CompuServe Messages

Hi Jerry, << …. those new to 3d tend to use way to harsh and bright of colors… >> Your observation reminded me of a post that Gary made after last year's SIGGRAPH. <<..why do my materials all look like plastic?…>> The common factor between renderings that rendered an unwanted plastic look was that, when they made materials, they locked the Ambient to the Diffuse color so that they were both the same. BIG MISTAKE. When you do that, you're depending 100% on the lighting to create the range between the diffuse and ambient components. And no matter how well you light the scene, that range just won't be large enough to provide the dynamics necessary to make an image look "deep". There are two techniques that you should always use to set your ambient component. 1) Make the ambient a much darker version of the diffuse. Use the same Hue and Saturation… just a different Luma. 2) Make the ambient a complimentary color of the diffuse. This is the Maxfield Parrish effect, and it can be used in many beautiful ways. So please, people… Go into your material libraries, follow the above two rules, and bring some more depth to your work!