Andrzej Sykut - Lighting La Ruelle - 3D Max - VRay - 2011

This series of five tutorials will focus on the topic
of outdoor lighting and more specifically the task

of setting up different light rigs to reflect a variety
of weather scenarios. Each of the chapters will
use the same base scene as a starting point and
show a step by step guide to finding a lighting
and rendering solution to describe a set time of
day under different conditions ranging from a
damp foggy night to sunset / sunrise.
The tutorials will explain the type of lights used
and how to set up their parameters alongside
the combined rendering settings in order to
achieve an effective result. The manipulation
of textures will also be covered in order to turn
a daylight scene into night for example, as
well as a look at some useful post production
techniques in Photoshop in order to enhance a
final still.
Chapter 1 | This Issue

Fog/Mist at Night-Time
Chapter 2 | Next Issue

Sunrise/Sunset
Chapter 3 | March Issue 055

Moonlight
Chapter 4 | April Issue 056

Midday Sun
Chapter 5 | May Issue 057

Overcast
- Free Scene & Textures

This download includes
the original scene files and
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Environment Lighting: Outdoor Scene - Chapter 1: Fog/Mist (Damp) at Night-Time

Chapter 1 - Fog/Mist
(Damp) at Night-Time
Software Used: 3ds Max + V-Ray
Before placing a single light in 3d software, its
good to spend a while, looking at the scene,
and thinking, imagining a bit. The assignment is
pretty clear fog/mist (damp), at night - thats
the prime directive. But that is not all that
matters. Composition of the image is important,
regardless of the lighting scenario we have
to achieve and that too can influence light
placement, strength and color. Visual style and
art direction is important also is it supposed
to look real, photo real, stylized? Finding some
reference can suggest a few ideas about how
to achieve our task. Its also good to think about
the technical aspects is it going to be a still
image, or is it for animation, should it render
really fast, or maybe we have some computing
power at our disposal? But nowadays, when
the computers are fast, its not always that
important.
So how does all that theory work in a real life
case? Lets take a look at the viewport capture
(Fig.01) of our scene. First important things
I noticed, were the lamp (marked red), and
cobbled street surface (marked red, as well).
The street would be a great tool to suggest the
dampness, while the lamp would make a nice
main light source, especially if it could cast a
highlight on the road surface. That lamp would
not be enough, so Ive decided to suggest more
lamps along the street, just behind the archway
(that should give us a nice depth in the image),
marked blue. Also, I decided to light up some
That still does not cover all the light that should
balance will be handled in post-production. And
windows. But which ones should I choose? The
be in the scene. We need some ambient
we need the fog this is crucial, without fog all
square one facing the camera (green), or one
lighting, to suggest we are outdoors. I dont
the above would give us a clear night after the
of the two on the right side (orange)? I dont
mean ambient settings in the 3d software, but
rain.
want any lit windows on the walls facing the
rather the light coming from the environment:
camera (marked violet) that would break the
sky, moon, distant city lights, that kind of thing.
To render the scene, Im using 3dsmax with
composition thats starting to form in my head,
In our case, it should come from above, and
Vray. Recent releases of Vray contain a very
by leading the eye towards the edges of the
slightly from the front. The way I see it, artificial
nice tool VrayEnvironmentFog. Its main
image.
lights should be warm, the ambient neutral,
advantage over standard max fog is that it
or slightly cold/blue. The final tuning of that
reacts to the light sources, just like real life fog.
www.3dcreativemag.com
Page 101
Issue 053 January 2010
Outdoor Scene - Chapter 1: Fog/Mist (Damp) at Night-Time: Environment Lighting

That means we wont have to fake it by using
volume lights and old-style fog we will work
with lights, and let Vray handle the heavy lifting
of providing the atmosphere. Note of caution
here. While VrayEnvironmentFog can produce
very nice images, it also can take a long time to
render, especially when there are a lot of light
sources, not mentioning the GI. For now in the
initial steps it can stay off, we will add it later on.
First thing I usually do, is set the Color Mapping
to Exponential (Fig.02). While this isnt probably
the most physically correct way, it has some
advantages. The way it works, is by preventing
over bright hotspots, and oversaturated color
transitions. Its also very tolerant its really
hard to whiteout the image, and the lights have
a very wide range of usable multiplier/strength
settings (but that range often ends up being
pretty high, like 512 or so, especially with the
fog on). It has downsides, too, making the
colors look desaturated, and decreasing the
contrast of the image. I actually like it that way,
because I can easily bring back the contrast
and saturation in post production, and for some
scenes it just fits but if you dont like it, theres
HSV exponential mode, which better retains the
Next thing was to set up the road
First light Ive placed was the spherical Vray
color. Generally though, I mainly use the default
surface (Fig.03). A simple Vray material,
Light in place of the main lamp (Fig.04). I
setting with Linear Multiply for rendering some
VrayDisplacement modifier, and we are good
started with a very, very saturated orange. I
additional passes such as masks.
to go.
actually did it with the all other lights as well I

