Even though i don't use 3DS'Max, I'm sure the lighting techniques might work the same in it. I'll take images from the last. Also to make it feel less complicated I'm going to make this as brief as possible so you can discover for yourself how to light, which is really the only experience.
First I'll mention there is indoor lighting and outdoor lighting. Simple enough. Just remember a model that was originally lit in an indoor set up can never look right if it were composited into an outdoor scene, and vice versa, that is all.
Now.
Here's what I'm showing you.
Simply a rectangular space with a few objects in it. See how the walls are purple, then there are 2 lamps in the scene itself. Those lamps will let off the most intense light. It wouldn't really do any good to give you numbers for how intense the lighting will be, cause that all depends on the size of the environment and the distance given between objects and the lights.
One thing to note ...
All lights must have decay. (In Maya it's called decay, not sure what Max calls it, but it's when the light gradually becomes weaker the further away it is from the source)
By default the lights in Maya have no Decay, it's probably the same in Max, so set them up to be so when you make them, by then you'll be ready to test their intensity.
Now the lighting set up
- In the scene all the lights that effect the space are shown in white. Mostly spot lights.
- That white X shape you see in the front, is part of the rectangle you see. That is an area light, it barely serves a purpose might i add.
- Looking at the spot lights on the 2 sides ... They are actually behind the surface.
- Looking at the spotlights on the top and on the bottom, they too are behind the surface.
The spot lights placed behind the surfaces are assigned not to see the surface they are hiding behind. They are also letting off purple light to mimic light refracting from the surface.
Note:If you were to put your hand near a red cloth and shine a bright light on it, you will see the colour red on your hand. This is why the light shining through the surfaces are coloured to match the coulor of the surface in the scene.
-Looking at the 2 Lamps, they were given Spot lights (with Fog effect). But what's important is that each one of those lights has a spot light under the ground to create that light bouncing effect. the lights behind the surfaces MUST have decay, all lights every time MUST HAVE DECAY. Always remember that.
In the above pic you can see a yellow ray of light shining on the characters right leg. That is a combination of the green and red on that spinning thing the character is standing on. If you go back and look at the lighting set up, you'll see i put 2 area lights in that area, so that would intentionally happen. On a side note, this is not perfect lighting. I should have animated it to narrow down when the shadow passes over that spot so we don't see this yellow light, but you catch the drift.
How intense you need to make the lights behind the surfacing is really a matter of opinion. Those lights should also cast shadows in very settle ways. In many cases you can skip making them cast shadows but keep in mind refracting light does cast shadows.
