Rendering in MODO: Interiors training video
Video tutorial for MODO 601 by Richard Yot
The interior rendering tutorial takes a closer look at MODO's render engine. This tutorial will serve as a useful general foundation for rendering in MODO and help specialists who deal with architectural interiors.
The interior rendering tutorial starts things off with a look at global illumination, portals, anti-aliasing, ray sampling, and workflow on how to approach problem solving in MODO renders. Also included are four short case studies that highlight specific situations users may encounter, as well as two long project based sections specifically dealing with interiors. Since interiors are one of the most challenging situations for any render engine, users will be armed with excellent knowledge that will prove useful in any difficult situation, particularly when it comes to dealing with global illumination and tricky noise problems.
Although prior knowledge of MODO is useful, these tutorials are intended as a comprehensive introduction to the subject of rendering in MODO, and will benefit users of any skill level, from beginner to advanced. Adobe Photoshop CS6 is also used in the tutorial, however it is not essential to the content and users do not need to own Photoshop in order to follow along. Although the videos contain many step-by-step instructions, their primary aim is to give users the knowledge to be able to solve any problem on their own.
Note: These tutorials are delivered online in 1920 x 1080 QuickTime (H.264) format and are available for download through your Registered Products page after purchase.
Detailed descriptions of video tutorial segments
Video segment 1
Introduction
(1m 48s)
A quick introduction to this series on rendering.
Video segment 2
Introduction to global illumination
(1h 26s)
A detailed look at global illumination in MODO, covering Monte Carlo, irradiance caching, and using global illumination with and without additional lights. How to troubleshoot the different kinds of noise you may encounter, and how different kinds of scenes will affect the outcome.
Video segment 3
Introduction to global illumination part 2
(12m 20s)
A further look at global illumination examining how scene complexity can affect the render times of both Monte Carlo and irradiance caching.
Video segment 4
Portals
(29m 11s)
An introduction to portals and how they can aid interior rendering, especially when there is a complex environment in the scene.
Video segment 5
Anti aliasing
(30m 34s)
A detailed look at how anti aliasing is handled by MODO’s render engine, with particular attention paid to the decoupling between geometric edges and surface shading (a feature unique to MODO among ray-tracing renderers). This section deals with global AA settings, shading rates, and the refinement-shading rate. The differences between texture and geometric shading are explained in detail.
Video segment 6
Ray sampling
(27m 10s)
This video explains how to clean up sampling noise in areas with blurry reflections, blurry refractions, or from area lights. The effect of scene complexity and how the shader based ray settings interact with the global ray threshold are examined in detail.
Video segment 7
Problem solving
(38m 30s)
This video illustrates an effective workflow for cleaning up noise in a scene, explaining best practices for approaching problem areas and also illustrating how to successfully tackle the most common problems users encounter in typical scenes. This video should teach any user to learn how to eliminate noise in their renders.
Video segment 8
Case study - ceiling lights
(9m 59s)
This case study looks at a potentially tricky situation involving a room with 25 ceiling lights and illustrates how to approach dealing with this kind of problem.
Video segment 9
Case study - high IR rate
(5m 6s)
This case study looks at how the irradiance rate can be used with very coarse values to produce clean and quick renders, and how the addition of area lights and occlusion shaders can help counteract the less accurate results that using this method produces.
Video segment 10
Case study - sunlight
(14m 12s)
A case study examining the potential pitfalls when using the sunlight system in MODO 601, and how users can achieve more realistic and controllable colors in both the sky and the sunlight itself.
Video segment 11
Case study - glass
(1m 59s)
A short video examining common pitfalls with glass in interior scenes and how to overcome these in MODO 601.
Video segment 12
Minimalist interior part 1
(57m 58s)
The first of this two-part project-based video takes the user through the initial lighting of an interior, setting up a replicated floor, solving noise problems, creating realistic texture maps and material fine-tuning.
Video segment 13
Minimalist interior part 2
(58m 12s)
The second part of this project-based video demonstrates the creation of a frosted translucent lamp, realistic fur texturing, fine tuning global illumination and a comparison of different approaches to lighting and global illumination in the scene. Finally some simple grading and post-processing is carried out in Adobe Photoshop CS6.
Video segment 14
Eames chair and window
(1h 11m 54s)
A project-based tutorial that demonstrates how to process your own HDR panoramas for use as environments, how to deal with many different kinds of noise, and how to create a very realistic parquet floor using replicators, image maps, and procedural textures. Multiple environments are used to control the balance of lighting in the scene and to help with anti aliasing. Finally some simple grading and post-processing is carried out in Adobe Photoshop CS6.
