Glow and Glare in Max 2009
In this tutorial we will be discussing a method to create a glowing effect on an object. This is similar to my Old Glow Tutorial, however this technique is superior in a number of ways. This method will allow the object to cast light on other objects in the scene, as well as provide a simple way to collect only the glow effect if needed for compositing. This tutorial will focus on two techniques, first creating a glowing material, then adding a Glare camera shader.
Before we get started, take a look at the image below. I am using a simple scene with a basic daylight system for this tutorial. Currently everything has a default grey Standard material. You will absolutely have to be rendering in Mental Ray as well as have Final Gather enabled for this tutorial.
The first thing we need to do is to create a glowing material. Take a fresh slot and create an Arch and Design material. Make sure to set the template to Matte Finish.
Now scroll down a bit in the material and open the Self Illumination (Glow) rollout. Enable to first checkbox to turn on the effect. At this point you can also choose any color you would like for your glow. Make sure to check the Illuminates the Scene (when using FG) checkbox as well. Since you have Final Gather enabled your objects will now cast a small amount of light around them.
Apply this material to one of your objects and render your scene. You should see the object illuminated as well as some light on objects near it.
You can use the Luminance setting to change the brightness of the object, but I recommend waiting until the end of this tutorial for tweaking since everything you do here will also affect the Glare shader. We are now ready to add this shader on our camera, so open your Render Setup window. Switch to the Renderer tab and scroll down to the Camera Effects rollout. If you are using the default setup for 2009 you may notice you have a Glare shader already in the Output slot. If this is the case simply enable it, otherwise click None and choose Glare.
Render your scene again and you should see the Glare effect being applied.
The next step is to open both the Render Setup window and the Material Editor, and drag the shader into an empty material slot. Make sure you choose Instance when you do this. Now you will be able to edit the properties of the Glare like a material and it will automatically change the rendering effect.
At this point in the tutorial you are free to experiment to achieve whatever effect you want. Your main settings to be concerned with are the Quality and Spread settings in the Glare shader and the Luminance and Filter Color settings in the Glow material we made earlier. Please also notice that changing the Filter Color will have an effect on the brightness of your glow. *NOTE* Be careful when editing the Quality and Spread settings, these are very sensitive and small changes can lead to very drastic changes in your render times.
A few other things to note in the Glare shader are Streaks, Resolution for Glare Processing, and Replace Rendered Image with Glare Only. Enabling this last setting produces a result like you see below. This can be very handy if you are compositing your final deliverable and need a "glare pass."
If you edit the Resolution for Glare Processing you will see a result like the image below.
Finally, enabling Streaks will give you a result like the next image.
Congratulations, you have completed the Glow and Glare tutorial. This effect is great for creating energy arcs, lightsabers, lasers, or just a simple pass to enhance a flame or lightning effect. Good quality results will come from experimentation, so have fun! If you find anything in this tutorial that needs to be corrected or clarified, please Contact me.