Painting Vertex Color

Painting Vertex Color

Painting the Garage with VertexPaint

 

Autodesk 3ds Max Tutorials > Materials and Mapping Tutorials > Vertex Color and Interactive Shading > Painting Vertex Color > 

Adding Radiosity to Vertex Color

You can take the lighting information from your file and add it to the vertex color information. In this exercise, you will open a scene of a garage, a typical game environment. The skylights and fluorescent tubes in the garage have advanced lighting override materials applied to them. You will calculate a radiosity solution then “bake” it in the vertex color channels using the Assign Vertex Colors Utility.

Set up the tutorial:

• Open tut_vertexpaint_garage_start.max.

This file has been prepared so that it has advanced lighting override materials placed on the fluorescent tubes, the overhead skylights, the hanging lamp, and the rear red skylight in the back of the garage. First, you will adjust the luminance scale on these materials.

Adjust the Advanced Lighting Materials:

1. Open the Material Editor.

   If you only see six material slots, do the next step.

2. Choose Material Options and set Slots to 5 x 3.

   Now you should be able to see 15 material slots.

3. Find and highlight the Skylight material.
4. Increase the Luminance Scale from 500 to 12000.
5. Select the Cone_Light material and increase the Luminance Scale from 5000 to 10000.
6. Select the Fluorescent_Light material and increase the Luminance Scale to 10000.

   The Advanced Lighting Override Material will give the illusion that the objects are casting lighting in the scene. By increasing these Luminance Scale values the garage will become more brightly lit, once the radiosity is solved.

   NoteThis tutorial does not use Exposure Control. Generally, when working with radiosity, you can turn on Logarithmic Exposure Control for best results.

   Next, you will calculate the radiosity solution.

Calculate the radiosity solution:

1. On the Rendering menu, choose Render.
2. On the Render Scene dialog, click the Advanced Lighting tab.
3. Make sure Display Radiosity In Viewport is turned on and Initial Quality is set to 70%, then click Start.

   The Radiosity solution is created, and the viewport displays the shadowing created using the advanced lighting.

   

   Radiosity displayed in viewport

   You'll now repeat the technique you just used one more time.

4. In the Material Editor, select the material named Red_Light.
5. In the Special Effects group, increase the Luminance Scale to 40000.
6. Close the Material Editor.

   On the Render Scene dialog, there is a message saying the Solution is invalid at the current time frame.

7. On the Render Scene dialog in the Radiosity Processing Parameters, click Reset. Click Yes to confirm.

   The viewport updates to reflect the reset Radiosity.

8. Click Start again.

   The radiosity solution calculates then displays in the viewport. The red light color is now splashed prominently on the back walls.

   

   Red skylight color increased

Next, you will take the radiosity lighting information and add it to the vertex color information by using the Assign Vertex Color utility. This will create a vertex paint layer that you can manipulate.

Bake radiosity into the vertex paint layer:

1. On the toolbar, find the Named Selection Set drop-down list and click the down arrow. Choose VertPt_set from the list.

   This will select all the objects in the scene, except for the lights.

2. On the Utilities panel, choose More > Assign Vertex Colors.
3. In the Assign Vertex Colors rollout, leave the Channel set to Vertex Color.
4. Make sure in the Light Model group that Lighting + Diffuse is turned on.
5. In Color assignment, turn on Color By Vertex, if it isn’t already selected.
6. In the Rendering Options rollout, make sure Mapping is on, and choose Radiosity, Reuse Direct Illum. From Solution.
7. Click Assign To Selected.

   The Radiosity information is assigned object by object throughout the scene. You will see each object update in the viewport.

   

   The vertex information has been applied to the geometry, but the vertex isn't properly displaying it yet. To see the vertex color information, you’ll use the floating vertex paintbox.

8. On the Utility panel > Assign Vertex Colors rollout, click Edit.

   The floating vertex paintbox appears, and the Modify panel is now displayed instead of the Utility panel. The VertexPaint modifier is now visible in the stack. It appears in italics, indicating that it is an instanced modifier, shared by several objects in the scene.

Display the vertex color in the viewport:

At the top of the paintbox, a row of buttons allow you to control the viewport display as you work.

1. Click the Vertex color display – unshaded button.

   

   Unshaded vertex color displayed

   The viewport now displays the vertex color without the viewport lighting.

2. Click the Vertex color display – shaded button.

   

   Shaded vertex color mode

   The viewport now displays the vertex color with the viewport lighting.

3. Click the Vertex color display – disable vertex color button.

   The vertex color is hidden.

   

   Vertex color disabled

4. Turn display vertex color display – shaded on.

   This is the mode you will use when you do your vertex painting.

   In the next section, you will explore using the vertex paint tools to blur shadows, adjust color and paint directly on the garage floor using multiple vertex color layers. But first you should save your work.

5. Save your file as mygarage_vertexcolor01.max.