Introduction:

Welcome to this course on 3D rendering in KeyShot. In this class, I will guide you through the process of creating realistic product visualizations using KeyShot. This tutorial provides a step-by-step workflow, making it accessible even for beginners. By following along, you will be able to achieve professional-quality results. The course is designed to teach you how to create high-resolution, realistic renders, and you’ll learn to produce not just one render but five distinct render types. By the end of this course, you will understand the fundamental techniques of product visualization.

This tutorial is perfect for beginners or anyone new to 3D rendering. It demonstrates how to create realistic product visualizations using practical, real-world workflows. Additionally, you’ll learn how to apply these techniques to your future projects.

About This Tutorial:

At the beginning of this tutorial, I’ll introduce you to KeyShot’s interface and show you how to navigate it effectively. You’ll learn how to set up a photographic camera view and rotate 3D models to align them with reference images. We’ll start by applying basic materials and creating lighting for the renders. During the lighting process, I’ll explain every step of building lighting in the HDR editor from scratch. This HDR image can be reused in future projects or exported for use in other rendering engines.

Once the lighting setup is complete, I’ll demonstrate how to create master materials for the 3D model, replicating all the details from the reference images. Many of these materials use seamless textures, allowing you to save them to KeyShot’s Material Library for future use, saving time on future texturing tasks. I’ll also explain how to configure KeyShot’s rendering settings to produce sharp, noise-free images. Finally, we’ll compare different renders to determine the best settings. Additionally, I’ll show you a simple post-production workflow in Photoshop, sharing tips and tricks for creating multiple color variations in post-production.

Bonus Content:

In the bonus section, I’ll explain the differences between bump maps and displacement maps. You’ll also learn how to use Depth of Field to create even more realistic renders. This section includes a full explanation of how to create close-up renders and set up appropriate lighting for these detailed shots.

What You Will Learn:

1. KeyShot Overview

User Interface
Import 3D Model
Move 3D object Tool

2. Camera

KeyShot Camera - Move Object Tool and Camera View

3. Lighting

Creating Custom Lighting
HDR Image Map Overview
Physical Light vs HDR Image Light
Environment Settings
Lighting Presets

4. Materials

Creating Custom Materials
LED Button Material
Transparent Plastic Buttons
Material Label

5. Depth of Field

Depth of Field Introduction
Depth of Field Camera and Render Settings

6. Close-up Renders

New Close-up Camera View
New Close-up HDR Image Lighting

7. Rendering

Render Settings Explanation
Final Render Settings
Custom Controls vs Maximum Samples
Final Renders Comparison

8. Retouching

Introduction to Retouching in Adobe Photoshop
Tips and Tricks

Project Files:

FBX 3D Model
OBJ 3D Model
KeyShot Scenes
Adobe Photoshop Files
Textures

Software Used:

KeyShot 9 Pro, Adobe Photoshop CC 2020