have a tendency to use strong, colored lights
that sometimes get the better of me. That
usually gets fixed in later stages. That first light
was duplicated along the stairway, lighting up
the way into the image. It took some tweaking of
their placement and strength - finally I decided
to place them on the left wall, and add one on
the right (Fig.05).
Now its time for the windows. I started by
placing a Plane (default type) Vray Light in place
of the closer window on the right wall (Fig.06)
kind of by accident really, as it was supposed
to be the other window. But that placement
gave me a nice illumination of the left building,
picking up the bump detail there, so I decided
to keep it. I did try the other window, but didnt
Page 102
like it as it lit the arch wall way too much. The

same way I lit up the little square window above
the arch (Fig.07). A little trick here. As you
may have noticed, I use double-sided lights.
Its just for preview purposes, as it illuminates
the window behind it, giving me a clue that the
window is bright without me having to do it the
proper way. It looks wrong, but good enough to
experiment with placing window lights, and will
be fixed shortly.
Somewhere at this stage, Ive turned the fog on.
It took me a while to find the right settings its
good to know general scene dimensions, but
its a case of trial and error (Fig.08). Its worth
noticing, that the fog absorbs quite a lot of light,
making the image darker than before and requiring some adjustment to
the lights main light intensity was bumped up to 700.
Another solution is to adjust the exposure. To do that in Vray, we need
to use VRayPhysicalCamera, which allows us to work in a photographic
manner setting f-number, ISO, and shutter speed, among others. I
aligned it to the original camera using the Align tool - but it still needed
some offset to match. After some attempts, I settled on the settings
pictured in (Fig.09). VRayPhysicalCamera also provides the settings for
vignetting, very handy even if it will be finely tuned during post production.
While playing with exposure, we may continue with a more photographic
approach, and change the white balance. When doing night photography,
playing with WB can give nice, rich colors in seemingly plain light (Fig.10).
I took these photos using Shaded / Cloudy settings, and tried to achieve
some of that look in the scene, even if it was a starting to look bit too
warm.
To illuminate the fog a bit, we need more light we need the
aforementioned ambient light. But we are not going to use the Ambient
setting, nor will we use a Skylight solution. Sky will be handled by a big
Vray Light above the whole scene, colored teal (Fig.11), and one smaller
Vray Light, angled slightly towards the camera, placed just above the
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Outdoor Scene - Chapter 1: Fog/Mist (Damp) at Night-Time: Environment Lighting
roof. Moonlight will be done using a standard

Max Directional light, placed above the camera.
Because I dont want the front facing walls to
be lit too much, I built a simple shadow-caster
object, simulating the other side of the street
(Fig.12). For placing such lights, where shadow
is even more important than the light, its good
to use viewport shadows display. I use it for
almost all lights in the scene, but it really works
well with one or two as with any more they tend
to cancel each other out.
I didnt want any direct light on the front facing
walls, but I wanted to suggest some world off
screen. I used three Omni lights, projecting
a quickly stitched image of tree branches, to
simulate some streetlights hidden behind the
trees (Fig.13).
At this stage with the main light sources in
place, I took the low quality rendering into
Photoshop, and started tweaking a bit. I quickly
confirmed that most of the colors were way too
saturated, producing an image that was way
too warm. Quick try with Adjustment Layers
provided the direction I should try (Fig.14). I
also noticed that the side walls could use some
specularity to accentuate the damp feeling and
that there was no nice main specular on the
street...
I proceeded to fix those things. Light colors got
desaturated and even turned slightly blue. The
light coming from the sky was now almost gray.
Sure, but looks good, and I couldnt achieve it
The whole composition was starting to look
The lack of specular on the street was fixed
with the main lamp placed where its placed in
unbalanced, gravitating towards the right side.
by duplicating the main light, turning off Affect
the scene. If it was a real life movie set, it would
I therefore added a light in the doorway down
Diffuse option, and using the Place Highlight tool
probably be handled in a similar way by placing
on the street level to the left in order to balance
to position it in the right spot (Fig.15). Fake?
a light source just so.
it a bit. Theres also an angled box, invisible to
Page 104

