ANIMATING LIGHTS AND CAMERAS

You can virtually animate any object in Max. This would include lights and cameras. The same principle is applied when animating these objects. All you need to do is set up the scene and plan-out the animation sequence for the lights and cameras. For example, let’s say you are trying to light up a scene using various light colors. First, set the Autokey for the initial light. After that you can continue by changing the color of the light and setting your Autokey as well.

Figure 5-9. Animating light color.

For cameras, it’s very easy. You can either pan or zoom around the scene. Most animations include panning while zooming is used when you want to focus on a subject in the scene.

Figure 5-10. Zooming in the camera.

There’s much to explore if you want to animate lights and cameras. You can move them, rotate them and pretty much anything that is doable in Max can be animated. As the saying goes, the sky is the limit.

Try This!

1. Load the lighting.max from http://www.mediafire.com/?2pathhocnwd4wy8.

2. Move the Track Slider to Frame 100 and press the ‘Autokey’ button.

3. Select the ‘Sunlight’ object. Go to the ‘Intensity/Color/Attenuation’ and change its light color to black.

4. Now, select the ‘Camera01’ object and zoom in on the lamp.

5. Press the Autokey button again and click on the Play button to see how the sunlight and camera is animated.

You have seen the different techniques in animating objects in your scene. Just a review, bones are used to move most objects such as characters and mechanical devices. In addition, when doing facial animations morphing is best used. Lastly, bring life to your scenes by animating lights and cameras for more theatrical effects.

Lights! Camera! Render!

All right! Now you have the idea on how to place lights and cameras in your scenes. You can practice more by doing the exercise I have prepared for you.

Try This!

1. Download the lighting.max from the link below. You’ll light up this scene using 2 Omni lights and 1 target direct.

http://www.mediafire.com/?2pathhocnwd4wy8

2. Notice that we have 3 light sources. The light bulb is the primary light while the lamp and the window will provide for the ambience effect of the room. Place an Omni light just below the light bulb object.

3. Set the following Intensity and Color parameters of the light bulb.

Color: R 255, G 240, B 180
Multiplier: 1.25

4. In the ‘Far Attenuation’ group, check on the ‘Use’ box and change the following parameters.

Start: 1000
End: 2000
Use: On

5. Now, let’s add shadow effects to the main source of light. Go to the General Parameters and Shadow Parameters to change the following values.

Object Shadows: On
Type: Shadow Map
Color: R 125, G 135, B 60
Density: 0.7

6. Copy the light bulb and place it inside the lamp shade.

7. Set the color of this light to R 180, G 250, B 245 and change the value for the Multiplier back to 1.0.

8. Let’s add an atmospheric effect to the light emitted by the lamp. Open the ‘Atmosphere Effects’ roll-out and click on the ‘Add’ button. Choose ‘Volume Light’ and click the ‘OK’ button. Now, select the Volume Light and click on the ‘Setup’ button.

9. Look for the ‘Volume Light Parameters’ roll-out and make the necessary changes.

Attenuation Color: R 0, G 125, B 75
Use Attenuation Color: On
Density: 1
Max Light %: 20

10. It’s time to add the sunlight. Place a Target Direct outside the room and make sure the target passes through the window.

11. Set the following values accordingly. These will create a warm light.

General Parameters
Cast Shadows: On
Color: R 250, G 245, B 215
Multiplier: 2.0

Directional Parameters
Hotspot: 300
Falloff: 400
Light Cone Type: Rectangle

Shadow Parameters
Object Shadows Type: Shadow Map
Color: R 100, G 90, B 0

Far Attenuation
Start: 6000
End: 7000
Use: On

12. Go to the Atmosphere & Effects roll-out and add a Volume Light. Once you’re done, select Volume Light and click on the Setup button.

13. Scroll down and look for the Volume Light Parameters and set the following values.

Attenuation Color: R 190, G 200, B 0
Use Attenuation Color: On
Density: 2

14. Set the values for the ‘Global Tint’ as follows. R 210, G 215, B 130 this will give tint effect to all the lights in the scene.

15. Your scene should look similar to that of the rendered image below.

Next stop, you’ll learn how to animate your objects in the scene!

PART IV - CAMERA AND LIGHTING

PART IV - CAMERA AND LIGHTING

Your 3D animations won’t be complete until you use camera and lighting. Just like live action movies, it is a very good idea to use cameras to focus on your shots. On some sequences you might need to pan or zoom on the subjects to give it a more theatrical presentation. Lights are also essential in making 3D animations. They illuminate dark corners in the scene so that the audience can fully appreciate the stage design you have prepared. In addition, lights can be used to set the mood of the current scene such as ambient lights for a romantic setup. In this chapter, I will show you the different cameras and lights you can use in your 3D animations. At the end of the chapter, I have prepared an exercise for you where you can light up the scene using the different lights.

A. TARGET AND FREE CAMERA

Cameras serve as our eyes on the scene. They capture the motions and colors in 3D animations. In 3D Max, there are only 2 types of cameras. One is the target camera and the other type is the free camera. First, let me show you how the free camera works. It’s the easiest to use between the two types of cameras.

You can find these cameras in the ‘Create’ tab and look for the ‘Cameras’ button. The free camera is labeled as ‘FREE’ so will place this camera on the Front viewport. Assuming we already placed two primitives, you can just move the camera around these objects.

Figure 4-1. A Free Camera on the Front viewport.

To activate the camera, we’ll change the view in the Perspective viewport to Camera01. This is what the camera sees.

Figure 4-2. Changing to Camera view.

Just move the camera until you are satisfied with what you are seeing in the Camera viewport.

Figure 4-3. Moving the camera in the viewports.

That’s just it about free cameras. Now, let us turn our attention to using the target camera. Target cameras are quite complex to use because there are two parts of it. One is the target and the other is the camera itself. Let me show you how to operate this camera.

I’ll start by clicking on the ‘Target’ button under Cameras and use the Top viewport. Using the Top viewport to initially position the target camera is good because Max automatically places the target camera on the Z axis on the Top viewport. This means that the camera is directly pointing towards your subject.

Figure 4-4. Placing a target camera in the Top viewport.

When you change the view to Camera01 in the Perspective viewport, try moving the camera alone. Notice how the camera’s focus is fixed on to the subject. This is because moving the camera changes the angle of the camera but not the focus. You can use this technique when trying to animate first persons and that the character’s focus is fixed on the target object.

Figure 4-5. Moving the target camera.

For the target, look for the small box upfront the view angles of the camera. Try moving the target and observe how the Camera01 viewport changes the focus of the subject.

Figure 4-6. Moving the target of the target camera.

That’s how easy using the two cameras in Max. I hope you can explore your director’s instinct and create very nice shots of your subjects. In the next section, I will discuss the different lights which you can use to lighten up your scenes.