Lighting and Rendering
Light types and behavior
3ds Max photometric lights (target/Free Point, Spot, and Disc/Area) use physical units (lumens, candela, lux) and inverse-square falloff; standard lights use multiplier-based intensity. Candidates must know that photometric lights require exposure control to look correct and that shadow types (Ray Traced, Shadow Map, Area Shadows) trade quality for speed. A common trap: decay and exposure interact, so raising intensity without exposure control can blow out the render.
Renderers
Arnold (default in recent releases) is a physically based, CPU/GPU path tracer; the Scanline renderer is legacy; V-Ray and Corona are third-party. Know that sampling settings control noise vs. time, that denoising reduces residual noise, and that GI (global illumination) bounces light for realism at a performance cost.
Cameras and exposure
Physical cameras expose aperture, shutter, ISO, and focal length. Depth of field and motion blur are post or render-time effects. Exposure control (Physical Camera Exposure Control) maps scene luminance to display values.
Render setup essentials
Output size, frame range, render elements (passes such as diffuse, reflection, Z-depth), and the Render Frame Window. Batch rendering and network rendering distribute frames.
Worked example
An interior looks flat: add an area light at the window with correct lumens, enable GI with a few bounces, add a fill light, and enable exposure control. Increase samples only after lighting is balanced, since samples fix noise, not exposure.
Rule of thumb
Fix composition and lighting first, then sampling and denoising; more samples never corrects a badly exposed scene.