3DS Max Lighting (Paperback)

~ Nicholas Boughen (Author) "This chapter deals with the properties of light in the real world, specifically intensity, color, direction, diffuseness, shadow, shape, contrast, movement, and size..." (more)
Key Phrases: mental ray lights, photometric lights, render panel, Light Tracer, Color Selector, Default Scanline Renderer (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Includes CD-ROM with images, objects, scene files and all the figures in the book! Because good lighting is so critical to the final look of your shot, an understanding of how lighting works and how to use the available lighting tools is essential. 3ds max Lighting begins with a discussion of lighting principles and color theory and provides an introduction to the tools in 3ds max, finishing with a number of tutorials demonstrating the application of both 3ds max tools and lighting concepts. Throughout, the emphasis is on making your lighting believable, accurate, and pleasing to the eye. Key Features: Provides the reader with a complete understanding of the process of creating realistic and efficient lighting using the tools in 3ds max, including standard lights, mental ray lights, and photometric lights. Enhances the emotional impact of the programmer's scenes through the use of angles, colors, shadows, light sources, and atmospheric conditions. Presents comprehensive knowledge of how to add effects such as radiosity, caustics, volume lights, and lens flares. Covers the various shadow types available in 3ds max and the situations for which they are suitable. Assists programmers to achieve lighting goals through the practical application of lighting principles and color theory.

About the Author

Nicholas Boughen is a Senior Visual Effects artist working in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. He has worked as Lead Lighter in television and film. Nicholas has worked on countless television commercials, pilots, and mini-series including Dead Like Me, Aftershock: Earthquake in New York, Voyage of the Unicorn, Snow White, Time Tunnel, Stargate SG-1, and others, providing modeling, texturing, lighting, and animation. Nicholas’s feature film work includes The Lizzie McGuire Movie, Goodboy (2003), Garfield, and I, Robot.

Product Details

• Paperback: 950 pages
• Publisher: Jones & Bartlett Publishers (November 22, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 155622401X
• ISBN-13: 978-1556224010
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #364,134 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars High Quality 3ds max Resource, July 11, 2005

By	erik turchin (Pittsburgh, PA) - See all my reviews

If you are already good at modeling and texturing, you really owe it to yourself, your models, and maps to pick this manual up and study it so that you can coax the most out of the many lighting options 3ds max gives you. You may say, well, I already know alot about 3ds max lighting. You may know enough to get by, but after you read this book, you will be doing more with 3ds max lighting than just getting by. This author will teach and give you alot of insight into how to properly manufacture different lighting situations. The majority of the book is of the ideals, practices, and methods you should employ while being concerned with lighting. There is not very much actual 3ds max lighting work or training, hence the 4 star rating, but the way in which this type of information is presented is probably the best choice for "understanding lighting for the long haul." The author takes the approach of explaining everything about light to you in detail, then essentially leaves it up to you how you proceed from there based on what you have learned about light, NOT JUST 3DS MAX LIGHT! I agree with this method. I would rather understand light, and in turn be able to apply that in 3ds max with much greater effect than just knowing what the 3ds max tools do, but not why they work the way they do. 2 different mindsets really, and I'll bet that the student of light first, will produce higher quality overall results most of the time if not all of the time. This author writes very well, and I liked his book alot. The only reason I did not give it 5 stars is because although the included tutorials are reasonable and serve the purpose, perhaps at least one or two complex/advanced lighting effects, or exercises could have been included to really blast the reader off in the right direction and give the user a concrete notion of how to tap the lighting power. Even without this though, this book is worth your time. It will make a very noticable difference in renders, and will unlock the world of lighting to you. Maybe it would be nice to see this author offer other cg topics in the future!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A valuable resource, September 6, 2005

By	NWoodrow (Orlando, Fla) - See all my reviews

As a newcomer to 3DS Max, I was delighted to find this wonderful book to teach me about how to use lights properly. The author has written the book to give beginners a good grounding in lighting theory, and follows that with numerous examples of how to use lights to effectively light scenes.

I found the step-by-step approach very helpful in learning each and every parameter. I believe my lighting is much better now that I have read most of the book. I would highly recommend it to anyone wishing to learn lighting in 3DS Max

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I Can't agree with Jonny, July 2, 2005

By	bhallow "bhallow" (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews

If you are looking for a book with nothing but "put a light here and here and here and render", then you will be disappointed by this book. The book clearly states that it is about learning the theory behind lighting so that artists will be able to tackle any lighting problem without a formula. If you want a "quick fix", yeah sure, this book isn't for you, and you are probably a lazy artist. But if you want to learn real lighting, how real light works and how they differ from MAX and mental ray lights, if you are a serious artist who wants to really understand lighting, then this is a brilliant book.
As for the content being available on the web...who cares? Would I rather have to search all over the net for it, or have the author package it in one place for me? I found it convenient and thoughtful. I'm not sure what book Jonny read, but I don't think it was this one.