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Fake Radiosity for 3dsmax using E-light !
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This great looking scene was created using fake global illumination and a fantastic MAXscript called
E-light by Ronnie Olsthoorn. Here's a quick tutorial on using e-light !
You can Download the model for FREE !
Download the pebble scene here - a big thanks goes to Mayang's Textures for supplying the textures. You will also need to download the e-light scipt available at Ronnie Olsthoorn's website. The script creates a dome of lights that produce nice soft shadows - simulating a global illumination effect.
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1. Once you've downloaded e-light install it by copying the e-light.ms file to your scripts directory - for example:
C:\program files\3dsmax4\scripts
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2. Load the pebbles.max model which doesn't yet contain any lights (fig 1).
Run e-light by clicking MAXscript... Run script... then choose e-light.ms from the location that you saved it !
The e-light dialogue box appears (fig.2)
Fig.1
To begin with let's create a light dome, changing just a couple of the e-light parameters. Set the dome radius to 3000 to give a radius of 3 meters (the model is in millimeter system units). Next change the dome segments to 3. The higher the number of segments, the greater the number of lights that are created. Generally I found 2 or 3 segments to be sufficient. Click on the Create Environment Light button. Render and you get the scene in fig.3.
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Fig.2
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Fig.3
3. The scene is a bit dull ! Open the e-light dialogue box again (if necessary run the script again and e-light's current settings are automatically displayed).
Under the Light Settings increase the Multiplier value to 1.9 and under Shadow Parameters increase the Density to 2.5. All of the light's characteristics are updated in one go ! Render the scene again (see fig.4)
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Fig.4
4. The overall result is more convincing and the shadows are better defined. As a final touch i added a few omni lights with a negative multiplier value placed in the heart of the pile of stones. In most 3d programs a light with a negative value emits darkness instead of light ! The effect here is to deepen the shadows in between the pebbles to a more realistic degree.
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5. The last two images show off another feature of the e-light script. You can control the colour of the lights in the light dome using a bitmap ! I used two different bitmaps to simulate blue coloured morning light (fig.5) and orange coloured evening lighting conditions (fig.6)
All things said - the e-light script is a versatile and effective tool ! A big pat on the back to Ronnie Olsthoorn! Hope you have lots of fun using the script !
Fig.5
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Fig.6
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