This is a quick tutorial on doing translucency effects with the Subsurface Map
for light fixtures.

The first thing that I normally do is to detatch the globes, shades, etc., from
the rest of the fixture.I do this to make it easier to generate a subsurface map.
In this example the glass globes.

The next step is to generate a subsurface map. I could always just use a gradient
map (this is how I did it before max 2010). But using the subsurface map gives me
a greyscale map based on how far apart the geometry is from itself. This is perfect
for translucency effects.

To generate the subsurface map go to Render > Render Surface Map.
Choose the size of the image to generate.
To control how much grading between black and white use the blur
settings. In this example I set the bur to 12.
Select the object in the viewport.
Click Subsurface Map. Then make sure to save your image. We will use this to drive
the color and/or the ammount of the transluceny and self illumination.

The next step would be to make your material. In this example I made a glass material.
Nothing fancy, just solid glass preset with pure white in both the refection color and
refraction color. I the turned the transparency to about .5. I left the IOR at 1.5.
I checked Translucency and set the weight to .85.

Then I created a mix map in the Translucency color map slot. I set the first color
to almost black. The second color map in the mix map I set to the same as the default
Translucency color swatch. For the mask slot I loaded the newly created subsurface map.

Thats pretty much it for translucency settings.

For the inner faces of the globes I copied the glass material and added the same mix map
to the self illumination slot. For this mix map I changed the color from black to
tan/orange, and the other color to light yellow.
I also changed the kelvin color to 3500 and cranked the miltiplier untill it looked nice to me.

As far as my environment settings go, I used the MR photgraphic exposure control set to 7.
And used the "apartment" HDRI for reflections.

The subsurface map can be used for alot of very cool effects. For example, you can use it the
weight slot of the translucency to get your objects to go from almost completely translucent
to mostly transparent depending on the thickness of the objects.

Here are some examples..........





Here is an example with the subsurface map driving the weight parameter.







I hope this is usefull to some.

Thortsen Hartmann, aka hot chip, has released the final version of the Shader Utilities 2010.
If you use mentalray in Max and have not seen this, I would highly recomend checking this out. It is a most useful utility. He has also modified the pro materials to give the user more controls. Fantastic stuff !

Here is the link...........

http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?p=6164403#post6164403


Regards,
Mike

This is a fast and dirty tutorial for a more "traditional" lighting setup with AO
added to the bounce and fill lights. This approach renders very fast and works
well for animated objects. No GI or Final Gather is used. I hope some find it useful.

This is the basic scene setup.












Basically you can add a light shader to your lights.
Then in the color slot add an AO shader.
I colored my AO based on the color of the bounce objects.
In the case of this screen shot, I colored it red to match the wall color.
I then set the attenuation to fit my scene needs.

One of the nice things about this approach is that it works with different
light types including spot lights.
Here is the final image. I did add some glow to the shades in post.

Here is the final render..........





Regards,
Mike

Have you ever wanted to get glare in your renders without doing it in a post app while rendering with Vray ? There is actually a pretty simple workaround for this using the Mentalray Glare shader.

1. Render you image (or images) in Vray.
2. Save your renders out.
3. Load your image (or images) into the environment slot in a fresh scene.
4. Set the renderer to Mentalray.
5. Disable Final Gather.
6. Make sure that the Glare shader is loaded into the output slot of the "camera effects" > "Camera shaders" rollout in the Renderer tab of the render settings.
7. Drag the Glare shader to the Material Editor and adjust the settings to your taste.
8. Render your image (or images).

One thing to be aware of is your gamma settings. If you are using gamma correction, you will need to diable it or your renders will get double gamma correction.

You can check the " Replace rendered image with glare only" checkbox to get the glare rendered by itself. You can then use this in PS or similar to comp in the glare.

Here are some examples....

Vray render....


Vray render with glare....


Glare only....


The glare in this image is perposefully over done so it is easier to see in this example.
Hope you find this usefull.

Check back from time to time, as I will be doing some tutorials, tips and tricks, and shot breakdowns.


Regards,
Mike

Renderman Studio 2 and Renderman For Maya were released Thursday. You can check out the details here.......

https://renderman.pixar.com/products/tools/index.htm


Mike