V-Ray: Control Color Bleed in 3ds Max

Don't let your colors bleed. Learn how to control and eliminate color bounce in your 3ds Max and V-Ray renders.

Color bleed is a common problem in global illumination (GI) renders, as colors are transferred by means of indirect light reflection. By understanding how light works in the real world, and using 3ds Max and V-Ray to mimic that behavior virtually, you can prevent most color bleed problems. Join Brian Bradley as he demonstrates the causes of—and solutions for—the color bleed that occurs in V-Ray GI renders. Learn how to control color bleed in a physically accurate manner (as you could on a real-world set), and by using GI-specific tools along with other nonphysical controls such as Materials Overrides and the V-Ray Object Properties dialog.

Introduction

• Welcome
• What you should know before watching this course
• Using the exercise files
• The 3ds Max project structure
• File gamma and unit handling
• How our test scene is set up

1. Color Bleed Basics

• A little bit about how light works
• Defining color bleed

2. Physically Accurate Color Bleed Control

• Controlling reflectance through color values
• Controlling reflectance in bitmap images
• The laws of thermodynamics at work
• How geometry setup can affect color bleed
• The power of the White Balance control
• Choosing placement of problem colors

3. Global Illumination Controls

• The Saturation Post-Processing control
• Single-bounce primary engines
• Using the photon bounce limit
• Beware the GI Multiplier control
• Saving GI map files to disk

4. Other Color Bleed Control Options

• V-Ray Material Wrapper
• What's next?
• Override material
• Color mapping and color bleed
• V-Ray object properties
• Using render elements