the camera, shaping the hotspot to resemble an
open door yet another trick here (Fig.16).
The walls were turned into a Shellac Material,
with a VrayMtl in the shellac slot (Fig.17). After
some tweaking, I achieved a nice looking, damp
wall, catching the highlight from that little square
window.
The image was starting to look quite good
now but a few tweaks were still required. The
metal railings needed a reflective VrayMtl, the
little metal roof high above the street needed
to look wet, too. But the main problem was my
preview windows. I solved that by turning the
lights to be single sided, and duplicating them.
The duplicate is way weaker, as it serves only to
illuminate the wall recession around the window.
Now whats behind the window is another fake
its simply a self-illumination map, using a photo
of a window from the outside, at night (Fig.18).
Itll do for a still image, but it wont hold up for
camera movement we would need at least
some simple interior then. Fortunately we are
working with a still this time.
those things are too small to write about, they
stuff. When thats done, we can try to finally
A few more slight tweaks remained I
are always there. Change the hue here, by a
render the image at higher resolution. This
constantly find something to tweak, even if
tiny bit, tweak the material there, that kind of
scene is quite time-consuming to render, due

to the fog overnight is a good idea. For test
renders, I use low resolution, fixed image
sampling, and lowered subdivs in the fog. Again,
note of caution Fixed sampling produces a lot
of bright noise in specular areas appearing as
though there should be nice, crisp detail when
you do a full render. Much of this disappears
and gets filtered down and smoothed, providing
a much softer looking result in the end. This is
something to bear in mind and so be prepared
to do more than one higher quality render. The
image took 22 hours to render, but I used a
3-year old machine.
Most of the post-production I had already
sorted out, throwing my test renders into
that first PSD test-image. I used a few radial
gradients to enhance the atmosphere, some
color corrections to bring back the cold, blue
Page 105
hues, upping the gamma a bit, overlaying some

photographic smoke images, some subtle
chromatic aberration - simple things, really,
but as always, crucial to a good looking image.
(Fig.19) shows most of the things I added. The
final image is on (Fig.20).
Id like to point out that this image does not use
GI. Sure, it wouldnt do any harm but it works
quite well even without it, mainly due to the fog
which adds some bright fill to the scene. Apart
from this its nighttime whereupon the bounced
light is way weaker than during the daytime (no
sun, no bright sky).
Tutorial by:
Andrzej Sykut
For more from this artist visit:
http://azazel.carbonmade.com/
Or contact them:
eltazaar@gmail.com

the original scene files and
textures + the artist final
scene setting up

final still.
Chapter 1 | January Issue 053


Sunrise/Sunset

Moonlight
Chapter 4 | April Issue 056

Midday Sun

Overcast

the artist final scene set
up + textures
+ v-ray
Environment Lighting: Outdoor Scene - Chapter 2: Sunrise / Sunset

Chapter 2
- Sunrise / Sunset
Before placing a single light in a 3d software,
its good to spend a while, looking at the scene,
and thinking, imagining a bit. The assignment
is pretty clear - sunset/sunrise - thats the
prime directive. But that is not all that matters.
Composition of the image is important,
placement, strength and color. Visual style, art
direction is important as well is it supposed
to look real, photo real, stylized? Finding
some reference can suggest few ideas, how
to achieve our task. Its also good to think
about technical aspects is it going to be a still
image, or is it for animation, should it render
really fast, or maybe we have some computing
power at our disposal? But nowadays, when
the computers are fast, its not always that
important.
So how does all that theory work in real life
case? Well, there are two most obvious (and
easy to recognize) ways of showing a sunset.
In the first one, the sun is behind the camera.
The shadows of the buildings, especially offscreen ones, can become a very important
element of the scene. Because there are parts
of the image in warm sunlight, and some in the
cooler shadows, there can be quite a lot of color
variation (Fig.01), and the contrast isnt very
high. Second approach, we are looking at the
sun theres a lot of bright light, things are shiny
(because of the glancing angle of the sun rays),
there are nice, long shadows, and the overall
This looks like a great candidate to use Vray
contrast can be quite high, but there can be little
Sun&Sky system as a base of our light setup, at
in a way of color variation (Fig.02). Both ways
least at first glance. While it should work for the
differ in mood quite a bit - of course, you can
first scenario, it may not be flexible enough for
choose somewhere in between it depends on
the second one in that particular scene. The
the scene, and on the story you want to tell.
arch at the end of the street blocks the horizon,
There are similarities, too. In both cases, sun
(Fig.03, marked red) and whole scene would be
is our main (key) light source. Sky acts as a
in shadow... unless we try something else.
fill but the ratio between the two is different.
Page 117
Issue 054 February 2010
Outdoor Scene - Chapter 2: Sunrise / Sunset: Environment Lighting

