Understanding the disciplined approach to scenes

Before you can make one object cast a shadow or create a reflection on to another you must first combine them into a scene, which is after all the topic of this course, but here's the thing. Building a scene can be a nightmare with objects run a muck, or it can be fun, with each object falling into a predictable place. In order to make it fun, you have to do something you don't normally associate with fun. You have to take a disciplined, organized, systematic approach. In this chapter, we will start with a collection of shape layers, you know rectangles and ellipses filled with nothing all that interesting, just shades of gray and from those simple building blocks we will imagine an entire 3-D environment, one that with any luck will have you gaping with tangible 3-D joy.

Along the way, I will demonstrate that disciplined approach I was telling you about and you'll learn everything there is to know about assembling a complex scene.