BOKEH EFFECT IN 3DS MAX 2016 PART-1

[SerdarHakann]

In this beginner’s tutorial we’re going to create a bokeh effect in 3ds Max. The term bokeh is comes from photography. When the depth of field is shallow, part of the photo is blurred. Bokeh refers to that blur or the quality of it. There are a few different methods of creating a shallow depth of field in 3ds Max, but this time we will focus on the ‘Depth of Field / Bokeh’ camera shader which is a feature in 3ds Max 2016. The Bokeh shader gives us nice tools to control the quality and the look of the out of focus areas.

Step 1 Mental Ray Renderer

We’re going to render the bokeh effect with Mental Ray. By default 3ds Max uses the Scanline renderer so we have to change that. Change the renderer to Mental Ray ( Rendering > Render Setup… > Common tab > Assign Renderer > Production > mental ray Renderer ).

Step 2 The Background

We’re going to create a simple 3d scene and finally add the bokeh effect to it. If you are just interested in the bokeh effect itself, go ahead and skip to step 13.

We’re going to create a simple scene with some text in it but first we will create a background. Create a Plane ( Create panel > Geometry > Standard Primitives > Plane ) in the front viewport . Modify the Plane ( Make a selection > Modify panel ) according to the following parameters:

• Length: 200
• Width: 300
• length Segs: 1
• Width Segs: 1

Step 3 The Material for the Background Plane:

Open the Material Editor ( Press ‘m’ in keyboard ) and create the material for the plane:

• Click “Get Material” button and select ( doubleclick ) ‘Arch & Design (mi)’ from the list ( Materials > mental ray > Arch & Design ).
• Select the plane and assign the material to it.
• Color: dark gray ( RGB 0,16 0,16 0,16 ).
• Roughness: 0,2 ( smoothens the highlights )
• Reflectivity: 0 ( perfectly matte surface )

Step 4 Text:

Create a Text shape ( Create panel > Shapes > Splines > Text ) in the front viewport . Modify the text ( Make a selection > Modify panel ) according to the following parameters:

• Interpolation
• Steps: 14 ( the default value is probably enough is you do only a low resolution render )
• Parameters
• Font: Century Gothic
• Alignment: Center
• Size: 60
• Text: bokeh effect

Feel free to select different font or write something different. I chose Century Gothic because those round shapes are good at catching highlights.

Step 5 3D Text:

At this point the text is just a shape and can’t even be seen in renderings. Let’s turn it to a 3d surface. Add a Bevel modifier to the text ( Make a selection > Modify panel > Modifier List > Object-Space Modifiers > Bevel ). Apply the following parameters ( Make a selection > Modify panel ) to the Bevel modifier:

Parameters

• Surface
• Curved Sides: YES
• Segments: 10 ( 3 is probably enough if you do only a low resolution render )
• Smooth Across Levels: YES
• Bevel Values
• Level 1
• Height: 4
• Level 2
• Height: 1,1
• Outline: -0,6

Step 6 Material for the Text:

Open Material Editor ( Press ‘m’ in keyboard ) and create the material for the text:

• Click “Get Material” button and select ( doubleclick ) ‘Arch & Design (mi)’ from the list ( Materials > mental ray > Arch & Design ).
• Select the text and assign the material to it.
• Color: beige/brown ( RGB 0,734 0,655 0,5 ).
• Glossiness: 0,7
• Metal material: YES

Serdar Hakan DÜZGÖREN