by Tim Crellin | Publisher: Packt Publishing | Release Date: September 2017 | ISBN: 9781788391504

Learn about realistic ray-traced rendering with the Cycles Render engine by creating a nature environment with a realistic environment whose final result will be an image renderAbout This VideoSimulate the effects of materials in Blender by using ray-tracingForget conventional rendering techniques and start using particle systemsAcquire and explore composting to enhance a sceneIn DetailThis video course introduces you to the powerful Cycles Render engine and more advanced materials for objects. Topics covered will range from organic modeling to node materials to particle systems.We start with a basic understanding of the Cycles Render engine including the differences between the standard and ray-traced engines. After this we delve into organic modeling techniques using curves to create more natural and smooth shapes typically seen in the real world. Next we understand the concept of UV unwrapping to map textures and other 2D media to a 3D object using seams, while also learning how to tweak and modify UV maps as well as multi-channel U layers. The next part will cover a basic setup for a simple Cycles material shader, which includes simple materials, alpha cut-outs, as well as multi-channel and PBR material shaders to create an extensive range of realistic material shaders for the Cycles Render engine ; you will also acquire a good understanding of how the material node editor works. Moving on we will look at object-based lighting and 360 HDRI environment maps to control an entire scene's lighting; you will learn how lighting can affect a scene and which lighting sources you should use. After that we will learn about simple particle systems, hair/fur generation, and how to instantiate objects. You will utilize particle systems to greatly speed up your workflow, making it easier to generate large scenes with hundreds or thousands of objects. Finally, you will learn about fundamental composting workflows through the node editor and use Color management to give a more authentic and photographic image; this will include more advanced composting techniques such as light flares, depth of field, and adding additional external images to the final render.By the end of the video course you should have a good understanding of how to add advanced post processing to an image before saving it and how to effectively create a realistic scene using the Cycles Render engine.

1. Chapter 1 : Cycles Render Engine and Organic Modelling
   • The Course Overview 00:03:44
   • Introduction to Ray Tracing 00:04:51
   • Using Curves to Model Organic Patterns 00:13:31
   • Converting Curves to a Mesh 00:11:58
2. Chapter 2 : UV Mapping and Texturing Objects
   • Introduction to UV Mapping 00:04:39
   • UV Unwrapping 00:13:56
   • Fitting UVs to Textures 00:07:32
   • Texture Map Types 00:02:52
3. Chapter 3 : Discovering Cycles Materials
   • Materials with Nodes 00:09:28
   • Materials with Texture Transparency 00:10:03
   • PBR Materials 00:10:06
4. Chapter 4 : Utilizing Environment Lighting
   • Different Lamp Types 00:05:06
   • Three-Point Lighting 00:13:15
   • HDRI Lighting 00:05:20
5. Chapter 5 : Hair and Particle System Techniques
   • Instancing Leaves 00:12:42
   • Forming the Terrain 00:13:32
   • Creating a Forest 00:08:11
   • Fireflies with Particles 00:12:04
6. Chapter 6 : Compositing the Final Touches
   • Camera Placement 00:11:11
   • Depth of Field 00:06:33
   • Post Process Filters 00:05:37
   • Color Grading 00:05:57