Model Turntables

Maya, Mental Ray

Please Note that this page is depreciated and is not supported in the C3dC Subscription

This page is for rendering out model turntables for show reels. It’s already a little dated and in 2016 some of the process is a lot easier but it should be helpful. We go through the Mental Ray Setup including some MILA shaders right through to After Effects compositing. The compositing can be just as important as the rendering so make sure you look at that section.

We’ll explore two simple lighting setups for turntable creation…
1. An IBL setup that uses one directional light and the IBL spherical image for fill.
2. A three point area light setup with MR type Area lights

These two methods are designed for compositing a background in post either in AE or Nuke. They include a shadow onto an invisible ground plane which can be removed easily if desired.
We can make a ramp shader or any texture in Maya but while rendering the image sequence we’ll want to switch to a black background and comp it in later.

Lastly we’ll look at the creation of RGB mattes for compositing in After Effects. There’ll be a class covering the grading process in AE too. And we can see the creation of wireframe renders as well. I’d also like to add occlusion layering, rgb mattes and frishluft depth of field. (coming soon)

There’s many styles of turntables, at some stage I’ll create a pinterest page showing some common styles for still images. Many times we can use actual geometry for the background, this might include a studio like rounded room for final gather bounce, tables, stands, black bgs, white cards geometry for reflection and other tricks and techniques. If I have time I’ll add these later.

For reels remember it’s often best to cut turntables together, show close up detail with panning moves, mix up the camera’s a little. The best reference for this is found in car commercials in studio lighting, showing of the details of cars. It’s often done very well. If you plan to do an edit style always render the images in playblast first and cut to music before taking the time to get the lighting right.

*Please note the above Yoki video turntable is 40sec but the passes rendered were only a 200frame repeated loop. It’s not recomended to have the full 40 sec for a show reel and if your model has details be sure to cut the camera in closer as well as per car ads mentioned above. 20 sec per model is plenty for a reel in most cases.

Below are some examples of student work, all rendered in Mental Ray.

Chopper – Tim Krakowiak – 360

XWing Gerrard Southam – 360

Train – Luca D’Annunzio – 360

Munster Mobile – Murray Gardner – Montage

Moon Buggy – Robert Snars – Montage

Professor – Andrew Silke – 360

1. Maya Setup (13 mins)

We’ll setup the basic light settings for linear worklfow with scripts. Please see linear workflow for Mental Ray for more details.

VIDEO 1.1 : SETTING UP THE CAMERA (1:45 mins)

Information

PART 1. MAYA SETUP

We now have a very fast setup for this section automated with scripts. To see the very fast workflow see the page…
MR Fast Realistic Lighting Script Setup

VIDEO 1.2 : ANIMATING THE TURNAROUND (3:16 mins)

VIDEO 1.3 : LINEAR WORKFLOW SETUP AND GAMMA (5:26 mins)

VIDEO 1.4 : LIGHTING WITH A SPHERICAL IMAGE: IBL SETUP (2:33 mins)

Information

PART 2. IMAGE BASE LIGHTING: ONE LIGHT (STYLE A)

2. Image based Lighting With A Spherical Image (13 mins)

In this section we’ll do a basic IBL setup with a spherical image dome. This is a standard light setup where you can test shadrs easily so it’s good to know. In the later sections we’ll switch over to a 3 point light setup with area lights.

VIDEO 2.1 : INVISIBLE SHADOW CATCHER: USE BACKGROUND SHADER (2:33 mins)

VIDEO 2.2 : CHANGING THE BACKGROUND: TURNING OFF THE IBL VISIBILITY (1:39 mins)

VIDEO 2.3 : CHANGING THE BACKGROUND COLOUR (1:59 mins)

VIDEO 2.4 : CUSTOMISING THE BACKGROUND WITH A RAMP (7:24 mins)

3. Shader Setup (46 mins)

Now we’ll explore the shader setup for the scene and use the new MILA shader which is new in 2015. This section was the first time I’d used MILAs so be a littl epatient with the teaching.

