Aaron F. Ross, webmaster of Digital Arts Guild, has teamed up with lynda.com, the industry leader in online software training. Aaron’s first video training series for lynda.com is 3ds Max 2010 Lighting and Rendering with mental ray. Learn to make photorealistic renderings in 3ds Max!

This series, over five hours in length, explores one of the most powerful toolsets for photorealistic 3D image visualization: the mental ray renderer in 3ds Max. Aaron shows how to use mental ray’s combination of materials, lighting, and rendering to achieve a variety of effects, from glossy surfaces to reflections and transparency. He provides an in-depth review of photometrics and the tools used to adjust lighting in 3ds Max, including intensity, distribution, and color temperature, in a wide variety of lighting scenarios. Aaron also devotes time to getting the most out of mental ray’s powerful rendering engine and improving render efficiency. Exercise files are included with this course.