3dsmax Rendering Support Topic

darco9x2 · Post by **darco9x2** » Thu Jul 13, 2006 9:17 pm

trebuchets bring back a lot of memories from science class. haha those are so much fun to make. add lots of bones for the "cloth" part?

kornkidcrazy · Post by **kornkidcrazy** » Thu Jul 13, 2006 9:36 pm

Any suggestions to make it better:

EDIT:

Better?

HK-47 · Post by **HK-47** » Thu Jul 13, 2006 9:37 pm

the armor skin looks really stretched. and just too scratchy :\.

Chief Cow · Post by **Chief Cow** » Thu Jul 13, 2006 10:46 pm

Tanasoo wrote:Looks pretty good. What exactly are you planning on doing with it? There are a few ways to streamline working with it depending on what you plan on doing and how you have it set up. How are you changing the display (Like changing materials, rotating ect.)?

Compass=W rotation
Numbers=IFL files
Ammo=Mask+Gradient ramp

Tanasoo · Post by **Tanasoo** » Sat Jul 15, 2006 7:36 pm

)Chief Cow,
This is my setup for my AR and BR:
1) Make a multi/sub material for your numbers with each sub material a different number (starting at 1 for the first ...-9...-0 for the last, ten materials total) just use bitmaps for diffuse and opacity maps.
2) Add a "material" modifier to both of number meshes and apply the material to them.
Now, you can work with them like this... (and animate what number they are on) but it is still kind of clumsy to work with. SO...:
3) Make a dummy object (I put is around the display and named it "AR Display", duh, or something like that, but it is up to you

)
4) Open the parameter editor dialogue (it may also be called attribute editor depending on your version of 3ds max, just off the top of my head) and add two attributes to your dummy object. These should be spinners with a range from 1 to 10. I named mine "Ammo left:" and "Ammo right:" and made them 64 pixels wide.
5)Now select your dummy object and click "wire parameters..." under the animation tab. Select object(dummy)>Custom_attributes>Ammo left. Then (there should be a dashed line following your cursor) click on the left ammo mesh and select Modified object>material>materialID.
6) A window should open up. Click two way (<--->) and then click connect.
7)Now do the same thing for the Right ammo (substitute left for right on everything of course)
Tada! Select your dummy object and mess with the spinners and watch the numbers change!

You can also animate them.

If you need help with custom attributes or wiring, look in the user reference, it will probably explain it better there, but if you still need help, just PM me. You could also probably change the rotation of the compass and the opacity of the ammo thing with custom attributes and wiring, too.

kornkidcrazy,
It looks a little dark... But it might be just the lighting.

Grr,
Use reactor rope sim for that... In fact you could probably do the whole thing in reactor!

Then the physics would look almost real.

Chief Cow · Post by **Chief Cow** » Sun Jul 16, 2006 5:23 am

Wow nice, thanks alot tanasoo

Kirk · Post by **Kirk** » Sun Jul 16, 2006 12:33 pm

KornKidCrazy, the textures seem low quality.

Tanasoo · Post by **Tanasoo** » Sun Jul 16, 2006 4:58 pm

KornKidCrazy,
Turn down the specular a little and make it a little bit more glossy. I used the alpha from the main texture as a specular mask.
Edit:
Also, use the CC mask to mask off the black parts.

kornkidcrazy · Post by **kornkidcrazy** » Sun Jul 16, 2006 4:59 pm

Tanasoo wrote: I used the alpha from the main texture as a specular mask.

Me too...

Tanasoo · Post by **Tanasoo** » Sun Jul 16, 2006 5:05 pm

I have my reflection about 25% and glossiness at about 10%

darco9x2 · Post by **darco9x2** » Sun Jul 16, 2006 5:08 pm

turn the specular ammount down, and put the specular level at around 80.
and mask the rubber off so the specular isnt so strong on it.

RvB}X · Post by **RvB}X** » Sun Jul 16, 2006 5:40 pm

Just something I've been working on for the last few days.

Yes, I do know about the bump map. I made it about a month ago and have not been able to fix it (because of a five week vacation).

Any thoughts?

darco9x2 · Post by **darco9x2** » Sun Jul 16, 2006 5:59 pm

too much reflection, and specular is wrong.

Jordan · Post by **Jordan** » Sun Jul 16, 2006 6:38 pm

Instead of "fixing" the bump, just use the camo one.

RvB}X · Post by **RvB}X** » Sun Jul 16, 2006 7:53 pm

When I use just the camo bump it looks really bad. In that render it's my bump map "mixed" with the camo bump. I guess I just haven't found a way to make normal bumps look "right" in 3dsmax 6.

benman08 · Post by **benman08** » Sun Jul 16, 2006 8:22 pm

Set your bump camo to a .8 in normal bump, in both slots, and put 0 in the blur in the bitmaps menu. Show me a render with just your bump map checked in the maps section, so i can see how it looks.

RvB}X · Post by **RvB}X** » Sun Jul 16, 2006 9:10 pm

The only problem is that 3dsmax 6 doesn't have a normal bump option like in 7 or 8. The only one close to it that I know of is with the mental ray renderer and I can't use mental ray on this computer (it causes max to crash and sometimes corrupts the file, I'm not sure why. My guess is just the not so good hardware on this machine. It works fine on mine though). I'll get a render out tomorrow... or later today depending where you are.

benman08 · Post by **benman08** » Sun Jul 16, 2006 9:17 pm

Best start saving for max 7/8. Here is a good deal http://cgi.ebay.com/3ds-MAX-7-COMBUSTIO ... dZViewItem

Tanasoo · Post by **Tanasoo** » Sun Jul 16, 2006 9:27 pm

OR... If you don't plan on going commercial, just buy an educational version. 1 year licence is about $150 and after a year they will probably have a new version out anyway, then you won't have to worry about upgrading. OR you could check your PMs and find out how to get normal maps in max 6 and earlier.

I think a good store for the EDU is "The CAD store" Google it

RvB}X · Post by **RvB}X** » Mon Jul 17, 2006 4:04 pm

Here's it with just my bump:

And with the camo bump (thanks Tanasoo

):

I didn't realize how different mine was until I rendered the one with the camo bump (the bump on the visor's mine though).

And I got this after changing a few things around:

I wasn't even going for the in-game look and I still got something similar.