3ds Max 2012 Bible - Kelly L. Murdock [506]
After you've completed your scene and rendered it, you're finished, right? Well, not exactly. You still have post-production to complete: That's where you work with the final rendered images to add some additional effects. This phase of production typically takes place in another package, such as Photoshop, Autodesk's Composite, or Adobe's After Effects, and understanding how to interact with these packages can be a lifesaver when your client wants some last-minute changes (and they always do).
You can set Max to render any part in the rendering pipeline individually. These settings are called render elements. By rendering out just the Specular layer or just the shadow, you have more control over these elements in your compositor.
If you don't have access to a compositing package, or even if you do, Max includes a simple interface that can be used to add some post-production effects. This interface is the Video Post interface.
You can use the Video Post window to composite the final rendered image with several other images and filters. These filters let you add lens effects like glows and flares, and other effects like blur and fade, to the final output. The Video Post window provides a post-processing environment within the Max interface.
Note
Many of the post-processing effects, such as glows and blurs, also are available as render effects, but the Video Post window is capable of much more. Render effects are covered in Chapter 46, “Using Atmospheric and Render Effects.” •
Using External Compositing Packages
Before delving into the Video Post interface, let's take a quick look at some of the available compositing packages. Several of these packages have direct links into Max that can be used to give you a jump on the post-production process.
Compositing with Photoshop
Perhaps the most common tool for compositing images is Photoshop. Photoshop can bring multiple images together in a single file and position them relative to one another. Working with layers makes applying simple filters and effects to the various element pieces easy.
Figure 49.1 shows Photoshop with several separate pieces, each on a different layer.
FIGURE 49.1
Photoshop is an important compositing tool for static images.
To composite images in Photoshop, you need to load all the separate images into Photoshop and then select the portions of the images that you want to combine. When saving image files in Max, be sure to include an alpha channel. You can see the alpha channel in the Rendered Frame window if you click the Display Alpha Channel button, as shown in Figure 49.2.
FIGURE 49.2
The Rendered Frame window can display an image's alpha channel.
In Photoshop, you can see an image's alpha channel if you select the Channels panel in the Layers palette. Selecting the alpha channel and using the Magic Wand tool makes selecting the rendered object easy. After it's selected, you can copy and paste the rendered image onto your background image as a new layer.
Note
Not all image file formats support an alpha channel. When rendering images to be composited, be sure to use an alpha channel format such as RLA, RPF, PNG, or TGA. •
After all your images have been positioned on the background image, you can apply a filter, such as a Gaussian Blur, to smooth the edges between the composite images.
Video editing with Premiere
Photoshop works with still images, but if you work with animations, then Adobe has Premiere to help with your video editing needs. The editing that Premiere makes possible includes patching several animation clips together, adding sound, color-correcting the frames, and adding transitions between animation clips.
Within Premiere, various animation clips can be imported (or dragged directly from Windows Explorer) into the Project panel. From here, the clips can be dropped onto the Timeline in the desired order. The Monitor panel shows the current animation or individual animation clips.
Sound clips can be dropped in the Timeline in the Audio track. The Title menu also can be used to