Devina

Hi everyone.. I'm still student at the moment.. n using Maya as the main software..

Recently I'm really interested in Architecture compare to any other (animation, compositing, dynamics, etc)

But I have a really weak lighting skill.. can anyone help me to give suggestion what sort of lighting should I use for Archictectural houses??

I use Mental Ray.. but seem not as nice as everyone else I've seen...

And also I would like to know what kind of lighting to people use for real footage?? for example in Lord of Rings (Hobbit's house) it looks so Real..

THanks a lot for everyone help...

notamondayfan

the gnome workshop dvd's are amazing.

if you know mental ray, it can produce really good results. max 9 has a updated version of mental ray which is supose to be easier to pick up.

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Pikcells Animator, Modelling & Environment Designer

IC

Hi Devina
What you have to bear in mind with architectural lighting and rendering is that it is VERY advanced. It's not something you can pick up easily as there's a lot involved but tutorials and forums are very helpful.

There's not much Maya input here as it's mainly Max and VRay but there are some great Mental Ray users too. Maya specific forums will have loads of info for you and you can also learn a ton of non software specific stuff here.

Do a search for Mental Ray in the grey box above.

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http://iainc.carbonmade.com/

Devina

hey guys thanks so much for your help..
I just realised that most of architecture use 3D max rather than MAYA.. is there any reason??? is it easier to use or just better for architecure??

What about Archicad??? I heard it's the most used software at the moment in architecture industry.. is it???

Brian Smith

Max is far better for numerous reasons. It's interface and commands are more condusive to our type of work but more importantly, it is completely integrated with other Autodesk products like AutoCAD, ADT, or Revit. 95% of the projects i have worked on started with AutoCAD linework, and even the few that started with hand written architectural drawings, we scanned and traced in AutoCAD. AutoCAD is far better for creating linework for so many reasons.

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Brian Smith
www.3dats.com
3D Architectural Training Solutions

Koper

Back to your lighting question. I think that recently the different render engines (such as MR & VR)have taken a much bigger role of also being the light simulator, but using them correctly requires the user to know how light works in the real life, and then still some struggle to get the right lighting.

You say that you'r still a student so I would suggest that you also look into photography, as it is the best tool to learn how light works. (even if you just become an assistant of a photographer)

Then before you take on a render engine to do it for you first try to light a big complex scene with basic lights, my first one had about 250 different lights to acheive different GI effects

prashanth

even MAYA is good for architecture..I hav been using maya and mr for my renderings. If ur a maya user try getting the best result out of it..switching into a different software suddenly will be a headache for u.

www.mymentalray.com check out this forum..there are lot of tips n tutorials for MR...its a cool site..mail me for further help..i will do the max i can...

my id is prashanth@waterlemon.co.in (waterlemon.co.in) this is my site..see some of my renderings there..all done with maya and mr...

cheers..

Brian Cassil

Not necessarily. I agree that it is more tightly integrated with Autodesk products but one only need to look as far as Lemog's amazing effort on the recreation of the 1900 worlds fair to see what can be done in Maya architecturally. If someone were to be starting from scratch and learning their first 3D rendering program I would probably recommend Max, but If one is already comfy with Maya, there would be no reason to not do Architectural rendering with that.

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"writing notes is quieter."

Koper

here comes another war
hehehe (joking, its how they usually start) hehe



I agree with BRIAN!!!

prashanth

war is always fun....he he not in real life but in animation!!

even in agree with brian...anything tht can be done in max can also be done in maya....

autocad drawings can be converted into .3ds format and can be imported into maya very neatly..i hav been doing like tht