In this exercise, we will explore two different rendering techniques.

Learning Resources

Tutorials:

Level 1: Novice Students
Image Based Lighting
Digital Tutors: Building a Backdrop
Lynda - mia_material_x

Level 2: Intermediate Students
Make your own HDR Environment Map
MILA Material and Passes:
MILA Material
Layering with MILA
Ambient Occlusion in MILA

Level 3: Experienced Students
Image Based Lighting
MILA Material and Passes:
MILA Material
Layering with MILA
MILA Subsurface Scattering
Ambient Occlusion in MILA

Website References

Autodesk MIA_Material Image Based Lighting

Downloads
EXR Image Pack

More Information:

Textbook: Mastering Autodesk Maya 2016 (Page 355)

Steps to Completion

Choose a single level to complete based on your level of experience with 3D tools. If you are a novice, choose Level 1. If you have some experience, choose Level 2. If you are very experienced with 3D tools, choose Level 3.

Level 1 Steps Level 2 Steps Level 3 Steps

Level 1:

  1. Watch tutorials on Image Based Lighting (IBL).
  2. Create and set a project folder called mr-ibl-YOURSTUDENTID-L1.
  3. Set your project folder by choosing File → Set Project.
  4. Create your folder structure by choosing File → Project Window → Accept.
  5. After researching thrown ceramic mug, create a new scene and create a polygon model of a thrown ceramic mug.
  6. Create a new perspective called cam1. In the camera attributes, change the film gate to 35mm Academy.
  7. In your Cam1 viewport, enable the Resolution Gate: View → Camera Settings → Resolution Gate.
  8. Create an Image Based Lighting node and create your own or select an existing EXR image to use. Name it ibl-mr-ibl-YOURSTUDENTID.exr
  9. Unfold your UVs using the UV Texture editor other UV tools.
  10. Assign a new Mentalray material called a mia_material to your object.
  11. Apply a texture to the color channel that you’ve created and name it color-mr-ibl-YOURSTUDENTID.jpg in the sourceimages folder.
  12. Create and apply a bump map to overall bump called bump-mr-ibl-YOURSTUDENTID.jpg in the sourceimages folder.
  13. Adjust the Bump Depth to 0.200 on the bump2d node connected to your bump map channel.
  14. Enable Mental Ray as the rendering engine in the render settings.
  15. Match the following render settings:
    Render using Mental Ray
    Quality Tab
    a. Overall Quality: 2 b. Indirect Diffuse (GI) Mode: Finalgather Common Tab
    a. Presets: HD 1080
  16. Position Cam1 so that the object is in the center, filling most of the composition.
  17. Render the image from Cam1 and save it as render-mr-ibl-YOURSTUDENTID.exr in the images folder using OpenEXR format. (Not JPG)
  18. Import your rendered EXR image into Photoshop and use HDR Tone to improve the image’s contrast. You can perform additional manipulations to the image in Photoshop to finalize the render.
  19. Save the final image as final-mr-ibl-YOURSTUDENTID.jpg
  20. Save your scene as mr-ibl-YOURSTUDENTID in the scenes folder.
  21. Compress the project folder once you’ve completed the tutorial and rename it mr-ibl-YOURSTUDENTID-L1.zip.
  22. Upload the .zip file to the submission dropbox
  23. Ensure you’ve included everything properly. Failure to ensure that you’ve uploaded the file will result in your exercise being graded according the grading criteria.

Example Level 1 folder structure


mr-ibl-YOURSTUDENTID-L1.zip
|
└── mr-ibl-YOURSTUDENTID-L1
    |
    ├── sourceimages/
    |   |
    |   ├── ibl-mr-ibl-YOURSTUDENTID.exr
    |   ├── color-mr-ibl-YOURSTUDENTID.jpg
    |   └── bump-mr-ibl-YOURSTUDENTID.jpg
    |
    ├── sound/
    ├── scripts/
    ├── scenes/
    |   |
    |   └── mr-ibl-YOURSTUDENTID.mb
    |
    ├── renderData/
    ├── particles/
    ├── movies/
    ├── images/
    |   |
    |   ├── final-mr-ibl-YOURSTUDENTID.jpg
    |   └── render-mr-ibl-YOURSTUDENTID.exr
    |   
    ├── data/
    ├── clips/
    ├── cache/
    ├── autosave/
    └── assets/

Level 2:

