Lighting and Cameras in 3DS Max

Today we looked at creating scenes in 3DS Max using lighting and camera techniques. Whilst we have focused mostly on creating assets so far, this was my first attempt at creating scenes that having engaging lighting and thoughtful composition. 

A tranquil desert oasis

The first scene I created was an oasis pool, surrounded by some different sized rocks with a desert floor. I gave the sand some texture using some of the extrusion and smoothing techniques we have looked at previously, and the shapes in the scene are very simple. I used a technique known as 'straw and steel' lighting, whereby the scene is lit using a soft blue light and a soft yellow light, giving a realism and depth to the simple shapes to create a believable shot. One composition principle I know of is 'the rule of thirds', whereby the screen is divided into a 3x3 grid, and the idea is for your subject to fall on the lines, avoiding the middling spaces, in order to create a visually interesting shot. 

Close up shot of my mug

Distant shot, as the mug would perhaps be seen within a game

 The second scene I created was simply a mug of water sitting upon a saucer. I was simply playing around with some of the primitive shape creation tools in 3DS Max, and stumbled into this idea. The detailing is quite crude, as is clear in the first shot, but in the second shot I decided to take one from a distance, as I thought this might give an idea of how the object would be viewed in a game. I decided to try a different style of lighting for this shot, rather than go with the same technique as the last, with a purple directional light being cast upon the side of the mug. This shot is less realistic than the other scene, but I like the vivid purple light, which gives off it's own neon retro vibe.