In Part 5, now that you've created the basic model, you'll work on materials, lights and render settings. You'll do a few test renders, and get more of a feel for how the final renders might look.
Some artists like to do all of the modelling first before adding materials and lights. But for a big project like this, Adam finds it very encouraging to see things taking shape early on. To start with, you'll add colour bands to the accommodation. Each accommodation block will eventually have a different colour band (and different number, perhaps) so that residents will be able to tell which block or section they are at. Next, you'll create a material for the white walls of the accommodation.
You'll use Mod Noise to give the impression of panels, and Wavy Turbulence to make the walls look weathered. You'll make the material for the accommodation windows more realistic, by layering a few Noise shaders to give the impression of lighting and details behind the windows. For the main glass structure, you'll create a material that uses a Hexagonal pattern in the Tiles shader.
It's then onto lighting. You'll add an Infinite light to simulate the Sun, and an Omni light for blue light bounced from good old (out of shot) planet Earth. You'll render some test shots using Physical Render and Global Illumination. Adam will then share a tip with you on how he simulates atmospheric perspective inside difficult shapes (you can't use regular Environment Fog for this, as the atmosphere is only inside the ring).
Objects seen in the distance in the ring colony will pick up a blue tint from the atmosphere, adding realism and sense of depth. Things are really shaping up now!