A sphere in abstract scenery V-ray

With the following tutorial, you’ll get to know how to create a sphere with some interesting materials, scenery and lights, using for this purpose a rendering engine v-ray and 3ds max.

Scene

Step 1

First create a “plane“, size: 150×120, add 20 segments to it on each side. We do it in order to have the possibility to create some interesting forms of the scene, as well as some interesting light reflection effects, gleams and bending.

Step 2

Add to the created “plane” a modifier “edit poly” that lets us edit differently each and every object. Then, go to polygons’ edition and mark marginal polygons (CTRL pressed), then, pull the marked polygons up (height is up to you, just remember not to have it too short). So a form to our scene has just been created, it will nicely reflect the light if we add to it some more specific options that will be explained in the next step.

Step 3

Go to the view “top” and mark the polygons as it is shown in the screen (CTRL pressed).

This will enable us to create roughness of the scene. Go to the standard view “perspective”, then press the button “extrude” and set the extrusion height to 5, click on OK. Now, go to the next step that explains how to create a sphere and a camera which will be set correctly before the rendering is made.

Step 4

If you are here it means that you will probably finish this easy tutorial successfully. I can assure you that the work will be far more interesting from now. Set the camera in the middle of the form and as close as possible to the walls. The next step is to create a sphere, radius: 20. Then, please press the option “create a camera from view”.

From now, there are two cameras in the scene, the first one will be operated all the time, and the perspective of the second one was set while the sphere was being created. The second camera will be used to take a photo, meaning, a rendering after everything has been set.

Now, let’s go to the next, more interesting chapter: Materials.

Materials

Step1

Press „M” and enter material edition tab. Choose “VRayMtl”, this must be done twice; sphere materials must be edited as well as its surrounding.

First, let’s create materials to the surrounding, I suggest a fair tone. Go to the option “diffuse” and create a classic pink: R:255, G:0, B:216.

Now, there is a classic pink material that can be put on the scene. Please make a test render to see how the scene looks like. Apparently, the effect obtained is not yet satisfactory, but still some other parameters must be set to get the desired result.

Step 2

Here, some reflections and gloss will be given to the scene, it will nicely reflect the light and surroundings. Go to the options “Reflect” and “Refract” and set them the same way. Tick a box next to “Affect shadows” and “Affect alpha”. Go to the tab “Translucency” and change the „Type” to “Soft (water) model”. The scene is ready, now let’s go to material setting for the sphere.

Step 3

Set materials for the sphere as shown in the picture

, “diffuse”:

, “reflect to:

and “refract to”:

. Now, when the scene and the sphere are set, the lights must be set to enrich them. Please go to the last chapter: Lights.

Lights

Step 1

Go to the tab “Lights” and choose “VRayLights” because other lights aren’t compatible with the rendering engine, so, exactly these lights must be used.

After choosing “VRayLights”, set them above the construction you’ve created, more or less in the middle of it, as it is shown in the picture. It will give full illumination to the scene, but, before it happens the parameters of the lights must be set.

Step 2

Set the form of the light “plane”, colour: white, “Multiplier”: 200, width on each side: 15

Step 3

Now, switch the cameras from the main one “Perspective” to “Camera 01“.

Before you start the rendering, you have to add a modifier “Turbosmooth” to the scene in order to smooth out the edge.

Three iterations will be sufficient to smooth out the surface of the scene (you have to be careful when setting the number of iterations: the more iterations you choose, the highest probability that your computer won’t stand it and make you stop the work). Now, render your scene by pressing F9. You should get something like this in the end.

It’s interesting that there’s only light in the scene and after the rendering is made, there are hundreds of reflections that enhance the visual side of the render. I hope that you enjoy this tutorial because it was born in my imagination. Soon, there will be more my tutorials here so don’t forget to check them out.

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