Topic awaiting preservation: Light

i have a problem ..wenn i add light to a 3dsm scene i loose debth ... can someone direct me to a lighting tutorial ???

visite my Blackbrain

im no 3dsm expert, but maybe you can post an example so we know what exactly you are talking about.

geberal scene lightning

visite my Blackbrain

There is no general lighting method. A good way to start, is use just omni lights, and use the place highlight button to give yourself control over where the highlights appear. Make sure to use colored lights (light shades of blue or yellow look most natural) instead of white lights.

well that was a help already but is there a method of youst defining a SUN or so somewhere and using this as one big light ?

visite my Blackbrain

I think you mean something like global illumination?
In max 4.x or lower, you'll need a renderer plugin, like Brazil, or Final Render.
In max 5, you can set global illimunation in the advanced lighting options.

[Edit]
Or you can fake it of course. Set up lights with a very low intensity, all around you scene, evenly spaced apart, all pointing to the middle, no shadows. (Likely will need 50+ lights with a VERY low intensity) Then add a sunlight object, pointin in the direction so that all shadows, and shading appear to be project from where the main source of lighting would be.
[/Edit]

[This message has been edited by Dan (edited 12-17-2002).]

Yeah....what he ^^^ said