Computersight -

First you need to have followed my other guide on how to model the trash can if you haven’t please visit and follow this guide.

First things we need to do is create a polygon plane so go to the top menu create > polygon primitives > plane, now in any view port press W and use the green arrow to move the plane down so its just above the feet, so basically the feet go through the plane as this isn’t really that important. Now press R in any view port and using the perspective view and the yellow box scale the plane so that it’s huge! Now we need to get out a resolution gate so we can see what we will render for the image.

Right the next step is to in the perspective view in the white menu and click view and go view > camera setting > resolution gate this will now create a box in the view, you see anything inside of this box will be rendered out and anything not will be cut off.

Now we go window > outliner and select the plane we created and CTRL and D so we make a copy with the copy press E and in the perspective view and with the red rotate tool turn the plane till its stood up 90 degrees, if you want to be precise with the angle open the channel settings, to do this go to the top right hand corner and under the close window x you will see a image this is the channel editor when you open this up go to the rotate X section LEFT mouse click and change it to 90 and press enter.

Now in the top view port click with the MOUSE WHEEL and press W and move the plane so that it’s behind the trash can, this will create a floor and background for the scene.

Now lets get some lights into the scene go to create > lights > directional lights, now we will use these for our two point based light system that will give a nice effect to the scene. With the first light you have created in the top view port press W and with the yellow box in the middle LEFT mouse click and drag the light so that its in front of the trash can and to the left a bit, then press E and with the green rotate tool move the light till its pointing towards the trash can. Now move to the front or side view and press W and using the green arrow move the light so that it’s a fair bit above the trash can, now press E and use the red rotate tool to point the light downwards towards the trash can.

The step above as put the first light in place now we need to play with the setting to get the light how we want it, click on the light in the outliner and now we need to open up then attribute editor, remember the channel editor well not the middle one but the one after is the attribute editor click this.

Now where we have loads of new settings we have one called colour, click in the white box that is next to the word for the colour palette to open, choose a colour you think best suited for the scene I went for a soft yellow/orange colour as this is like a spring or summer colour. Then click shadows to drop down a new section and scroll down to where it says use ray trace shadows and check the check box and that’s the first light created and set up.

Now CRTL and D the light so we have a clone before we do anything click use ray trace shadows so it’s turned of as in the real world unless there is another nearby source of light the sun only casts shadows. Now in the top view port middle click and press W and with the yellow box move the light directly across and behind the trash can, then press E and with the green rotate tool turn it till it faces directly at the trash can and towards the other light, now in the front or side view MOUSE WHEEL click and press W and move the light till its just above the floor and then press E and with the red rotate tool point the light at the trash can.

Now in the attribute editor with the light selected scroll to the word colour and change it from the colour you have selected to a colour in the opposite direction from the one you choose so if you choose the soft yellow/orange like me it will be a blue/green semi hard colour.

Now we have the background and the lights set up now for the materials we will use in this scene, go window > render editors > hypershader this will create a new pop up with some features we will use.

Now in the hypershader on the far left section click on the word blinn or the image above it to create a blinn material, now lets create the black for the trash can middle section, now in the attribute editor with the blinn selected click the grey box next to the word colour and change it to black in the colour palette that appears, scroll down to the word reflectivity which should be set to 0.500 click and change this to 0.200 and press enter if you want to change the specular colour to a softer grey.

Repeat the last step this time instead of making the black colour select a gold colour from the colour palette and leave the specular colour but still change the reflectivity, and create another one but this time we need a silver colour so in the colour palette change the colour to a light blue/grey colour, leave the reflectivity at 0.500 and set the specular colour to a light blue colour.

Now we have all the colours we will be using for the scene lets assign them to the objects we have created, first in the outliner with the hypershader still visible click on the object names pcylinder1 and then in the hypershader on the black colour RIGHT click and hold and choose the option assign material to selection now if you notice the inside of the trash can as turned black! Now in the outliner select the two pPipe1 and 2 and the first grouped object this is the detail we created on the trash can, and assign the gold colour to them like we did above and repeat with the legs but assign the silver colour, another way is to MOUSE WHEEL click on a blinn or any material and drag and drop on to a object in the perspective view.

Now we have all the objects textured and the scene is lit we need to set it up for a render now remember when we clicked the attribute editor tool at the top, next to it on the left is a weird movie clipboard click this to bring up the render options we will need to change.

Now with the new pop up we need to do some changes, where it says render using then a drop down box it should say maya software change this to mental ray, this is a powerful rendering tool that will help create even more realistic lights and shadows. Now if you don’t have the option mental ray it means the plug in is not turned on and needs to be so lets cover that.

Go window > settings/preferences > plug in manager and in the new pop up locate the plug in called mayatomr.dll and click both check boxes next to it.

Close the rendering settings and reopen them and re do step 16 you should now have mental ray options select this and wait for thee render setting to change, once this is done click the mental ray tab and from here we can begin to set the scene ready for rendering, first step change the quality presets from draft to production and then scroll down to final gather and click the check box (you have to click the word final gather to create the drop down).

Now in the perspective view move the camera around with ALT and LEFT mouse button to rotate the camera, ALT and MIDDLE MOUSE button to move the camera and ALT and RIGHT mouse button to zoom in and out, once you have got the trash can in to the shot and you are happy click the first movie clipboard sign to start rendering the view. Once this is clicked a new pop up appears and slowly your image will render out be warned this can take some time!

Now you have created the trash can, gave it some light and textures your all done! I shall next work on a tutorial to help you create a better floor and give the background a file of a sky texture so you can learn about importing texture files.