quick render

[vio69]

is there a secret to getting a decent quickrender....im guessing once aagin max has made me lazy.....

my quick renders are dark and no detail.....do I need to set up more lights other than the defaults.....can I change the background to a lighter color....like max does having a lighter color brighten the render with out having to add lights....can and how or should I use hdr for a background?

[spludge]

Some of those questions may cause some people to think you are having a laugh.

I think what's happening is you are trying to just use XSI by just opening the program and getting on with it.
That approach works much better in MAX. XSI is much slicker to use (not just imo it definitely is) but it needs learning properly.
Have you been through the Digital Tutors DVD that comes with it?

[endr]

that's why tutorials are for. you can't just simply open the program and wait for it to work like you want it to. you gotta learn those things

[spludge]

But in the meantime:-

Have you discovered the little quality slider on the side of the quick render box?
XSI doesn't really have default lighting like MAX it just sticks one hidden infinite light in the scene. So yes always more lights. I recommend googling "3 point lighting" for a start.

To be fair the background colour is hard to find compared to MAX's. It needs adding as an output shader to the render pass. Under PASS on the left. Go edit > edit current pass > PASS SHADER panel opens >in the output part > click add > 2d_background_color.> inspect then set your colour. This only shows when you render. And no it doesn't add light. Try the AMBIENCE button on the left for that. Seems a bit of a palava but you'll see the wisdom of all this if you really get into XSI.

I'd steer clear of HDR for now. If you want refections for your shiny stuff try just adding an environment map while you've got your pass shader panel open. There's quite a few other output other pass shaders to have fun with.

Check out the pigeon impossible podcast to see XSI at work.