100% portfolio consisting of pieces of work demonstrating lighting, rendering and compositing abilities which will assess Learning Outcomes 1,2,3 & 4.

This module is designed to give students intermediate/advanced understanding of lighting, modelling, shader and render principles and theories, then apply them to an appropriate scene for the purpose of generating quality renders.
Students will cover the following topics:
• Shaders defining materials properties, specialist shaders for skin, use and application or surface decals and bump maps.
• Enhanced use of node based shader generation techniques
• Use of appropriate image formats in shader networks
• Multipass rendering techniques
• Composition techniques for render pass images to generate portfolio images
• Camera properties in Maya
• Camera effects noise, chromatic aberration, bloom and distortion
• Lighting principles in CG - Normals, Vectors, inverse square law and optics, qualities and characteristics, light and shadow.
• Image Based Lighting for CG
• Relighting using normal passes and point position data
• High Dynamic Range Imaging - HDRI
• Enhanced UV layout and texture mapping techniques
• Development of Layered shaders
• Alternative diffuse map generation techniques
• Camera attributes and effects
• Use of render passes
• Production render qualities
• Differences between render and realtime visualisation engines

3 hours per week. The module will be delivered using a combination of lectures, seminars, class discussions, media review and supervised tutorials. The work will be of a combination of theory and practical, and students are expected to use their independent study time to consolidate this work

Autodesk Maya or equivalent
Adobe Photoshop
Nuke Studio or equivalent
Map generation software
Digital academy forum
Office Suite or equivalent
Online tutorial media

Livny, B. (2007) Mental Ray for Maya, 3ds Max and XSI: A 3D Artist's Guide to Rendering, John Wiley &Sons
Lanier, L. (2015) Advanced Maya Texturing and Lighting (Third Edition), Wiley
Oren Parker, W. (2009), Scene Design and Stage Lighting: Mass: Wadsworth Cengage Learning
Birn, J. (2013) Digital Lighting and Rendering (Third Edition), Publisher: New Riders, Language: English
Booker, D. (2002) Essential CG lighting techniques with 3ds max, Publisher: Focal Press, Language: English
Bailey, M. and Cunningham, S. (2009) Graphics Shaders: Theory and Practice, A. K. Peters/CRC Press
Alton, J. (1995) Painting with Light (4th Ed), University of California Press
Block, C. (2013) The HDRI Handbook 2.0: High Dynamic Range Imaging for Photographers and CG Artists, Rocky Nook

1. DEMONSTRATE A CRITICAL UNDERSTANDING OF LIGHT AND SHADER THEORIES IN COMPUTER GENERATED IMAGERY (CGI).
[Knowledge and Understanding]

2. APPLY APPROPRIATE LIGHTING, RENDERING TECHNIQUES AND SOLUTIONS TO A 3D MODEL/ENVIRONMENT TO PRODUCE A HIGH QUALITY GRAPHIC OUTPUT.
[Application; Problem Solving]

3. COMPREHEND THE VARIOUS PROCESSES USED BY RENDERING SYSTEMS.
[Learning]

4. COMMUNICATE IDEAS AND INTENTIONS BY MEANS OF HIGH QUALITY, REALISTIC CG IMAGES. [Communication]

This module is designed to give students intermediate/advanced understanding of lighting, modelling, shader and render principles and theories, then apply them to an appropriate scene for the purpose of generating quality renders.