CAP 201a - Computer Animation I

Review for Final

The following questions are provided to help you study for the final exam. Do not expect to see these exact questions on the test.
Note: There will be a practical portion of the final, to be carried out as a timed exercise in the last lab session.

1. What are the three kinds of lights used in three-point lighting? Why might you have more than three lights?
   
   
2. What color is the ambient light in standard day light?
   
   What is the default color of ambient light in 3DS Max?
   
   
3. What is practical lighting in a 3DS Max scene? How do you accomplish it?
   
   
4. What are the two types of standard 3DS Max spotlights, and what is the difference between them?
   
   
5. What is a hot spot?
   
   What is a falloff?
   
   
6. How many default lights can you have in a scene?
   
   What action would remove the default light(s) from a scene?
   
   
7. What is the purpose of the Multiplier field for a light? What rollout does it appear on?
   
   
8. In the real world, what is attenuation?
   
   How can attenuation be made to behave counter to the laws of physics in 3DS Max?
   
   
9. What property changes the distance between an object and its shadow?
   
   
10. What does the Size property of a shadow affect?
    
    
11. What is the effect of excluding an object from a light?
    
    
12. What are three ways to open the Render Setup dialog box?
    
    
13. Discuss the options under Time output in the Render Setup dialog box. When might you use each of those options?
    
    
14. Why does the Render Setup dialog box contain an E-mail Notifications option?
    
    
15. What is the basic difference between the default scanline renderer and the mental ray renderer?
    
    
16. What is the Motion Blur effect for?
    
    Why does the text warn you to use Motion Blur sparingly?
    
    
17. What are the two basic types of cameras in 3DS Max?
    
    
18. What is the relationship between the focal length and field of view properties of a camera lens?
    
    
19. What are the three basic types of camera lens, based on focal length, and what numeric ranges apply to those labels?
    
    
20. What do these camera terms mean?
    1. pan
       
    2. truck
       
    3. dolly
       
    4. push/pull
       
    5. crane shot
       
       
21. What would you use to combine several separate renders of a scene?
    
    
22. Name three aspects of a scene that the text suggests you might want to render separately.
    
    
23. What is the Clone Rendered Frame Window button for? What does it allow you to do that you can't do without it?
    
    
24. What is the Index of Refraction of a material?
    
    Why would you need to know this number for a material in a scene?
    
    
25. Why do you use raytracing in a scene?