Lighting.

Lighting

Lighting is a complex function in 3dsMax, and its worth noting that it is possible to go to some depths with all the functions of lighting.
What I have learnt is the basics of lighting, enough so that I can create effective lighting on my models to help them appear more realistic.
The two areas that I learnt were:
Omni Spotlights, and Target Spotlights.
Omni Spotlights allow you to light up any part of a scene, working essentially like a light bulb. A good use of such a light would be to place a light from within a pumpkin to create the glow of a Halloween jack-o-lantern, or from inside a window, to create the glow from a house.
The second light type, target spotlight allows you to create light from an angle, either above or below an object. This allows you to create for example the sun shining down onto a object.

Beneath the light options for both of the these further options which you can add to the ligths to give them different effects.
One option, allows you to give the light colour. This could be useful for creating an orange glow for an early morning sunset.
Other options allow you to increase shadows, and their shapes - allowing log shadows for evening scenes etc.
You could also add a "speckled" effect to your images, which could create a rain style effect - this does however increase rendering time, as it renders more information.
Finally, lighting allows you to create atmosphere, which can include fog - I will find this particularly useful for my October image, which will need fog to add a creepy atmosphere.

On learning these new functions available to me in 3dsMax, I now feel that I have barely scratched the surface of this complex program. but I do however, look forward to both learning more about it, and also to making my final models.
I am finding the 3d Modelling complicated myself, and whilst I am creating what I want, its quite a task to create the objects.
I have also found a problem with opening files created by a newer 3dsMax program and the one in the university - This will slow my performance, as I am yet to find a work around.

My only examples of lighting use are not avaliable yet as it is part of my fianl image and not rendered.