In this tutorials, we will overview some of the main advantages of working with EXRs in nuke. On this first part, we will learn:
EXR, concept.
Layers and channels
Starting with the workflow, Relative paths.
The download project files are in this link: EXR PROJECT FILES (For the three parts).

 

On this second part, we will concentrate on:
Merging multichannel EXRs. 
Renaming layers
Preparing presets
Writing EXRs

 

On this last tutorial, we will see how to build recyclable gizmos that you can use in your pipeline with EXR files.
Extracting knobs to the gizmo. 
Saving the gizmo for later use.

 

 

Relighting theory

The main goal of this tutorial is to explain the theory of the relighting process before jumping to the software.
Relight concept
Camera and world coordinates
Normal pass, Point Position pass
General overview of passes and situations
The download project files are in this link: RELIGHT PROJECT FILES PART 1

 

 

In this part, we will see how to quickly extract the Point Position and the Normal Pass from any of the following applications: (The timing shows when each software starts)
maya + mental ray 
maya + renderman (12:30)
3ds max + vray (23:00)
Softimage + arnold (39:00)
And then create the previs point cloud in nuke. 
Please visit nukeros.com if you want to download the files used.

 

In this third part, we have already got our AOVs in nuke, with the point cloud, so we learn how to use different lights to tune our lighting in nuke.

These tutorials will also be available in spanish in nukeros.com
The download project files are in this link: RELIGHT PROJECT FILES PART 3

 

Full tutorial of the workflow to export multichannel EXR from arnold to nuke for the Relight node. I'm not really a Softimage TD, so I'm pretty sure there are many other ways to complete the process, but this one works fine.
I'll soon upload videos with the process form max+vray and maya+renderman and maya+mental ray.

 

Vue X-Stream

Vue tutorials

9 lessons you can follow, Over 11 hours explaining Vue Xstream and Vue in 3dsmax. The content was done with Vue 7.5 and Vue 8. 

They intent to cover most of Vue content for Modelling, atmospheres, lightning, camera animation and rendering. They don't really cover object animation. 

No need of previous knowledge is needed to follow this tuts, though I've tried to give some tricks and troubleshooting answers that advanced users should appreciate.  

click HERE (100MB) if you want to download the files used to follow this course. I had to convert all images to jpg and png to minimize downloading time, so some maps might have different format than the tutorial ones.

BEFORE THE TUTORIALS. Results of the 9 lessons.

 

LESSON 1. Interface and workflow 

Videotutorial, 47 min. Vue Xstream V8.

Landscape Animation
- Basic interface.
- Vue Workflow.
- Intro to Vue Objects.
- Terrains. Types. Heightfield, procedural, infinite terrains.
- Editing Terrains. Intro to 3D 
- Sculpting tools. Zones.
- Vue 8 Terrain editor, painting mixed materials.
- Plants and Metaclouds intro.
- Atmosphere Basics.
- Creating a quick environment in 15 minutes.
- Intro to Ecosystem. Dynamic population.
- Animation Wizard.
- Intro de render Qualities.

LESSON 2. Winter Animation 

Videotutorial, 120 min. Vue Xstream V7.5

- Rocks.
- Using displacement with rocks.
- Layering vs mixing materials.
- Displacement with mixed and multilayer materials.
- Basic function editor management. Filters.
- Plants. From plant species. Editing their materials.
- Vue 7 Terrain editor.
- Populating ecosystems. Affinity & Repulsion.
- Introduction to atmosphere & clouds. Metaclouds.
- Basic animation. Water surface, camera movement, breeze.
- Animation rendering.
- Antialiasing, render quality.

LESSON 3. Landscape Animation 

Videotutorial, 105 min. Vue Xstream V7.5

- Using imported meshes as terrains. UVs.
- Mask painting in Z-Brush
- Using material layers and mixing materials
- Function editing. Alpha and transparency.
- Ecosystems. Multiple ecosystems vs one single ecosystem.
- Density maps.
- Atmpspherics: Haze, Fog, Sky, Aereal perspective, Breeze
- Clouds. Spectral clouds, metaclouds.
- Simple animation. Clouds, camera, vegetation.
- Animation rendering.