VIDEO 3.1 : ASSIGNING SIMPLE MILA SHADERS (3:40 mins)

Information

PART 3. SHADER SETUP: MILA MATERIALS & SSS

VIDEO 3.2 : MILA SUB SURFACE SCATTERING FOR SKIN<br /> (6:38 mins)

VIDEO 3.3 : REMOVING UNWANTED NOISE IN MILAS (2:52 mins)

VIDEO 3.4 : ADDING GLOSSINESS TO THE CROWN (20 mins)

VIDEO 3.5 : OLD MIA SHADER FOR FAKE GLOSSY/SPECULAR ON EYES (2:54 mins)

VIDEO 3.6 : MILA PHYSICALLY CORRECT GLOSSINESS FOR SPECULAR (2:54 mins)

VIDEO 3.7 : ADDING A SECOND SPECULAR LAYER ON A MILA (4:20 mins)

VIDEO 3.8 : MILA GLOSSINESS ON WHOLE BODY AND EXCESSIVE RENDER TIMES (3:02 mins)

4. Three Point Lighting With Area Lights (44 mins)

Time to try out a new lighting setup, this time with area lights, lots of little things to know here.

VIDEO 4.1 : USING RENDER LAYERS FOR DIFFERENT STYLES (5:52 mins)

Information

PART 4. THREE POINT LIGHTING WITH AREA LIGHTS (STYLE B)

VIDEO 4.2 : AREA LIGHT SETUP FOR MENTAL RAY (6:15 mins)

VIDEO 4.3 : THREE POINT LIGHTING THE FILL LIGHT (5:49 mins)

VIDEO 4.4 : RIM LIGHTS AND SUBSURFACE SCATTER (7:21 mins)

VIDEO 4.5 : LIGHT LINKING AND DISABLING FG RECEIVE (4:19 mins)

VIDEO 4.6 : TOTAL CONTROL OVER SPEC ON MIA MATERIAL X (EYES) (7:01 mins)

VIDEO 4.7 : REFLECTIVE CARDS AS GEOMETRY FOR CROWN REFLECTION MILA (7:41 mins)

5. Perparing The Renders (59 mins)

Now we’ll prepare the renders for compositing. This is an important setup and will give us a lot of control in After Effects. Grading in After Effects is fun and quick, we’ll get immediate feedback in the compositing program so it’s good to prepare our renders for ultimate control later.

VIDEO 5.1 : PREPARING THE BEAUTY RENDER (MASTER LAYER) (2:56 mins)

Information

PART 5. RENDER PREPARATION

VIDEO 5.2 : RENDERING WIREFRAMES WITH MAYA VECTOR (7:53 mins)

VIDEO 5.3 : CREATING RGB MATTES FOR USE IN COMPOSITING (19 mins)

VIDEO 5.4 : AMBIENT OCCLUSION RENDER LAYER (19 mins)

VIDEO 5.5 : DEPTH PASS RENDER LAYER (8:12 mins)

VIDEO 5.6 : PLAIN GREY RENDER LAYER (1:38 mins)

6. Compositing In After Effects (40 mins)

Now we’re ready to composite in After Effects. We’ll need to setup a solid folder, setup After Effects correctly to work in the correct colour space and structure and learn about the different grading techniques. This is the great part where it all comes together.

VIDEO 6.1 : SETTING UP A FOLDER STRUCTURE FOR AFTER EFFECTS (1:38 mins)

Information

PART 6. COMPOSITING IN AFTER EFFECTS

VIDEO 6.2 : AFTER EFFECTS PROJECT AND IMPORT SETTINGS (1:47 mins)

VIDEO 6.3 : AFTER EFFECTS IMPORTING FILES AND COMPOSITION SETTINGS (1:47 mins)

VIDEO 6.4 : CREATING A BACKGROUND (7:11 mins)

VIDEO 6.5 : UNDERSTANDING ADJUSTMENT LAYERS (1:40 mins)

VIDEO 6.6 : ADDING VIGNETTES (3:49 mins)

VIDEO 6.7 : UNDERSTANDING CURVES FOR GRADING/COLOUR CORRECTION (7:21 mins)

VIDEO 6.8 : ADJUSTING THE COLOURS - GRADING/COLOUR CORRECTION (14 mins)

Leave a reply