Lets start with the first approach.
higher for final rendering. For still images, as

in this case, I try to use fastest (lowest) setting
possible, while still getting acceptable result.
Vray, with GI turned on. I most often use
For animation, the Medium Animation setting is
Irradiance Map for first bounce and Brute Force
usually safe, flicker free option. I also use a hint
for the secondary bounces that is the default
of global Ambient Occlusion to add some detail
setting, which works for me in most cases
to shadowed parts of the image.
(Fig.04 preview setting). Detailed settings, like

number of bounces, or Irradiance Map size of
Next thing I did was setting the Color Mapping
course vary over time low quality for previews,
to Exponential (Fig.05). While this isnt probably

the most physically correct way, it has some
advantages. The way it works, it prevents
overbright hotspots, and oversaturated color
transitions. Its also very tolerant its really hard
to whiteout the image, and the lights have a very
wide range of usable multiplier/strength setting
(but that range often ends up being pretty high,
like 512 or so, especially with the fog on). It
has downsides, too, making the colors look
desaturated, and decreasing the contrast of the
image. I actually like it that way, because I can
easily bring back the contrast and saturation in
Then, Ive set up the road surface (Fig.06).
post production, and for some scenes it just fits
A simple Vray material, VrayDisplacement
but if you dont like it, theres HSV exponential
modifier, and we are good to go. I also added
mode, which keeps the colors better. Generally,
some reflections to the windows (using blend
though, main use I have for default, Linear
material, VrayMtl for the windows, and a b&w
Multiply, is rendering some additional passes,
mask). Metal parts, like railings and lamp also
like masks.
use shiny, reflective VrayMtl.
Page 118
Now its time to create the sun. Lets choose VraySun. The pop-up will
appear, asking about adding VraySky in the Environment slot I hit
OK, since Ill need it. Next I switched VraySky to manual sun node, and
pointed the newly created VraySun as the sun node (Fig.07). To have a bit
more control, I used two variants of the sky one for lighting, using Vrays
environment override, and one to be visible. The difference is in the sun
intensity multiplier.
To position the sun, its good to display shadows in the viewport
(Fig.08). That way I can see the shadows in real-time, and finding a
nice composition is really fast... but wait, theres nothing that could cast
shadows on our street. Its easy to fix just draw few skyline-shaped,
angular splines, and extrude them a bit, then place roughly where the
other side of the street would be, and tweak from there (Fig.09). Here I
chose the to have a nice, lit path into the image, and dark shapes on both
sides.
Before rendering anything, I created VRayPhysicalCamera, so I could
control the brightness of the scene in more intuitive way (as I have a
bit of photographic experience). The settings pictured on (Fig.10) took
some trial and error to get them right generally, if the scene is moreor less build in real world scale, the settings that would work if we were
to take a photo of that scene in real life, are a good starting point. The
Vignetting option is quite useful here, darkening the corners of the image,
and focusing the viewers attention at the central part of the image. I also
adjusted the sun brightness, and size, to get nice, soft shadows.
Page 119
Lets see what weve got (Fig.11). Not that bad, but could be better Id
like some more blue in the shadows, and some more light in the central
part of the image. I added a big blueish Vray Light above and to the front
of the scene (Fig.12). This gives more color variation, and, as it is, looks
more like a sunrise, - but its easy to go back into sunset territory, with few
tweaks in post-production. Another, smaller light further along the street
(Fig.13) lights up the arch wall, which was bit too dark for my taste. Ive
also added a small light behind the arch, so theres no big flat dark spot in
the center of the image (Fig.14).
Page 120
Now, lets take the image into Photoshop,

and see what we can do with it. Using Curves
Adjustment Layer, I brought down most of the
blue/violet from the shadows, giving the whole
image a warmer tone (Fig.15), played with
vignetting, and some glows, and heres the final
result: (Fig.16). All in all, this wasnt too hard,
was it?
Page 121
The second scenario is bit more tricky. Lets
have proper warm color (Fig.17). If I swap the
start with the scene Ive just finished, and
VraySun for the standard Directional Light, I
remove all lights except the sun. If I set the
can have full control of its color. I replaced the
sun where I want it, and render, the colors are
VraySky (the one doing the lighting, in Vray
all wrong cold, blue, instead of war browns
override tab) with a HDR photo of a sunset
even without it, as its effect is subtle, and most
and oranges. Simply the sun is too high to
(To be honest, the scene would probably work
of the lighting will be done by hand. Still, its

some starting point.), bumped up the Primary
Bounces multiplier, played with AO settings, and
Vray camera settings (Fig.18) - and the colors
start to look right, but the scene is way too dark
(Fig.19). The walls of the street are in shade...
as they probably should, but Id like them to
catch some light, so I put a squashed, spherical
Vray Light under the arch (Fig.20). The right
wall has a slightly reflective material (added as
a Shellac to the base shader), so there is a nice
detailed pattern there.
Another light was placed above the roof, to
throw some back-light on the wall on the right
(Fig.21).
Page 124

