Lighting and Rendering the Villa at Night

In this tutorial, you will illuminate the mediterranean villa by night.

First, you create photometric lights that mimic real-world lighting systems. After that, you add a photograph of the sky to use as a background.

In this tutorial, you will learn how to:

• Place photometric lights in a scene and adjust light color.
• Set shadow parameters so lights cast shadows properly.
• Set the exposure for a nighttime scene.
• Use a bitmap image as the scene background and adjust its output for nighttime lighting conditions.

Skill level: Intermediate

Time to complete: 1 hour

Preparation for This Tutorial

• If you have not already downloaded the tutorial files (MAX scenes and other assets), download them now and unzip them into a project folder called \Autodesk 3ds Max 2015 tutorials. See Where to Find Tutorial Files.
• On the Quick Access toolbar, click (Project Folder) and set your current project to Autodesk 3ds Max 2015 Tutorials.
  

Topics in this section

• Adding Photometric Lights
  
• Adding Lights to the Deck Area
  
• Improving the Background
  

Parent topic: Lighting Tutorials