Warehouse Lighting Study: 3D Studio

[Right-click the image to download the full resolution file]

This was a personal project I took to explore some of the new final gather global illumination features in Max 2008.  The actual modeling is all very basic, I didn’t spend too long making a detailed scene as this was mainly an exercise in achieving realistic and natural lighting.  The scene makes use of the sunlight system in max and final gather GI as the only source of light.  Since the light is simulated and not forced unnaturally the result is much more natural soft shadows, which are cast naturally by not just direct light but light that has bounced off of the surfaces of the room.  This creates shadows like the ones behind the boxes that are caused by the bright sunlight in the center of the room, or the more subtle shadows above the hanging light fixtures which have soft faint shadows cast from the light reflecting off of the floor.  Another thing that GI allows for is reflecting of colored light off of surfaces which is the entire reason for the red cloth draped over the box next to the staircase.  You can see a red glow cast from reflected light on the stairs next to it.

The simplicity of this image is deceptive; it took many failed attempts to achieve the natural looking lighting you see in the final image.  Below are a few of the failed attempts and experiments that occurred along the way.

This image turned out to be really blue for some reason.  It looks kinda interesting which is why I saved it but still a long way from looking like natural lighting.

This is what global illumination looks like when you don’t have nearly enough photons.  You can sort of see how it works from this failure though, each point of light is from a bounced photon and the areas with a higher concentration get more illuminated and areas they can’t reach easily stay in the shadows.