Yet another, quite big one, placed above the
street, simulates the light coming from the
sky (Fig.22) - but its not enough, so theres
another, even bigger one above the camera,
facing the scene, providing some fill light on the
forward-facing parts (Fig.23). Using big area
lights has some advantages you can add light
coming from certain direction, but without sharp
shadows, which would clutter the image, and
without a very characteristic in CG, point/spot
light distribution, which is not always desired.
Besides, it works like a big softbox/bounce in
real world, either in photography studio, or on
a movie set. The downside is rendertime, and
sometimes noise, if the sampling of the shadows
is not good enough.
Before final rendering, I tweaked the backlight
above the roof a bit less saturation, bit more
intensity, and rotated it a bit no big deal,
really. Theres another problem here a light
bleeding in the corner. To fix that, I could
use higher quality Irradiance Maps, or try to
use Detail Enhancement - at the expense of
rendertime but as the image will be rendered
in high resolution, the settings I have now,
should be enough (at high resolutions, even
the low Irradiance Map settings provide enough
information to get a clean rendering). Actually,
Ive lowered them even more, but that required
some slight fixing to be done.
What the scene lacks is some atmosphere I
left that for the very end, for the postproduction
stage. I rendered a Zdepth pass, and added
slight fog in Photoshop (Fig.24), along with
some other simple tweaks. - and the final image
looks like (Fig.25).
Seeing those two approaches, we can draw
some conclusions. The automatic Sun/Sky
system is a great starting point, and in some
cases, its probably good enough by itself. But
as good as it is, it is not always flexible enough,
and some scenes will greatly benefit from few
well placed additional lights and some will
have to be lit mostly by hand which is not that
Page 125
hard, once you have a clear direction of what

you want to achieve. And thats where some
research can be very helpful.
Tutorial by:
Andrzej Sykut
Or contact them:
eltazaar@gmail.com

up + textures

final still.

Chapter 2 | February Issue 054

Sunrise/Sunset

Moonlight

Midday Sun

Overcast

up + textures
+ v-ray
Environment Lighting Outdoor Scene - Chapter 3: Moonlight

Chapter 3
- Moonlight
Before placing a single light in a piece of 3d
lamps and other man-made light sources are
monochromatic, usually cool (most often in
much stronger, and at night, its those that are
muted gray-blue hues, sometimes muted green
most visible. Even in the countryside, youll most
shades as well), with few strong highlights.
likely see a glow from the nearby city or village.
Saturation is usually quite low.
So pure moonlight is a rare sight.

- Key light is quite strong, but is usually placed
software, its good to spend a while, looking

at the scene, and thinking, imagining a bit.
- At night, human eye sees much less colors
at an angle, or even at the back strong back
The assignment is pretty clear moonlight
than film or digital sensor can see. Hence, what
light is quite characteristic here. Having the
is the prime directive. But that is not all that
we see, and what we can photograph, can be
moon in the frame nicely motivates said back
matters. Composition of the image is important,
two different things.
light.
- If we try to photograph a moonlit scene, and
- Also worth noting, such light will be at gazing
placement, strength and color. Visual style and
use long enough exposure time, well get an
angle to many surfaces in the scene, and will
art direction is important as well is it supposed
image looking almost like daylight, with tell-tale
catch a strong highlight on the shiny ones.
to look real, photo real, stylized? Finding some
arcs left by stars, as the earth rotates. That kind
Special case of such surface is water it
reference can suggest a few ideas, how to
of image, while it can be quite interesting, may
can reflect the moon in a really beautiful way,
achieve our task. Its also good to think about
not be instantly recognizable as moonlit night.
and, being very bright, can help balance the
composition, acting as a visual counterweight
technicals is it going to be a still image, or is

it for animation, should it render really fast, or
- Well, its night, its dark we have to be careful,
maybe we have some computing power at our
or the image will end up dim and low-contrast,
disposal? But nowadays, when the computers
with no depth and no colors. Not a very nice
- Shadows are important. The Moon usually
are fast, thats not always a problem.
prospect.
produces sharp shadows, unless its covered
Creating a moonlit scene can be tricky. There
So what can we do to, if we need moonlight?
are few reasons for that:
Then same thing the filmmakers do, when
to the bright moon face.
by clouds, which can soften the shadows quite

a bit.
shooting a night scene create the feeling, the
- Fill is quite weak, so by contrast, the highlights
- We dont often see moonlight at work. Sure, full
impression of moonlit night, using some well
seem brighter. For characters, a warm fill might
moon nights with clear sky are common enough,
known visual clues.
work well.
but light pollution is even more common. Street
- Color palette is crucial dark, often almost

