Here is my first video tutorial covering compositing 32bit Linear OpenEXR multichannel files in photoshop, without altering the values and blowing out the images when stepping down to 16bit or 8 bit modes.

I hope it helps, as Photoshop is not really geared towards working with 32bit images, if you are rendering out linear images from your 3D package this is useful.

(DISCLAIMER – Download and install at your own risk)

Download the Linear RGB ICC profile used in this video here -http://bit.ly/sxn6gI

How to create your own Linear ICC profile -http://fnordware.blogspot.com/2008/05/making-linear-icc-profile.html

Finally took the plunge and started learning V-ray 2.0, have to say I’m impressed by the minimum learning curve to setup a scene and get a decent render out of it. It also seems pretty fast from my testing with simple geo.

here are some resources I used to get up; to speed.

• http://youtu.be/VpMsw4nNVKI – VrayForMaya Lights Part 1
• http://youtu.be/EvBffTQ29LM – V-Ray 2.0 for Maya Image Based Lighting
• http://www.spot3d.com/vray/help/maya/150R1/camera_extr_attrib.htm
• http://www.spot3d.com/vray/help/maya/150R1/render_params_imagesampler.htm
• http://vray.us/vray_documentation/vray_physical_camera_examples.shtml
• http://www.creativecrash.com/maya/tutorials/rendering-lighting/gi/c/v-ray-for-maya-and-gamma-settings
• http://www.spot3d.com/vray/help/maya/150R1/examples_vrayphysicalcamera.htm

1. Create a new render layer with the geomtry
2. right click on render layer and select attributes
3. click the presets button and select luminance depth 
4. click on the shader assigned to the layer if not selected and you should see settings like figure 1
5. IMPORTANT – You need to Break Connection on old min and old max ( this is so you can adjust the depth, by default it is going to render a pretty flat image, not usuable if you want to use it for detailed DOF )
6. Select maya software as your renderer and test a render, its going to look flat, go to next step
7. Adjust the old min and old max numbers, each time testing a render to get a nice even step from white to black. These numbers are dependent on your scene size and camera, so trial and error is the key here. ( figure 2 )
8. Once your happy with it, set your anti-aliasing to high and render out the final output.

figure 1

figure 2

Been playing around with Mental ray’s sss_fastSimple in maya 2012 and came across something that everyone should know about when making sss shaders.

The option “SCREEN COMPOSITE” is very important option to try turning off if you are finding your SSS shader is coming out grey instead of full color. This option effectively CLAMPS the color values during the render, and is ON by default. I really dont understand why this is on by default, but as you can see from the image above, the left side represents the OFF function, with full red saturation. While the right side you can clearly see a lot of grey clips…

So remember, if your render is turning out weird, try switching this off. Also another option to keep an eye out on is the SALE CONVERSION. You can read more about it from this great collection of Maya tips

Very happy to get my hands on this brand new tech from Autodesk _labs called Project Photofly. This technology uses a series of 2D photographs stitched together to create a photo realistic high density polygon model and texture using cloud computing for the heavy grunt work via the photo scene editor GUI. Here is the result of my first attempt with Project Photofly using a clay Buddha sculpture of mine.

Click for 2000px x 720px Hi-res

Here are the photos I took to create the model. I ran out of light to take some top down photos, which caused problems in the stitch later.

Here are the photos I took to create the model.

So if you are wondering what you can use with this cool new tech? For one digital set extensions, props and background elements can now all be made simply by taking photographs, yes you can take photos of set and recreate it in 3D, check out this great example.
Clever people have also figured out this is a great way to create models for games using photofly + Zbrush, here is a very detailed tutorial series covering step by step process to transfer the hi-res photofly mesh to a low-res game friendly mesh.

Now, you can use the above tut to generate VFX ready meshes as well, why? because the mesh that comes straight from photofly while very high in detail is not production ready, the tris are often in many disconnected islands and the UV is pretty random. So for any production use its highly recommended that you retopo the mesh and transfer the details. Tools like 3Dcoat, Maya / Mudbox and Zbrush will all do this for you.

If you are keen to find out more, here is a little demo I created showing the workflow from photofly to Maya / Mental Ray. Enjoy! I think we should be seeing some new production ready tools from Autodesk using this new tech soon, not only for modelling, but also for 3D tracking ( Matchmover update please! )

Update: A little FYI if you have issues connecting to the cloud ( http://labs.blogs.com/its_alive_in_the_lab/2011/08/steps-for-identifying-network-issues-with-project-photofly.html )

basemesh modelled in Maya. detailing & texturing in Mudbox

original concept used with permission by ttp://cghub.com/images/view/148551/