[Odin]

Ok, here's a brief taste of what I encountered along the way.

1. Lighting of course. Experimented a lot with different rigs. I use one spot, one directional and four omnis, and render with mental ray. I did come out with other more memory intensive rigs and settings , but these were done at a fairly low value. The ships material settings also are important to give the desired effect.

2. Animation. Here's where it gets tuff at times. Can be tedious at times too. Having the correct path and camera can make all the difference. I use a number of methods to achieve different looks. Cameras on paths, dummys on paths and of course ships. Use the curve editor to give desired speeds etc. Never have the camera target linked to the vehicle.................. you dont wont the ship to track in the middle of frame all the time. A fee camera with no target and keyframed is also a good way to achieve certain effects. Motion blur is a must for the final renders. Focal distance etc for Depth of field is important

3 Set up of elements. Planets, explosions, stars etc. This can be a doozy to get right. I never render more than one element at a time.
I have found a geosphere with a good super hi rez starfield to be the best method for stars. Maxs starfield is no good and a certain plugin is also dodgy when the canera pans................lots of twinkling.

Planets..................ahhhh my favourite. Experimented on these for years and Im still trying to achieve better. Good maps especially if your going in close. Small changes in your material settings can make all the difference. The lava planet I did took a lot of work. A lot was rendered in max in layers and then composited in after effects. Lighting was seperate to the ships lighting , but of course matched the direction.I often use 2 directional key lights with higher setting for diffuse and lower for specularity, plus a few omni lights for fill and highlights.....depending on the desired effect. I will often have seperate files for each element. But I suggest you build it together to start and then refine as you go. Hide elements etc.

Rendering and Compositing. This is where you can make your finished product really come to life. I render all my files out as RLA files. These can contain critical info for comping. Plus if you have a problem like shutdown or crahing, you at least have what you have rendered to that point. Each element you bring in can be adjusted to its particular need. For example if you have after effects, getting pugins can reallly help. There a lot out there available that can reallly add to your finihsed shot. Things like, edge blur for your ships, depth of field, specularity and bloom, colour grading etc.

Experiment over and over. Dont be satified with the first attempt. Re think it out, try and try again. If any of you want some help, drop us a line. You can achieve amazing things if you just keep at it