Here is a nice and interesting model.
The
presentation is not that interesting.
Max default background and lightning need some improvement.
First
step is to change the background.
1. Go to Rendering -> Environment.
2. Click the "Environment Map" button.
3. Select the "Gradient" map.
Change the gradients color:
1. Go back to the "Environment" dialog.
2. Open the Material Editor.
3. Grab the environment map, drag and drop it on an empty slot. Make it
an instance so the environment map gets updated when changes are made in
the Material Editor.
Note that the map is of "Environ" type in the "Coordinates"
rollout. Don't forget to check this if you start making the map in the
Material Editor.
4. Scroll down to "Gradient Parameters" rollout and change the
color. I like to remove the pure black and white from the background.
Feel free to make a different choice of colors :)
Now the image is in desperate need of
shadows.
Create a Spotlight. Turn on shadows.
Render the image. Not much difference.
there is no floor to recive the shadow.
Draw a plane object make it large enough to catch the shadow. Someting like this.
But now the floor isn't exactly infinite.
We will fix that with a Matte/Shadow material.
This works as a recive-shadow-only material.
1. Open Material Editor.
2. Pick an empty slot.
3. Click "Get Material" or "Standard" button.
4. Select "Matte/Shadow" material.
Rember that materials are blue and maps are green in the browser.
5. Make sure that "Recive Shadows" is checked. It should
be checked by default.
6. Drop the new material on the ground plane.
The lightning and shadows still needs some work.
Add two omni lights, one above and one below the model. Turn off shadows and set the multipliers to something like 0.5. If you want, exclude the model from the above omni light.
Make the shadow softer:
1. Select the shadow casting spot.
2. Go to Modify tab.
3. Scroll down to "Shadow Map Params"
4. Lower the map size to something like 150.
Default should be 512. This makes the shadow less detailed.
5. Raise the "Sample Range" to 8.
6. Render cool looking image of the infinite room.
