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3ds Max Tutorials - Neon Light Glow
3d_neon_light

Neon Light Glow

In this tutorial we are going to create a neon light with text and a spline with a lathe modifier. The light material is very effective, actually we will make it with Architectural material, Final gather and Mental Ray Render. So follow the tutorial and in no time at all you'll be able to apply this new technical ability in any way you like.
Skill level: Beginner
Step 1.
Open 3ds Max, start with a new page and save it in your scenes folder in 3ds Max as Neon Light
Step 2.
We will create the base of the neon light, to do this we will first click anywhere in the front viewport then press ALT W so we can work in full viewport.

Go to shapes and select line.

We need to create half the shape of the base then we will add a Lathe modifier, so to do this imagine that the first vertex will be in the center of the top try to drag the line clicking to leave vertices in the same position as this image, the last vertex will be in the center of the bottom, right click on the last vertex to finish the line.
Don't worry about the curved corners we will create them next.

Step 3.
Press the modifier button then under the parameters for the line choose vertex.
Right click the mouse on the vertex situated on the corner, then from the drop down menu choose Smooth. Select and move the rest of the vertices to create curved corners, it might take a little bit of practice.

Step 4.
Once we have the shape we are looking for go to the modifier List and choose Lathe.

Set the Lathe parameters to:
Enable - Weld Core
Segments = 32 (that will make it smooth)
Direction = Y
Align = Min

Press ALT W to see what the object looks like in all 4 viewports. Look at the perspective viewport, if you need to make some adjustments just go back to the stack and choose vertex to move the vertices.

Step 5.
We are going to create a small cover for the top of the neon light, to do this we will repeat the anterior exercises.

In the front viewport draw a line starting in the center of the light base with a small curved corner at the edge, right click the last vertex to finish the line.

Apply the Lathe modifier, (notice that the Lathe modifier has kept the parameters we used before)

We will not add any more details to our neon light.

Step 6.
In the Shapes panel we will find Text. There are loads of fonts to choose from, in this tutorial we will use Arial Rounded MT Bold.
Keep the default size of 100. (Change the size for your image)
In Text - delete the Max Text and write the number 3. Now click in the front viewport.

Step 7.
Press the modify button, in Rendering

Enable in Rendering
Enable in Viewport
Thickness = 3,0
Sides = 25
Step 8.
Now back to the modify panel and add a Shell modifier.

Step 9.
Let's make a copy of the text. In the Top viewport hold down the shift key on the keyboard drag the 3 text to the right, then in Clone Options choose Copy and press Ok.

Step 10.
Now we can just go back to the stack, in Text all we have to do is change the 3 to D.

Step 11.
To make the neon light a bit more realistic we need to connect the neon numbers to the base, so we will add a Edit poly from the modify list, choose vertex then carefully select the bottom section of vertices and delete them. Delete the inner D vertices too.
Click on the Edit poly to close the mode.

Step 12.
In the left viewport press ALT W to work the full viewport. Move the letters so we can easily work just on the D first. We will create a line with 5 vertices.

Step 13.
In the line parameters
Enable In Render
Enable in Viewport
Thickness = 2

Add the Shell modifier the same as we did for the Text.

Step 14.
Rotate the line, situate it in the text D.

You can go back to the stack and in Line - vertex mode - you can change the position of the vertices until the shape fits.

Step 15.
Create a copy of the line by holding the shift key on the keyboard and moving it to the side. Situate it at the other side of the text.
The trick now is to keep going back to the stack and work in the Line - vertex mode - move the vertices to model the shapes.
You can also go back to the Edit poly - vertex mode - on the Text to model it.

Step 16.
Now we will do the same to the text 3. The text 3 will be situated higher, to do this just move the bottom vertex on the line. The finished neon light should be something like this.

Step 17.
The neon light is nearly finished, let's just add a curved line as a cord.
Press the modify button then in vertex mode right click each vertex to convert to Smooth or move them.

Step 18.
We have finished the neon light, if we add the material we won't notice the glow effect very well, we need to create some background first.

I have created a box, with two sides, top and bottom. I've added a target camera and an omni light.

Parameters for the omni light:

Ray Traced Shadows on
Intensity = 0,1

Step 19.
Press M to open the material editor, we can add a wood map to the floor, a nice pale green Standard to the walls, black plastic to the base, chrome to the metal cover on the top of the base, dark grey Standard for the tubes that connect the text to the light.

IMPORTANT
To create the neon light material we need to use Architectural

Click on Standard and select Architectural from the Material/Map Browser.
Diffuse Color = choose a bright lime green from the color selector.
Luminance cd/m2: = 8000,0 (you can adjust this amount)

Step 20.
In Rendering on the main toolbar or press F10 scroll down the Common Parameters until Assign Render.
In production = Mental Ray Render.

Step 21.
In Indirect Illumination - Final Gather

Enable Final Gather
Rays per FG point = 300 (you can adjust this amount)
Diffuse Bounces = 2 (you can lower this if you like)

Play around with these amounts as rendering can take longer, but the end result is with it.

Architectural bright lime material with no Luminance cd/m2 Architectural bright lime material with 8000 Luminance cd/m2
 

Hope you have fun with this tutorial, you can make neon lights, neon signs or any glowing material. Enjoy!

Wendy Huther

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