lighting in 3DSMax

[Falcon234]

hey, i'm from cyberblue234. i've been working with this animation software for about 4 months and i feel i know the program well, i'm having trouble with lights though. i'm trying to get as realistic lights as possible in my scenes but i'm having a lot of trouble. what kind of lights do people suggest to use. is there anything i can do to the scenery to make the lighting work better? any help will be appreciated. thanks
evan

[Daishichimaru]

Texture and bumpmap everything, avoid using omnis unless you have a naked bulb hanging from a chain, and make sure you attenuate EVERY light you use. Throwing in a global ambient light also helps to simulate the natural refraction of light passing through air and eliminates those annoying jet black shadows. Make lights with transparency raytraced to show light passing through opacity. That should get you started.

[Falcon234]

thanks, i noticed when i was trying to light the walls that he lights wouldn't show up on the wall until the range of the light was touching the whole wall, is that true? or does texturing help that? i'll work on the lighting some today and i might have more questions when i get back. thanks a lot for your help, i appreciate it.
evan