H3D Tutorials

There are many uses for the Ambient Occlusion shader, one being to accentuate details/edges and increase the realism of 3d renders. This occlusion is also known as the 'dirtpass' or 'dirtmap'. The pass renders quite quickly and since it is a Global Illumination (GI) solution, it is an excellent t...

Gamma correction is one of those buzz words that are really easy in terms of theory and math but confusing in how it is applied in practice. As a consequence, it is largely ignored by many graphics practitioners. This illustrated 10 page article is my attempt in clarifying gamma correction in the...

Use the mental ray renderer to create caustics: the light patterns caused by light refracting through glass.

proceed to .pdf tutorial

Introduction The above image has been color corrected and blurred in photoshop to create the depth of field effect. This tutorial will be focusing on the dirtmap material which is included in vray version 1.5. I always like to use this material in my renders to add a little more realism. You need...

I am working on another project for BigBoy Productions and I needed a realistic gold texture with proper reflections but which doesn�t take eons to render. Years ago I once was very close to photorealistic gold but unfortunately forgot a big deal about it. After playing around for days I have fin...

IntroductionIt is very rare to find perfect hard edges in the real world even on the hardest surfaces around. Actually it is something not desirable (imagine a building with a corner as sharp as a blade� yikes!).However, most 3D images are made of discrete polygons that have no sense of humor. Th...

1 - Mental Ray's Final gathering method versus the Arnold renderer.   YES indeed, Mental Ray�s Final Gathering method used alone can achieve exactly the same result as the Arnold Renderer.     Above : On the left, an Arnold rendering of the Audi TT. On the right, an XSI rendering o...

Users of other apps/renderers, I am starting to put pertinent info at the bottom of the pageHave you ever wondered why your GI renderings start out so dark? Well, in fact they are not so dark. The problem lies with the display device (the CRT or LCD) and that the software is not making adjustment...