- Atmosphere (fog, mist, smoke) can be very
useful, allowing us to use silhouettes of the
objects but its usage depends on the required
mood. You can achieve quite striking images by
working with silhouettes alone.
When looking at a night scene, we kind of
expect to find some of the above properties.
We are used to them, by years of watching
the movies or paintings (just take a look at
nocturne paintings by Grimshaw or Turner (Fig.01), compared to actual photos). And if we
want our setting to be instantly recognizable,
and visually attractive, its often good to keep
them in mind.
Now lets take a look at our scene (Fig.02). No
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Issue 055 March 2010
Outdoor Scene - Chapter 3: Moonlight Environment Lighting
water surface here and only a tiny piece of the

sky. We could try to use moon as a back light,
but it could only reach a tiny part of the scene,
with most of it left in the dark. That could work,
but Id like to try something else. Something like
a light coming from the side, filtered through the
tree branches, with slightly soft shadows. Not
much in a way of interesting silhouettes to play
with, so some direct light will be needed. And as
its light thats important here, not atmosphere,
above rules are more like guidelines than law,
image, and the lights have a very wide range of
the fog will be very subtle. As youll see, the
and you can bend or break them, if you know
usable multiplier/strength setting (but that range
what you want to achieve.
often ends up being pretty high, like 512 or so,

especially with the fog on). It has downsides,
too, making the colors look desaturated, and
Vray, with GI turned on. I most often use
decreasing the contrast of the image. I actually
Irradiance Map for first bounce, and Brute
like it that way, because I can easily bring back
Force for the secondary bounces that is the
the contrast and saturation in post production,
default setting, which works for me in most
and for some scenes it just fits but if you dont
cases (Fig.03 preview settings). Detailed
like it, theres HSV exponential mode, which
settings, like number of bounces, or Irradiance
keeps the colors better. Generally, though,
Map size of course vary over time low quality
main use I have for default, Linear Multiply, is
for previews, higher for final rendering. For
rendering some additional passes, like masks.
still images, as in this case, I try to use fastest
(lowest) setting possible, while still getting
The scene needed some preparations adding
acceptable result. For animation, the Medium
VrayDisplacement to the street surface, some
Animation setting is usually safe, flicker free
reflections to the windows (using blend material,
option. I also use a hint of global Ambient
VrayMtl for the windows, and a b&w mask).
Occlusion to add some detail to shadowed parts
Metal parts, like railings and lamp also got a
of the image.
shiny, reflective VrayMtl.
One of the first things I usually do is setting
Before rendering anything, I created
the Color Mapping to Exponential (Fig.04).
VRayPhysicalCamera, so I could control the
While this isnt probably the most physically
brightness of the scene in more intuitive way (as
correct way, it has some advantages. The way
I have a bit of photographic experience). The
it works, it prevents over bright hot spots,
settings pictured on (Fig.05) took some trial and
and over saturated color transitions. Its also
error to get them right generally, if the scene
very tolerant its really hard to whiteout the
is more-or less build in real world scale, the
Page 124
Environment Lighting Outdoor Scene - Chapter 3: Moonlight
settings that would work if we were to take a photo of that scene in real
life, are a good starting point. The Vignetting option is quite useful here,
darkening the corners of the image, and focusing the viewers attention at
the central part of the image here, I used it very sparingly.
I started lighting by setting up the fill (Fig.06) in this case, a HDR image
of a night city. In nicely introduces some subtle color variation. We need
to add some geometry to block it from the front, though as in real life,
where buildings on the other side of the street would occlude some of the
sky.
Next in line was the moon. It took some tries to find a nice angle, but the
time it takes can be shortened by enabling Viewport Shadows display
(Fig.07). The Moon is a standard blue-colored directional light, with Vray
shadows, and hotspot tweaked to the scene size. I used a tiled black and
white image of tree branches in the projection slot (Fig.08). The projected
image is blurred a bit, to match the real shadow softness. Notice how
nicely the bump mapping on the walls work thats one of the benefits of
light angled to the side (or raking light, as its sometimes called).
And as a last tweaks, I added an area light behind the arch, above the
stairs, so they catch a nice subtle highlight, adding a bit of depth to the
scene (Fig.09), and increased main light multiplier a bit. I was considering
adding some man-made light source, like a window-light or the street

lamp, but in the end, I decided against it it would have lessened the
impact of the moonlight in the scene.
In post production, I did some subtle color correction, adding some red
and green to the shadows, and blue/cyan to the highlights it works quite
well, even if its the opposite of what Id do on a normal, daylight image.
I also added a hint of fog using Zdepth pass, some highlight glow, some
grain, and a tiny amount of chromatic aberration simple tweaks, really
(Fig.10).
Page 125
As it turns out, achieving a moonlit scene was

quite easy, with just two light sources and some
GI (Fig.11 final image). While technically
simple, that kind of scene requires some
pondering and a bit of cheating I tried to think
about our scene as a movie set, not only as a
real street late at night.
Tutorial by:
Andrzej Sykut
Or contact them:
eltazaar@gmail.com

up + textures

final still.

