• Portfolio hand-in and practical exam week 8 tutorial session

Photographic analogy: Lights, Camera, Action!:
Artificial Stage sets rather than accurate portrayals

Modeling and Rendering Steps: See Lightscape's project workflow

1. Create the Model
2. Find Camera views
3. Set up Lighting, test
4. Assign Materials & background
5. Map textures
6. Choose Rendering Mode: Quality vs. Time
7. Render, save to file

   Additional DESIGN steps:

8. Revise model, lighting, materials
9. Re-render
10. Post-process with image processing

 Troubleshooting Renderings

• Set Image Size
• Adjust Rendering Quality Mode (Full Z-Buffer)
• Thumbnail: test render with layers off
• Step by step to learn factors, take notes on variables
• Check reference images in Radiozity manual
• Other solutions

A. What do we see?

Light rays hitting our eyes allow us to see objects reflecting or radiating light: Brightness and color are dependent on both the light source and the reflecting material.

Shade: non-lit surface

Shadows: Projected darkness

Examples from Lachmi Khemlani's book:

• Opaque vs. Transparent
• Darkness
• Hard vs. Soft
• Level of Detail
• Shadows on (in Lights, Display Options, Rendering Attributes)

B. Types of Light sources

• Directional = parallel rays, sun settings
• Point source = all directions
   Intensity by inverse square law
• Spot = adjustable cone
• Ambient = flat general background illumination (non-directional)
• Projector lights
• Area lights
• Linear lights

C. Using Lighting

• Direction
• Contrast
• Color
• Key and Fill Lights
• Combining Sources: crude vs. balanced
• Light, Shadow & Feelings

A. Material attributes = Surface qualities

• Surface color (local color)
• Reflectivity (Shininess)
• Transparency
• Bump

B. Texture mapping

• Solid or Wrapped textures
• Image maps
• Tiled copies vs. single copy (Full-face)
• Transparency Maps:
• Bump Map
• Procedural mapping parameters

C. Alpha Channel: greyscale or black and white stencil

• Transparency mapping Black or alpha channel shows areas to be clear
• Bump mapping simulates 3D relief

D. Decals w/ backgrounds (Centered Texture)

• wireframe
• hidden line
• surface render
• shaded render
• renderzone
• radiosity

High-quality

• Raytracing vs. Radiosity
• "Renderzone" vs. "Raydiozity"reflected color only in raydiosity, requires contrast adjustment
• Illumination Analysis

Use the FormZ Imager to make batch renderings

• Perspective view
• Lighting
• Texture map two objects