Hey everyone, I've decided to make a thread for some little tips and tricks i've picked up around the internet. If anyone has any requests please say below. I will only be doing small things for now.
I've noticed a few people struggling with renders (especially high poly ones and seeing as the current compo is for high poly modelling...) so I decided to do a small, basic tutorial on possibly the most easy and quick way of making great renders to start off this thread.
This tutorial may work on other programs if they support mental ray but i'm not to sure, if anyone can confirm this i'd be greatfull.
The first thing you'll want to do is head over to http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=69829 and download the material library. Open up max and go into the "render -> render setup" drop on the drop down menus at the top (Or press F10).
Head down to the bottom of the "Common" tab and open the "Assign Renderer" Menu. For production select "Mental Ray".
Under the renderer tab, find "Filter" then change the "Type" to "Mitchell" and set the "Samples per pixel" "Min" to a value (I recommend 4, the larger the number the longer the render will take but the better it will look) and set the "Max" to a higher value (I recommend 16 but again, the higher the better and longer).
Close the "Render Setup" and open the "Material Editor"(M Key). Click the "Standard" button and from the menu that appears select the "Mtl Library" radio button. Click "Open..." and browse to the material package you downloaded. Once opened select the desired material.
Drag the material to the object.
Hit render and we are done.
Taking it further:
The render looks great and was very simple to do but if you want to make it a bit more of your own render or just want to push it a bit further to get a even better look, we can add in some lighting.
A very basic 3 point lighting setup:
First, we need to make 3 omni lights. On your top down view place 3 lights, 1 in front of the model and 2 to the left and right behind it.
Goto the front view and move the back left light up a bit, move the back right light down a little and move the front light up.
Change the colours of the back to lights to a orangey colour and the front light to a slight blue. Feel free to mess with the multiplier until you get something you like.
Render!
