReplyDelete
  131. Wow! GREAT tutorial! could u send me the scene too?

    alessandra.smota@hotmail.com

    thanks man!

    ReplyDelete
  132. grt tutorial can u send me the scene files too so i can try it
    completelal7@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  133. Hey Floze! Awesome tutorial bro!!

    Can I get the scene files?

    marcossalvi@yahoo.com.br

    Cheers,

    ReplyDelete
  134. Great tut!
    Can I get the scene file so that I can try it!
    Thanks alot!
    steroid.jen@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  135. Very good tutorial!

    Can I please get the scene file so that I can try it!?

    Have a nice day :-D

    ilmonstrum@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  136. Hey floze thanks for the Best tutorial have ever seen. Please can you send me the scene file

    my email
    mackadi@hotmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  137. Hi Mr. Floze. I stumbled upon your tut and I'm excited to get started. Could you please send me the scene file? I'm at glo@kglo.com
    thanks,
    glo

    ReplyDelete
  138. oh yeah.. and I'm the type of idler that has recently awaken to realize that I don't want to be an idler any longer.

    glo :)

    ReplyDelete
  139. Great great tutorial, I can't thank you enough.... is it there any chance of sending me the scene files ?

    My email is zid_bud@hotmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  140. For those that want the scene file, you have to buy it. For me it was $14 2 years ago (well worth the price). You can find the ordering info (and current price) at https://shop.3dtotal.com/index.php?cPath=28_52

    ReplyDelete
  141. I think you said something not correct when you talk about colorspace, the reason images in srgb are gamma-corrected is to linearize "visually" because our eyes see linearly, but display devices such as monitors don't output a linear luminance.

    ReplyDelete
  142. Hello, I bought the Environment Lighting - Maya (Download Only), but there is no scene.
    if you can send it to me on mail borzoff@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  143. Please if you can provide me with the scene file too, my mail address is pravaszestken@gmail.com
    Thanks a ton for this tutorial..

    ReplyDelete
  144. Hey Florian,

    I was hoping I could also get a copy of the scene file. Thanks!

    yk060581@hotmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  145. Hey could you send me a scene please?

    mastap2@hotmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  146. Hey, great tutorial. Are you still sending the scene file out? I'd love to follow along through this.

    justinmbeach@gmail.com

    Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  147. thanks dude, your tuts very helpful our beginner. Can i get this origin Scene?

    ReplyDelete
  148. Hey Floze, your tutorial looks amazing, the Lighting are beautiful. I just finished my studies in Supinfocom but I want to work lighting more. Can you send me the scene ?

    My Mail : waterplease@hotmail.fr

    Thanks a lot

    ReplyDelete
  149. Hi great tutorial, I'm really happy finding it. I will love if you can send me the scene files.... my mail :
    arzuza@gmail.com

    Thank you!

    ReplyDelete
  150. Great detailed tutorial! Can you send me the scene file so I can try it? ankitsood2@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  151. great tutorial!
    Can you send me the scene ?
    Please...
    skyfilm98@gmail.com or
    skyfilm@nate.com

    ReplyDelete
  152. I would love a scene file to play along at home. kris (dot) savoia (at) gmail (dot) com

    ReplyDelete
  153. great tutorial man. the best i ever seen till now.


    can i have the files to play with it?

    thanks


    info@syriodesign.com

    ReplyDelete
  154. I'm experimentally sharing the scene file with you guys in this sifon. I'd be pleased to meet you there. Flash player 10.1 needed.

    ReplyDelete
  155. My teacher told me about your tutorial.
    Really awesome .
    Like others i too would like to get the scene file to practice your tutorial properly . hoping for a positive feedback .my mail id
    -
    shashankashwin.rigging@gmail.com
    -Shashank Ashwin-
    India

    ReplyDelete
  156. You're da man!! I was wondering if I can get the scene files also...please. Thank you very much...
    here is my account roeses19@hotmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  157. Great tutorial! Please send me a copy of the scene file. Thank you so much. .

    nahmeer_soad@yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete
  158. This is a life saver! Many many thanks for sharing this tut! Real pro ^^

    I'm interested in doing this of course, so if you please could sent me the file scene I would appreciate it!


    Email: velvet.icon@gmail.com


    Thank you!

    ReplyDelete
  159. I'd really appreciate the scene file as well. Great Great Great tutorial.

    Thank you

    Patrick

    patrickgeoffroy@hotmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  160. Hey florian,

    Thanks for the tutorial it has helped me a lot.
    I would really like to have a look at the scene file and test a few settings if you don't mind.
    my email address is andy_theo@hotmail.com

    Thanks,
    Andreas

    ReplyDelete
  161. hey florian,

    This is sasank
    first of all i want to thank u for a great great tutorial ....
    coz no one shares such a great tutorial with anyone but u are awesome .. and u r really kind to all ...
    if possible can u send me the scene file with the textures and shading part ...

    sasank.akondi@gmail.com
    and u can add me as one of ur fans

    ReplyDelete
  162. Hi great tutorial, could u please send me the scene, c_w_j1988@live.com. thx

    ReplyDelete
  163. Great tut! Thank you.
    Could you send me the file so I can also have a got with it.
    jazz_76@me.com

    Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  164. Floze, thanks for the beautiful tutorial. If possible, please send the scene files to rock.usula@gmail.com. Thanks

    ReplyDelete
  165. very nice tutorial!
    can i get the maya file please?
    claudiodnl@hotmail.com
    thanks.