Chapter 2 | February Issue 054

Sunrise/Sunset
Chapter 3 | March Issue 055

Moonlight

Midday Sun

Overcast

up + textures
+ v-ray
Environment Lighting Outdoor Scene - Chapter 4: Midday Sun

Chapter 4
- Midday Sun
This months assignment is midday sunlight
the kind you could see every day, if you are
lucky. But since its so common sight, well
have to be careful not to make it too plain. Of
course, if you are working for a client/director,
they may have another vision, but Id like the
image to look good, maybe stylized a bit instead
of plain, but realistic. The stylization I have in
mind lies in color correction I like the colors
of old film photos, like those on the (Fig.01),
so Ill try to incorporate some of that look in
our image. It comes from many sources from
using Lomo camera, which was my childhood
toy, way before becoming hip ;), from processing
Those shapes can either hurt the composition,
your film in wrong chemicals (so-called
becoming a distraction, or help it, guiding the
cross-processing), or from the film itself, often
eye to the focal parts of the image. Fortunately,
producing some color casts/distortions. This has
its easy to try various sun positions quickly.
little to do with the 3d part, and a lot to do with
Besides... those shadows quite often shouldnt
post-production, so more on that later.
even be blue neutral colors may work as well,

depending on the situation.
Lighting-wise, midday sunlight is pretty simple,

strong sun as a key light, blues sky, leading to
This case is a great occasion to use Vray sun &
blue-tinted, hard-edged shadows. Thats it...
sky system thats what its made for. It should
well, not yet. Composition, as usual, is most
give us a good looking, but neutral generic
important. The mentioned hard shadows can
image. Im using it in tandem with GI. I mainly
be pretty intense, creating shapes of their own.
use Irradiance Map for the first bounce and

Brute Force for the secondary bounces that is
the default setting which works for me in most
cases (Fig.02 preview settings). Detailed
settings like number of bounces, or Irradiance
Map size of course vary over time low quality
for previews, higher if the scene requires it. For
still images, as in this case, I try to use fastest
(lowest) setting possible, while still getting
acceptable result. For animation, the Medium
Animation setting is usually safe with the flicker
free option. I also use a hint of global Ambient
Occlusion to add some detail to the shadowed
parts of the image.
One of the first things I usually do is setting
the Color Mapping to Exponential (Fig.03).
Page 103
Issue 056 April 2010
Outdoor Scene - Chapter 4: Midday Sun Environment Lighting

While this isnt probably the most physically
The settings pictured on (Fig.04) took some
correct way, it has some advantages. The way
trial and error to get them right generally, if the
it works is it prevents over bright hotspots,
scene is more-or less built in real world scale,
and oversaturated color transitions. Its also
the settings that would work if we were to take
very tolerant its really hard to whiteout the
a photo of that scene in real life, are a good
image, and the lights have a very wide range of
starting point. The Vignetting option is quite
usable multiplier/strength setting (but that range
useful here, darkening the corners of the image,
often ends up being pretty high, like 512 or so,
and focusing the viewers attention at the central
especially with the fog on). It has downsides
part of the image.
also, making the colors look desaturated, and

decreasing the contrast of the image. I actually
Now its time to create the sun. Lets choose
like it that way, because I can easily bring back
Vray Sun. The pop-up will appear, asking about
the contrast and saturation in post production,
adding Vray Sky in the Environment slot I hit
and for some scenes it just fits but if you dont
OK, since Ill need it. Next I switched Vray Sky
like it, theres HSV exponential mode, which
to manual sun node, and pointed the newly
keeps the colors better. Generally though the
created Vray Sun as the sun node, and tweaked
main use I have for default, Linear Multiply, is
the parameters a bit (Fig.05). Decreased
rendering some additional passes, like masks.
Turbidity means more blue sky, and adjusting

the intensity allows me to tune the balance
The scene needed some preparations adding
between sun and sky light.
Vray Displacement to the street surface, some

