Adjust Lighting

[mandamurphy]

Can some one please help me. I had the new 2013 3ds max installed on a home pc and am trying to light a custom of furniture. Too dark. I seem to have forgotten how to adjust the standard spotlights.

Currently have two target spotlights with an energy of a billion... I am missing a step obviously. I am using a camera and have it set to mental ray render. It might be that I need to adjust the scene space. I am a newbie so am not allowed to add a link. Is there any way to upload a jpg?

[iskalipsi]

hello mandamurphy, did you notice this is an old thread? And maybe you can post it in 3ds max forum. Thanks.

[SLW210]

I moved your post to a new thread in the 3ds Max Beginners' Area forum.

 

To upload, on the lower right of the reply box, select "Go Advanced" then "Manage Attachments".

[Cad64]

Post a render and a screen shot of your light settings and I'll take a look.

[mandamurphy]

I realized late at night that I had had been using the mental ray renderer with the photometric preset while only using standard lights and that was the problem in terms of not enough light. When I asked my tutor the next day he told me to build a scene and add daylight... which is can be seen in the second picture. It happens to be a close up of a custom cupboard.

 

The thing is if I can't use daylight how do I effectively create natural looking light indoors?

[mandamurphy]

Thanks for setting me on the right track with regards with posting in the right place.

[Cad64]

The thing is if I can't use daylight how do I effectively create natural looking light indoors?

 

Unless you're doing a product shot, where you would set up a 3 point lighting system to mimic studio lighting, you will always use daylight. If you're doing architectural interior renderings you will most likely have windows somewhere within the room you're working on. Even if those windows are not shown in your render.

 

There are lots of lighting/rendering tutorials online.

 

Here's some:

http://jeffpatton.net/2011/11/mental-ray-physical-sky-tips-for-architectural-interiors/

http://www.ramyhanna.com/2010/07/efficient-interior-lighting-with-mental.html

http://cgcookie.com/max/2008/11/03/learning-interior-lighting-with-mental-ray/

http://www.cgrats.com/mental-ray-interior-lighting-basics.html

http://www.polygonblog.com/mental-ray-lighting/

[Raudel Solis]

render menu

exposure control

mental ray exposure control

set Exposure value to 2

Profit!??

[mandamurphy]

thank you Raudel, I am doing that now and everything looks good. does profit mean?! ... mean that does that help? then the answer is yes.

[Raudel Solis]

does profit mean?! ... mean that does that help? then the answer is yes.

yes that's correct

 

like "something + something = success!?"

 

I'm glad everything is working now, post any further questions if you have any.