Lighting Tutorials >
Lighting and Rendering the Villa at Night

In this tutorial, you will illuminate the mediterranean villa by night.

First, you create photometric lights that mimic real-world lighting systems. After that, you add a photograph of the sky to use as a background.

In this tutorial, you will learn how to:

- Place photometric lights in a scene and adjust light color.
- Set shadow parameters so lights cast shadows properly.
- Set the exposure for a nighttime scene.
- Use a bitmap image as the scene background and adjust its output for nighttime lighting conditions.

Skill level: Intermediate

Time to complete: 1 hour

Preparation for This Tutorial

- If you have not already downloaded the tutorial files (MAX scenes and other assets), download them now and unzip them into a project folder called \Autodesk 3ds Max Design 2012 tutorials. See Where to Find Tutorial Files.
- On the Quick Access toolbar, click (Project Folder) and set your current project to Autodesk 3ds Max Design 2012 Tutorials.

#### Topics in this section

- Adding Photometric Lights
- Adding Lights to the Deck Area
- Improving the Background