The Advanced Rendering Techniques course is designed to help students advance their rendering and presentation skills to the next level. Want to learn how to make a great “hero” shot or render an image that will leave people wondering if it is real or not? Then this course is for you!

To achieve this next level, a variety of skills are required. Skills include lighting, using direct lights (spot, point, directional, etc), or environmental lighting through HDR images and studio setups. Material is another important skill. Students will learn how to make a variety of materials thru advanced material graphs or utilize external programs. To pull it together, other skills will be covered, including compositing images, color theory, texture mapping, rendering efficiency, and more. Programs used for this course include KeyShot, Maya, VRED Pro, Substance 3D Designer, HDR Light Studio, and Photoshop. Free access to all the software will be available through vLab (https://mycloud.gatech.edu/).

Course Goals and Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of the course students are expected to demonstrate knowledge, skill, and abilities in the following areas:

Understand what makes a dynamic and interesting rendering
Learn the strengths of different rendering programs and how to choose the best program for a particular rendering or presentation
Understand how to light a scene using a variety of techniques.
Develop advanced materials either within a rendering program or through external programs specifically designed for this purpose
Composite an image using rendering layers so tweaks can easily be done