ABSTRACT
Underneath the umbrella term of Global Illumination lies several algorithms and methods, including raytracing and radiosity, which have been gathering momentum for well over a decade and are now firmly established within most 3D applications. The Light Tracer, as the first of 3ds Max’s Advanced Lighting modes, is a great method of acheiving the soft light and color bleeding that are associated with fullblown radiosity techniques, without having to run a physically-based simulation. This chapter focuses on working with the Global Illumination technique of radiosity, which is 3ds Max’s second Advanced Lighting mode. Raytracing was one of the first Global Illumination algorithms to be developed. This algorithm recognizes that although billions of photons may be emitted, the ones we primarily care about are those that enter the eye and form the resultant image. The radiosity algorithm calculates the amount of light distributed from each mesh element to every other mesh element.
