FXPHD -Production Quality Rendering in Maya with MentalRay

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This course, taught by Jon Tojek, aims to help take your lighting and rendering skills to the next level. The course starts by setting the foundation of knowledge which you'll need to create high quality imagery and then build in complexity over the duration of the term.

The first first part of the course will examine tools such as Skyprobe, providing HDR capture of sun and sky, the perfect exterior HDR pano image. Creating your own HDR
panoramic images with a standard DSLR, nodal ninja, and wide angle lens. Stitching and merging the HDR image, both interior and exterior examples with PTgui. He'll cover the three ways in mental ray to achieve image based lighting: , the standard maya IBL, mib_sphereical_lookup, and the newest Environment Lighting. Tojek will also utilize a simple exterior scene lit with an HDR sunlight image to
compare & contrast the renders between Mental Ray, vray, and Arnold from a render time, noise, and image quality perspective.

The latter part of the course moves into taking this knowledge and applying it to several projects. The first project is a table top lighting setup, with a 30 photo studio tent and lights. This example will focus on photographing glass, jewelry, and metal appliance, and
then replicating those setups completely in the computer with HDR pano, HDR lights, and color grading to integrate the renders into the photo.

While a still might seem basic at first glance, the reality is that with a static image, there's no room to hide imperfections in the
render.

The second project takes a more traditional vfx perspective, utilizing motion footage and on-set HDR photography. Members will be provided a Maya scene that is already tracked and ready to be lit so they can focus on the lighting and rendering. Tojek will work through the
details to create a photorealistic render, including the final grading and comp tweaks and tricks to sell the shot.

In addition, the final lesson will include a review of members work on either of the two projects. It's a great opportunity to get constructive feedback from a working professional.