Mental Ray Help, New to Lighting

#1

Hey guys, wanna say first off I’m completely new to lighting and shading. So far I’ve been using and learning maya for modeling only. Skip to 6:00 in the video to see the render.

I've been following this tutorial [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsL8GrEFMNo&feature=related](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsL8GrEFMNo&feature=related) to learn more about Maya than just the modeling aspect of it. But the problem is my render doesn't look quite like his; a lot of parts in my render are completely engulfed in shadows with no light at all. I've reset maya and mental ray to default and triple checked my settings to make sure they're exactly like the ones in the video, played with different settings, but nothing seemed to work.

Viewport wireframe no lights
http://img43.imageshack.us/img43/3311/97614980.jpg

Viewport with high quality lighting turned on:
http://img812.imageshack.us/img812/6577/lightsr.png

Here's a picture rendered:

http://img860.imageshack.us/i/76274296.jpg/

#2

I swear this is my response to 80% of lighting quesitons these days, are you using linear color? If not, that’s probably why your blacks are so dark. Not going to explain it here, sooo many threads on it already.

#3

Hey ndeboar I can see how that would very annoying, but I’m glad you responded. I had no idea previously what the problem could be or where to start looking, but 2 minutes later after I read your response I was able to resolve it. I think it might be so commonly asked because like that video tutorial, he himself never turned it on or mentioned it. So I’m not sure how that works yet, but thanks again and I’m gonna go read up on it when I’ve time.

#4

Ha, im happy to help, i just feel saying “use linear color” is the only advice i give out some days :stuck_out_tongue:

#5

I really don’t think it has anything to do with linear workflow.

  1. Do you have “Use light shape” enabled in the area light attributes?

  2. Adjust the position of your area light in relation to the window sill. If it is set to far back the light will cast a narrower field of light.

  3. I never watching the tutorial but was it using any indirect lighting methods? ie FG or GI?

#6

I don’t open the web…why???

#7

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