Scene Render Effects

When the time comes for me to render each of the scenes there are several effects and setting that i am going to use to, in my opinon, make the scene look much better. The first is a render effect called toon render. This render effect adds a solid black line around all chosen models within a scene. This makes the scene look more cartoony and also distinguishes character, props and environments from each other. For each if two objects are the same colour, they wont blend in becasue they have this black outline.

This effect is done within Maya under the Render section and the Toon Toolbar.


Below are two images comparing the a car with the toon shader on and off. Personally i prefer the scenes with the Toon shader on as it makes a nice distinction between models within the scene.

This effect however increases the render time however, i feel as though this is worth the extra time spent rendering.

The next technique that i plan to use is called Raytracing which is in the render settings. Raytracing allows Maya to create light, reflections and refraction that mimic real life. The default setting for light within Maya is places down shadows that are approximate. However with ratracing, clearly defined shadows are used and reflections can be made to look much more realistic.



One area this is showcased best is in the first few seconds on scene 4 which takes place in an elevator.
The doors of the elevator have a shiny material added to them so that with Raytracing on they produce real reflections.




The image on the right has Raytracing enabled and believe that this is a nice effect that is utilised in the rendering of my animation. The image on the right has this option turned off and i believe that this looks much more plain and much less interesting to look at.