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CHAPTER

Using Lights and

Basic Lighting

Techniques

ights play an important part in the visual process. Have you ever looked at
a blank page and been told it was a picture of a polar bear in a blizzard or IN THIS CHAPTER
Llooked at a completely black image and been told it was a rendering of a
black spider crawling down a chimney covered in soot? The point of these two Learning Lighting basics
examples is that with too much or too little light, you really can’t see anything.
Understanding Max’s light
Light in the 3D world figures into every rendering calculation, and 3D artists types
often struggle with the same problem of too much or too little light. This chapter
covers creating and controlling lights in your scene. Creating and positioning light
objects
Viewing a scene from a light
Understanding the Basics of Lighting
Altering light parameters
Lighting plays a critical part of any Max scene. Understanding the basics of light- Using the Sunlight and
ing can make a big difference in the overall feeling and mood of your rendered Daylight systems
scenes. Most Max scenes typically use one of two types of lighting: natural light
or artificial light. Natural light is used for outside scenes and uses the sun and Using the Volume light effect
moon for its light source. Artificial light is usually reserved for indoor scenes
where light bulbs provide the light. However, when working with lights, you’ll Using projector maps and
sometimes use natural light indoors, such as sunlight streaming through a win- raytraced shadows
dow, or artificial light outdoors, such as a streetlight.

Natural and artificial light
Natural light is best created using lights that have parallel light rays coming from a
single direction: You can create this type of light using a Direct Light. The intensity
of natural light is also dependent on the time, date, and location of the sun: You
can control this intensity precisely using Max’s Sunlight or Daylight systems.
The weather can also make a difference in the light color. In clear weather, the
color of sunlight is pale yellow; in clouds, sunlight has a blue tint; and in dark,
stormy weather, sunlight is dark gray. The colors of light at sunrise and sunset
are more orange and red. Moonlight is typically white.

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