    ReplyDelete
  166. good job m8... can you send me the maya files please??? Thx so much.
    haldir_8@hotmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  167. nice tutorials sir Floze! can i also get the maya scene please? joshcerezo@gmail.com
    thanks! im still a student and i would love to learn this stuffs for my portfolio. thanks again and God bless!

    ReplyDelete
  168. karthik, thanks for the beautiful tutorial. If possible, please send the scene files to karthikeyan.ram6@gmail.com.Thanks man

    ReplyDelete
  169. Many thanks for sharing this tutorials!
    If you please could sent me the file scene I would appreciate it!
    Thank you!

    omega5@abv.bg

    ReplyDelete
  170. Hey! Florian.. Thanx for this great Tutorial.. Just whats needed for any Lighting n Compositing Enthusiast.. Can you please send the scene file for the project to cool_hum143@yahoo.com... I'd be realy helpful.

    ReplyDelete
  171. Hey!
    I can't believe I found such a great tutorials!
    Can I get Maya scene to start master my lightning? :?
    My mail is: tin.t45@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  172. Hi Floze, thank you for this detailed tutorial, so clear.
    i'm very enthousiast to try reproducing; please, would you send me your scene ? regards,
    Lenna arkadia@netcourrier.com

    ReplyDelete
  173. Hi Floze, your tutorial is simply maginifico, I wonder where I can get the file to practice? thank you very much

    My email
    fernando_87q@hotmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  174. Hi great tutorial, could u please send me the scene, rajpandian23@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  175. Hi.Great tutorial.Would you send me please the scene file.Tank you!
    My e-mail is: vili_kr.stef@abv.bg

    ReplyDelete
  176. This is one awesome tut, can u pls send me the scene file link, so that i can practice on it, thnk u

    ReplyDelete
  177. my id is jo2787@gmail.com, can u pls send me the scene file

    ReplyDelete
  178. Hi thanks for sharing this info, could you please send me the scene file my e-mail is josh.focil@gmail.com

    Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  179. gr8 wrk!
    this tut is awesome. could u please send me the scene file on kavss.88@gmail.com.
    thans for sharing ur gr8 knowladge!!!

    ReplyDelete
  180. Hi this is great tutorial. Could you please send me the scene file? Thank you.
    gehilun@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  181. Hi I searched on the internet and many recommend this serial of threads. Thanks for sharing these great tutorials however I found the broken link of all images (invalid floze.de), anywhere I can find those images? By the way, like the other users I would also love to have the scene as well! Please contact me via 'rayting0812 at gmail.com' and million thanks in advance!

    Ray

    ReplyDelete
  182. HI Floze,

    I'm actually unemployed and wanted to play around with your tutes.. They've been out for a while but I'm surprised I couldn't find the scene file anywhere! Could you possibley send them to me?

    Thank you!! cookingwithlasers@gmail.com

    Raphael

    ReplyDelete
  183. Hi I'm from Japan. Great tutorial.
    I learned a lot from your site.
    Like others, could you please send me the scene file?

    yamadadadada_2011@mail.goo.ne.jp

    ReplyDelete
  184. thanks u very much sir floze...i always respect artists ........
    plz send me scene file on

    gupta185@gmail.com

    thanks again

    ReplyDelete
  185. wonderfull could you please send me the scene file?
    email : mboyaci77@hotmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  186. Your Tutorial is amazing.......
    I would really appreciate if you could send me the scene file at c_abdulqadir@yahoo.com.

    It would be used for learning purpose only

    Do keep the tuts coming....

    God bless

    ReplyDelete
  187. V-ray is easy, but you make Mental-Ray look like the best choice. I would very much enjoy following through this if you would please send the scene to me: cam.r.robertson[at]gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  188. This tutorial is great.But am having a hard time really getting along.Will appreciate it if you can send me the scene file.Thank You
    email: riction7070@yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete
  189. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  190. Really Awesome tutorial ..............Please can u send me the scene file...thank u...
    email: krrish.lucky5@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  191. Very informative and useful, thanks! Please send me the scene file: floze.emailedme@spamcannon.net

    ReplyDelete
  192. very good and nice tutorials...really awesome tuts..please can u send me the scenes files..thank you
    email: softpunjabi@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  193. I am doing an independent final for my animation workshop on maya lighting. I can't even begin to tell you how incredibly helpful this was. I only with I had found it about 4 scenes earlier.

    ReplyDelete
  194. thanks ! pls send me the scene file at: m.yuvika@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  195. Thank You very Floze. I was searching so much all over just for some clue & you had shared so much in detail. Pls send me scene file...to tats@aol.in

    ReplyDelete
  196. MErci Beucoup Floze.
    Please can i have a scene file at mailforavik@hotmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  197. Hey, awesome tutorial. Could you send me the scene file at m6d5@yahoo.com?

    ReplyDelete

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