  1. Watch and read tutorials on Image Based Lighting (IBL).
  2. Create and set a project folder called mr-ibl-YOURSTUDENTID-L2.
  3. Set your project folder by choosing File → Set Project.
  4. Create your folder structure by choosing File → Project Window → Accept.
  5. After researching thrown ceramic mug, create a new scene and create a polygon model of a thrown ceramic mug.
  6. Create a new perspective called cam1. In the camera attributes, change the film gate to 35mm Academy.
  7. In your Cam1 viewport, enable the Resolution Gate: View → Camera Settings → Resolution Gate.
  8. Create an Image Based Lighting node and create your own or select an existing EXR image to use. Name it ibl-mr-ibl-YOURSTUDENTID.exr
  9. Unfold your UVs using the UV Texture editor other UV tools.
  10. Assign a new Mentalray material called a mila_material to your object.
  11. Add at least two weighted layers. (You may add as many additional as needed to create the desired look)
  12. Diffuse Reflection (add a texture to the weight, bump, and color channels) - diffuse-weight-mr-ibl-YOURSTUDENTID.jpg - diffuse-color-mr-ibl-YOURSTUDENTID.jpg - diffuse-bump-mr-ibl-YOURSTUDENTID.jpg
  13. Specular Reflection (add a texture to the weight and bump channels) - specular-weight-mr-ibl-YOURSTUDENTID.jpg - specular-bump-mr-ibl-YOURSTUDENTID.jpg
  14. Save all textures in the sourceimages folder.
  15. Adjust the Bump Depth to 0.200 on the bump2d node connected to your bump map channels.
  16. Enable Mental Ray as the rendering engine in the render settings.
  17. Match the following render settings:
    Render using Mental Ray
    Quality Tab
    a. Overall Quality: 2 b. Indirect Diffuse (GI) Mode: Finalgather
    Common Tab
    a. Presets: HD 1080
  18. Position Cam1 to create a nice composition.
  19. Render the image from Cam1 and save it as render-mr-ibl-YOURSTUDENTID.exr in the images folder using OpenEXR format. (Not JPG)
  20. Import your rendered EXR image into Photoshop or Aftereffects and use HDR Tone (Photoshop) or EXtracteR (Aftereffects) to improve the image’s contrast. You can perform additional manipulations to the image to finalize the render.
  21. Save the final image as final-mr-ibl-YOURSTUDENTID.jpg
  22. Save your scene as mr-ibl-YOURSTUDENTID in the scenes folder.
  23. Compress the project folder once you’ve completed the tutorial and rename it mr-ibl-YOURSTUDENTID-L2.zip.
  24. Upload the .zip file to the submission dropbox
  25. Ensure you’ve included everything properly. Failure to ensure that you’ve uploaded the file will result in your exercise being graded according the grading criteria.

Example Level 2 folder structure


mr-ibl-YOURSTUDENTID-L2.zip
|
└── mr-ibl-YOURSTUDENTID-L2
    |
    ├── sourceimages/
    |   |
    |   ├── ibl-mr-ibl-YOURSTUDENTID.exr
    |   ├── diffuse-color-mr-ibl-YOURSTUDENTID.jpg
    |   ├── diffuse-weight-mr-ibl-YOURSTUDENTID.jpg
    |   ├── diffuse-bump-mr-ibl-YOURSTUDENTID.jpg
    |   ├── specular-bump-mr-ibl-YOURSTUDENTID.jpg
    |   └──specular-weight-mr-ibl-YOURSTUDENTID.jpg
    |
    ├── sound/
    ├── scripts/
    ├── scenes/
    |   |
    |   └── mr-ibl-YOURSTUDENTID.mb
    |
    ├── renderData/
    ├── particles/
    ├── movies/
    ├── images/
    |   |
    |   ├── final-mr-ibl-YOURSTUDENTID.jpg
    |   └── render-mr-ibl-YOURSTUDENTID.exr
    |   
    ├── data/
    ├── clips/
    ├── cache/
    ├── autosave/
    └── assets/

Level 3:

  1. Watch the Essential Training and Digital Character Creation tutorials from Lynda on modeling with ZBrush through to the end.
  2. Using the techniques learned in the Digital Creature Creation tutorials, continue working on your model.
  3. Light your image with an Image Based Lighting node and additional lights as needed.
  4. Add a mila_material layer shader to your model with diffuse(scatter) set as the base. Add as many layers as needed to reach a high level of detail and visual interest to your model as desired.
  5. Enable Arnold as the rendering engine in the render settings.
  6. Match the following render settings:
    Render using Arnold
    Quality Tab
    a. Overall Quality: 2 b. Indirect Diffuse (GI) Mode: Finalgather
    Common Tab
    a. Presets: HD 1080
  7. Position your camera to create a nice composition.
  8. Render the image and save it as render-mr-ibl-YOURSTUDENTID.exr in the images folder using OpenEXR format. (Not JPG)
  9. Import your rendered EXR image into Photoshop or Aftereffects and use HDR Tone (Photoshop) or EXtracteR (Aftereffects) to improve the image’s contrast. You can perform additional manipulations to the image to finalize the render.
  10. Save the final image as final-mr-ibl-YOURSTUDENTID.jpg
  11. Compress the project folder once you’ve completed the tutorial and rename it mr-ibl-YOURSTUDENTID-L3.zip.
  12. Upload the .zip file to the submission dropbox.
  13. Ensure you’ve included everything properly. Failure to ensure that you’ve uploaded the file will result in your exercise being graded according the grading criteria.

Example Level 3 folder structure


mr-ibl-YOURSTUDENTID-L3.zip
|
└── mr-ibl-YOURSTUDENTID-L3
    |
    ├── sourceimages/
    |   |
    |   └── [texture-names]-mr-ibl-YOURSTUDENTID.jpg
    |
    ├── sound/
    ├── scripts/
    ├── scenes/
    |   |
    |   └── mr-ibl-YOURSTUDENTID.mb
    |
    ├── renderData/
    ├── particles/
    ├── movies/
    ├── images/
    |   |
    |   ├── final-mr-ibl-YOURSTUDENTID.jpg
    |   └── render-mr-ibl-YOURSTUDENTID.exr
    |   
    ├── data/
    ├── clips/
    ├── cache/
    ├── autosave/
    └── assets/

Grading

Your grade will be assessed according to the Exercise Grading Criteria.