Class 1: Lighting Techniques: Lighting a basic scene with 3 different techniques: a traditional setup, global illumination, and HDR. Special attention will be paid to the strengths and weaknesses of each technique and their place in modern production pipelines.

Class 2: Multipass Lighting: This class covers the basics of passes, partitions and overrides. It follows the process of lighting a simple shot from scratch using a multi-pass approach, compositing with XSI FXTree, and then tweaking settings to improve the look of the shot. We also cover basic mental ray settings, establishing a light-rig for texturing purposes, and tips for dealing with XSI's pass editor.

Class 3: This class covers more advanced pass setups and how to override specific parameters for better interaction between objects. It continues where class02 left off and completes the setup and final comp for the pigeon shot. We also cover depth passes and the more advanced visibility parameters for rendering purposes.

Class 4: This class covers a variety of tips to help render large scenes. We discuss optimizing materials, reflection passes, merging materials, referenced models, .map files, breaking scenes into z-slices, geometry approximation, and combining multiple scenes.

Class 5: This class covers additional ways to speed up your renders including occlusion optimization, rendermaps, splitting up expensive raytracing techniques by using multiple passes, and 2D motion blur. We also cover how even a scripting novice can harness the power of the event logger to dramatically increase their productivity.

Class 6: This week's class focuses on some techniques for lighting CG elements to be incorporated into visual effects. We cover topics ranging from final gather to linear workflows, and a cool trick to create environment maps using a variation of the "shiny ball" trick often used on set to capture lighting setups.

Class 7: Class 7 is back to Pigeon: Impossible, but focuses on lighting the interior of the briefcase using an all-in-the-render approach. We balance quality with render times, show how you can use photographs of lights to create more realistic renders, and explore several of the more creative aspects of CG lighting.

Class 8: This class addresses several questions from the forums and also introduces geometry deformers and the math that goes into them.

Class 9: Class 9 covers some techniques to add mood to a scene, as well as a further discussion of composition and how to lead the viewer's eye with lighting. We also discuss color and light direction through three different setups for a product shot of a scooter; the classic "white void" setup, a heroic setup, and a scary setup.

Class 10: Class 10 continues with the scooter product shots from the previous week. We cover a few aesthetic issues as well as some ways to make the volumetric light look more realistic. We also discuss some tips on interacting with clients as well as an exploration of lighting setups for different times of day.


Professor: Lucas Martell


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