Learn from the experts: High-end visualization in FullGI with Toby Lee

The Expert

CGI Artist Toby Lee didn’t plan on a career in automotive design. He envisioned a career in the gaming industry and pursued that training. But when he modeled a car for part of his study, he discovered the passion for automotive design and redirected his energy and talent.

We asked Toby to do a series of VRED tutorials on high-end visualizations after VRED Product Manager Lukas Fath saw–and was impressed by–Toby’s renderings on his LinkedIn page.

The Tutorials

This series goes deep into best practices for high-quality visualizations, something not every Alias user may be familiar with but will benefit from. VRED produces high-end, accurate, stunning visualizations to bring an automotive design to life.

The tutorials below are all about lighting and shading and how to setup different modules (Camera Editor, Material Editor, Light Editor and Render Settings) in VRED.

You can go directly to the tutorial series, or you can select your own tutorial path via the highlights for each video below.

Toby Lee’s High-End Visualization Tutorials — Overview

Video 1: Working with the Material Editor in VRED

2:35 – Creating photo-realistic car paint
9:52 – Creating fine-grain texture in your plastics
14:27 – Creating a strong brushed metal effect
19:09 – Setting up a brake disc shader

Video 2: Working with the Camera Editor in VRED

0:28: VRED’s Default camera settings
2:06: Using clipping to remove objects too close to the camera
2:31: Tone mapping your camera for different effects
2:45: Navigating color, fog, glare
5:39: Creating a viewpoint
8:09: Matching a camera into a backplate and HDRI

Video 3: Lighting and Rendering a Car in a Dark Studio Environment

0:56: Placing lights for a studio shot
1:25: Creating first (main) light
3:24: Placing a rectangular light
5:00: Adding texture with a gradient light
5:41: Creating a light link set
5:56: Creating a rim light and managing reflections
10:20: Making front lights
18:36: Adding in the spotlight
20:42: Reviewing the final render

Video 4: Lighting and Rendering a Car in a White Studio Environment

1:15: Making a reflective HDRI in Photoshop
3:30: Making a white environment back in VRED
11:05: Changing the white balance inside the camera
13:42: Reviewing the final render

Video 5: Lighting and Rendering a Car in an Outdoor Environment

1:05: Adding a scene plate
1:57: Setting focal length
2:20: Using the perspective match tool
4:21: Aligning HDRI
5:43: Matching backplate with color correction
6:53: Creating a light to match sun direction
7:12: Fine-tuning HDRI
8:15: Using occlusion intensity for stronger shadow material
8:49: Adding sunlight
11:43: Adding shadows
13:19: Adding more lights for reflections
14:31: Adjusting intensity through rotation
15:39: Adding and duplicating disk lights for the wheels
18:33: Creating and selecting a lightlink set
21:35: Turning up intensity with diffuser reflection
22:45: Creating motion blur in Photoshop
27:23: Adding motion blur to the wheels
30:18: Creating a motion path blur in Photoshop

Video 6: Lighting and Rendering a Car in a Studio Environment Using HDR Light Studio

0:16: Why HDR Light Studio
1:07: Picking a gradient light
1:49: Choosing the light settings
2:3 5: Using light paint
4:22: Exploring illumination paint
7:15: Reviewing the render and final tweaks

Video 7: Using HDR Light Studio for Outdoor Environment

1:19: Changing orientation
1:40: Adding in lights with reflection painting
2:40: Using gradient lighting
3:45: Darkening over-exposed areas
4:45: Adding in other lighting

Yes, there will be more!

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You can also download the new Alias & VRED Learning Editions to get started:

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