reflections to the windows (using blend material,
To position the sun, its good to display shadows
Vray Mtl for the windows, and a black & white
in the viewport (Fig.06). That way I can see
mask). Metal parts, like railings and lamp also
the shadows in real-time, and finding a nice
got a shiny reflective Vray Mtl.
composition is really fast. I chose to place the

sun almost directly above the scene, so the road
Before rendering anything I created
surface is brightly lit (Fig.07).
VRayPhysicalCamera, so I could control the
brightness of the scene in a more intuitive way
If we look at the rendered image, we see that
(as I have a bit of photographic experience).
front facing walls are too bright, making the
Page 104
Environment Lighting Outdoor Scene - Chapter 4: Midday Sun

image look flat. The easiest way to darken them
is by placing an object invisible to the camera,
to occlude some of the skylight (simulating the
buildings at the other side of the street) (Fig.08).
Now comes the time for final rendering and
post-production. I already did some tests on a
low-res preview which is something I really
recommend doing. Its easy to spot problems,
and fix them, before rendering the high-res, and
wasting many hours if its wrong in some way.
What I want to do is to add a bit more contrast,
and shift the highlights towards green, and
shadows towards magenta. I did it by using
Curves in Photoshop, and shaped the curves
for each of the R, G, and B channels separately,
as well as the default RGB one. (Fig.09) shows
the curve shapes. I did some other mostly
localized adjustments, some highlight, some
glow and grain, etc pretty standard fare. As
an afterthought, I decreased the saturation of
the yellow highlights a bit, to get slightly more
neutral image. (Fig.10) shows the final image.
For situations like this, the built-in Sun & Sky
system works great, and saves a lot of time. Of
course, there may be a need to supplement it
with additional lights - but here, its just enough.
Theres a caveat, though images done that
way tend to look quite bland and similar to each
other, so its good to customize the settings a
bit, and do some post-production magic to add a
personal touch treating the rendered image as
a raw material rather than final image..
Andrzej Sykut
Or contact them:
eltazaar@gmail.com

This download includes the artist
final scene set up + textures
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This series of five tutorials will focus on the topic

of outdoor lighting and more specifically the task

Chapter 1 | This Issue

Chapter 2 | Next Issue

Chapter 3 | March Issue 055

Chapter 4 | April Issue 056

Chapter 5 | May Issue 057

- Free Scene & Textures

Environment Lighting: Outdoor Scene - Chapter 1: Fog/Mist (Damp) at Night-Time

balance will be handled in post-production. And

windows. But which ones should I choose? The

be in the scene. We need some ambient

we need the fog this is crucial, without fog all

square one facing the camera (green), or one

lighting, to suggest we are outdoors. I dont

the above would give us a clear night after the

of the two on the right side (orange)? I dont

mean ambient settings in the 3d software, but

want any lit windows on the walls facing the

rather the light coming from the environment:

camera (marked violet) that would break the

sky, moon, distant city lights, that kind of thing.

To render the scene, Im using 3dsmax with

composition thats starting to form in my head,

In our case, it should come from above, and

Vray. Recent releases of Vray contain a very

by leading the eye towards the edges of the

slightly from the front. The way I see it, artificial

nice tool VrayEnvironmentFog. Its main

lights should be warm, the ambient neutral,

advantage over standard max fog is that it

or slightly cold/blue. The final tuning of that

reacts to the light sources, just like real life fog.

Issue 053 January 2010

Outdoor Scene - Chapter 1: Fog/Mist (Damp) at Night-Time: Environment Lighting

Next thing was to set up the road

First light Ive placed was the spherical Vray

color. Generally though, I mainly use the default

surface (Fig.03). A simple Vray material,

Light in place of the main lamp (Fig.04). I

setting with Linear Multiply for rendering some

VrayDisplacement modifier, and we are good

started with a very, very saturated orange. I

additional passes such as masks.

actually did it with the all other lights as well I

Issue 053 January 2010

Environment Lighting: Outdoor Scene - Chapter 1: Fog/Mist (Damp) at Night-Time

like it as it lit the arch wall way too much. The

Issue 053 January 2010

Outdoor Scene - Chapter 1: Fog/Mist (Damp) at Night-Time: Environment Lighting

roof. Moonlight will be done using a standard

The whole composition was starting to look

The lack of specular on the street was fixed

with the main lamp placed where its placed in

unbalanced, gravitating towards the right side.

by duplicating the main light, turning off Affect

the scene. If it was a real life movie set, it would

I therefore added a light in the doorway down

Diffuse option, and using the Place Highlight tool

probably be handled in a similar way by placing

on the street level to the left in order to balance

to position it in the right spot (Fig.15). Fake?

a light source just so.

it a bit. Theres also an angled box, invisible to