Advanced to Expert book -Question

[Ruprect]

I am really pleased to hear that Brian is creating another book. I have the intermediate to advanced book and find it to be an invaluable resource tool.

 

I have just read the contents page for the new book and have a question.

 

A section of the last book was dedicated to mental ray render engine, mental ray materials and lighting. I know that m/r comes with max and many people use it, but I always thought that the majority of 3D visualisers use vray.

 

I know that the last book had a quick reference vray section, but I was really looking forward to a more indepth look at vray in the forthcoming book. Having just read the contents page, I dont see any mention of vray. Is there going to be a section on vray materials and lighting in the new book?

 

And finally, with regard to the Intermediate to advanced book, if anyone reading this post has not already bought it, I highly recommend it. 10/10

Edited January 28, 2009 by Ruprect

[brianzajac]

I am really pleased to hear that Brian is creating another book. I have the intermediate to advanced book and find it to be an invaluable resource tool.

 

I have just read the contents page for the new book and have a question.

 

A section of the last book was dedicated to mental ray render engine, mental ray materials and lighting. I know that m/r comes with max and many people use it, but I always thought that the majority of 3D visualisers use vray.

 

I know that the last book had a quick reference vray section, but I was really looking forward to a more indepth look at vray in the forthcoming book. Having just read the contents page, I dont see any mention of vray. Is there going to be a section on vray materials and lighting in the new book?

 

And finally, with regard to the Intermediate to advanced book, if anyone reading this post has not already bought it, I highly recommend it. 10/10

 

Hi Adrian,

Thanks for the kind words. Although it's our book, I would be amiss to say that 3DATS is creating it. There are over two dozen people that are working on it who are not part of 3DATS.

That Table of Contents you mentioned was about 1 month old and hadn't been updated since. It was on the agenda to update, because there were a few things that needed to be changed. Since you brought it up, I went ahead and made the change. As you can see there is a chapter called 'Advanced V-Ray Lighting' and there is mention of bonus material in appendices, which I simply cannot comment on right now, for many reasons. We know that V-Ray is the status quo, but we also have to appease the almighty Autodesk gods who would frown upon a book that went heavy on V-Ray and light on mental ray. As much as it kills us to try, we do make an effort to stay on their 'nice' list.

[bev.lynn]

Is there any chance that the new book will cover lighting analysis for exterior site plans? It would be really helpful when doing night scenes of parking lots etc. as clients would have a visual perspective of exterior lighting.

[brianzajac]

Is there any chance that the new book will cover lighting analysis for exterior site plans? It would be really helpful when doing night scenes of parking lots etc. as clients would have a visual perspective of exterior lighting.

 

Hello Beverly,

 

This might be covered on Chapter 7 - Lighting Analysis tools. But, the author hasn't finalized the chapter yet.

[bev.lynn]

Hi Brian,

If it's not too late to have exterior lighting analysis added PLEASEEE do!

I have been requesting this from the guys that do the live webcast at Autodesk, but no one seems to want to tackle it, but they agree it's a good idea.

[tstephens]

Beverly,

 

The lighting analysis tools in Max Design allow you to place a Light Meter helper object in any location and the lighting intensity in foot candles (or lux) will be measured from any photometric lights in the scene. I've attached an image where a light meter is located on a deck on the exterior of a building. The only light source is the one shown in the image. This is the type of analysis the tools perform. What type of information are you interested in showing your clients in your exterior scenes? If the render is for visualization purposes so your client can see the lighting at different times of day or show different lighting options, you wouldn't need the lighting analysis tools - you would just render images for them to see. If the client wants to see the foot candle levels produced by the lighting, you would place Light Meters and render the scene to show them the foot candles displayed on a grid.

[bev.lynn]

Adrian I apologize for sorta veering from your original post. I hope you don't mind. I just thought I'd seize the opportunity to ask about lighting.

 

Tod, your image captures exactly what I had in mind. Silly me, it never dawned on me that the process worked exactly the same for exterior lighting as it does for interior lighting. You are the first to point that out. And now that I think about it, it should have been obvious! I think too much sometimes!!