Lighting and Shading

Light objects illuminate other objects in a scene, and materials give color and texture to those objects.

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Topics in this section

Lights
Lights are objects that simulate real lights such as household or office lamps, the light instruments used in stage and film work, and the sun itself. Different kinds of light objects cast light in different ways, emulating different kinds of real-world light sources.
Lighting Analysis Assistant
The Lighting Analysis Assistant is a dialog that helps you coordinate and adjust the various tools that 3ds Max provides to help you analyze the lighting of a scene. With the Lighting Analysis Assistant, you can discover what tools you need, and correct their settings to achieve an accurate lighting simulation.
Material Editor, Materials, and Maps
Materials describe how an object reflects or transmits light. Within a material, maps can simulate textures, applied designs, reflections, refractions, and other effects. (Maps can also serve as environments and projections from lights.)