Proper pipeline procedure, any thoughts around this?

#1

I am going through the process of learning how to model, texture, shade and render and composite a character in maya into a scene with a background image, a photograph. The purpose is to integrate the character so that it fits into the picture in a believable manner. This is what a lot of you guys do every day, I guess.

The programs I use is Maya 2011 for the modeling, texturing, ligthing and shading. I will also use Mudbox for sculpting and extracting normal maps. Finally, I use fusion for compositing the render layers from maya.

I would really find it helpful if you guys gave me a hint of what your major traps would be in this proces. I have already experienced that there is a lot of troublesolving along the way. Things like, (ok, I am still a newbie;-), forgetting to check my face normals before uv-mapping, forgetting the settings for different render layers, all kinds of stupid small thing along the way happen, and ends up making the process so much longer that it could have been.

I am open for tips and warnings, give me your best shots:-D

#2

take a look at the concept of linear workflow (shading, lighting and comp)

#3

The best way to light a 3D scene to make it fit into a real scene is with HDR IBL.

#4

Yes, I use HDR, but IBL, what is that?

#5

Image base lighting
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image_based_lighting

#6

You might want to use physically accurate shaders too, like the mia_x material in mental ray.

#7

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