Page 552 - Kitab3DsMax

Part IV: Materials, Cameras, and Lighting Basics

Adjusting brightness
Digital images that are taken with a digital camera are typically pre-lit, meaning that they already have a
light source lighting them. When these pre-lit images are added to a Max scene that includes lights, the
image gets a double dose of light that typically washes out the images.
You can remedy this problem by adjusting the brightness of the image prior to loading it into Max. For
images taken in normal indoor light, you’ll want to decrease the brightness value by 10 to 20 percent. For
outdoor scenes in full sunlight, you may want to decrease the brightness even more.
You can find the Brightness/Contrast control in Photoshop in the Image ➪ Adjustments ➪ Brightness/
Contrast menu.

Scanning images
In addition to taking digital images with a digital camera, you can scan images from other sources. For
example, the maple leaf modeled using patches in Chapter 13, “Modeling with Polygons and Patches,” was
scanned from a real leaf found in my yard.
When scanning images, use the scanner’s descreen option to remove any dithering from the printed image.
If you place the image on a piece of matte black construction paper, then the internal glare from the scan-
ning bulb gets a more uniform light distribution.

Caution
Most magazine and book images are copyrighted and cannot be scanned and used without permission. n

Tutorial: Creating a fishing net
Some modeling tasks can be solved more easily with a material than with geometry changes. A fishing net is
a good example. Using geometry to create the holes in the net would be tricky, but a simple Opacity map
makes this complex modeling task easy.
To create a fishing net, follow these steps:
1. Before working in Max, create the needed texture in Photoshop. In Photoshop, select File ➪ New,
enter the dimensions of 512 pixels × 512 pixels in the New dialog box, and click OK to create a
new image file.
2. Select the Filter ➪ Texture ➪ Mosaic Tiles menu command to apply the Mosaic Tiles filter. Set the
Tile Size to 30 and the Grout Width to 3, and click OK. Then select the Filter ➪ Sketch ➪ Stamp
menu command to apply the Stamp filter with a Light/Dark Balance value of 49 and a Smooth
value of 50.
3. Choose File ➪ Save As, and save the file as Netting.tif.
A copy of this file is available in the Chap 17 directory on the DVD.
4. Open the Fish net.max file from the Chap 17 directory on the DVD.
This file includes a fishing net model created by stretching half a sphere with the Shell modifier
applied.
5. Select the Rendering ➪ Material Editor ➪ Slate Material Editor menu command (or press the M
key) to open the Material Editor. Double-click the Standard option in the Material/Map Browser
to create a material node. Name the material net.

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