LESSON 4. Concept & Fake animation 

Videotutorial, 85 min. Vue Xstream V7.5

- Terrain Editor. Using Custom Maps to generate Terrains.
- Mixing bitmaps and procedural textures in terrains.
Combiner, Blender Nodes.
- Terrain Clipping.
- Brushes in Terrain Edition. Brush Modes. Airbrush Style.
- Ecosystem population. Rocks. Affinity.
- Layering multiple Ecosystems.
- Material Layering.
- Individual Plants and Ecosystem Plant distribution.
- Object Layers.
- Rendering Multipass Buffer.
- Render Resolutions.
- Faking animation with Nuke.

LESSON 5. Night Scene Animation 

Videotutorial, 63 min. Vue Xstream V8

- Importing max objects into vue. Obj. UVs.
- System Units.
- Materials: Using normal maps in Vue.
- Reflection in materials.
- Using layered materials with rendered textures. Adding Dirt with procedural texures.
- Quadratic lights.
- Using reference meshes for terrain creation.
- Vue 8 terrain editor. Sculpting, Zones. Airbrush in Vue 8.
Subdivision in Terrains. 
- Animating a camera. Animation Curves.
- Ecosystem painting.

LESSON 6. Mountain Path Animation 

Videotutorial, 72 min. Vue Xstream V8

- Imported meshes. Normal mapping. UVs troubles.
- Polygon mesh options. Dynamic subdivisions. Decimation.
- Displacement. Problems with non procedural meshes.
- Bump, normal bump and displacement.
- Assigning textures. Input nodes.
- Hypertexture materials.
- Night atmosphere. GI faking. Light influences.
- Improving Clouds. Spectral clouds and Light interaction.
- Bringing a camera animation from max.
- Animation rendering. Multiframe antialiasing.

LESSON 7. Simple Environment

Videotutorial, 27 min. Vue Xstream V7.5

- Using Primitive OBjects.
- Scatter and Replicate.
- Metablob objects. Options.
- Material Editor. Influence of Environment in Mixed MAterials.
- Blender and combiner Nodes. Combination Modes.
- Ecosystems. Rocks.Assigning Procedural materials to rocks.
- Paint Ecosystem vs. Material Ecosystem.
- Infinite terrains, Seas.
- Using Imported meshes. Sea Foam not working with foreign objects.
- Atmospheres.

LESSON 8. Vue in Max (MR) Theory

Videotutorial, 57 min. Vue Xstream V8

- Vue inside Max. Interface. Workflow. Customize Interface.
- Scene Contents.
- Mental Ray Final Gather and Vue Atmosphere.
- Vue Global Radiosity in Max.
- Vue Lights Vs. Max Lights. 
- Shadowing. Max lights and area shadows.
- Materials: Max materials for max objects, Vue Materials for Vue objects.
- Copying Vue objects in the scene.
- Mr Sun, Mr Sky. Troubleshooting.
- Ecosystems inside max.
- Antialiasing. Vue or max.
- Terrain editor. Adapting vue environment to max scene.

LESSON 9. House animation, integration in 3dsmax 

Videotutorial, 69 min. Vue Xstream V8

- Creating a Terrain. Adapting the Terrain to the max scene.
- Terrain Editor. Sculpting.
- Camera management. Changing Lenses. Camera correction Mod.
- Atmosphere.lightning model.
- Managing sunlight.
- Night atmosphere. GI faking.
- Creating a Planet.
- Global Lightning Adjustments.
- Light properties. Softness in Vue Lights. No soft shadows with max lights.
- Animation rendering. Multiframe antialiasing.
- Painting Ecosystems in Max.
- Camera animation. Exporting animation to Vus Scene.

V-Ray

V-Ray is one of the most powerful renderers in the industry. I've been using the software for more than 7 years with max, and since the release for maya too.

If you want to learn more about this software, I recommend visiting my other web, www.vray.es, devoted to vray (max and maya), with plenty information and tutorials. (Spanish only).

 

Video tutorial in SPANISH with all the new features of vray 2.0 for 3dsmax. 70 min aprox.

Video tutorial en castellano con todas las novedades de la versión de vray 2.0 para 3dsmax. 70 min aprox.

Tutorial in SPANISH with a large collection of architectural materials. You can download the bitmaps you will be using Here. It is not for a specific version of Vray, It explains every material done, with theory and buttons.

Tutorial en castellano con una amplia colección de materiales arquitectónicos. Podeis descargar los bitmaps que se utilizarán Aqui.No es para una versión específica de vray. Explica cada material, tanto en la teoría como los botones.