mental ray . . .
issues-
Found out about changing the exposure in the envioronment dialouge last night which was helpful to make the renders not so dark. . .
Found that the floor was coming out really orange due to the reflectivity of the underside of the roof surface. So had to change the colour, the reflectivity, glossiness and roughness of the material.
Cameras were really hard to work with, but got hang of it in end. Also got section working with help from Brad and Simon and Maria . . about the walk tool and field of view options.
Labels: 3ds Max, Padre Pio
Was trying to do interior render of blob but large areas of the render where nonexistent and everything else was very patchy, grrr! took a while changing things about and then realised that i had put a bump map underneath the bitmap texture. By deleting the bump map I was able to render again properly so problem averted.
Labels: 3ds Max, Kunsthaus Graz, Sigma, Team Alien
Maybe Lightstudio doesn't hate me...
I got about halfway through Jakes tutorial on exporting to Radiance, but gave up after a file wasn't created properly. When I went back to 3ds Max I was able to render Lightstudio at highest quality and at a resolution of 1280 x 960. I've got no idea why, but I'm not complaining. They take quite a while but look way, way, better.
update: I got out one picture and while rendering the second 3ds max crashed. Now it's back to limiting me.
Labels: 3ds Max, andy.r.p, final renders, light studio, lightstudio, rendering
Why does lightstudio hate me?
Has anyone figured out how to add bitmaps to materials in LightStudio? Is it possible?
Cheers
Labels: 3ds Max, lightstudio, materials, rendering
Voluming Lighting
I've been experimenting with Volume lighting in 3ds max 2009. Using a trial scene I got some good results. I used
this tutotrial to get me started and then edited the settings to get it how I wanted.
To save a lot of time I recommend turning Final Gather and GI off while you're getting the settings right.
The image has 3 lights, and with Final Gather on.
Labels: 3ds Max, andy.r.p, lighting, MAX 2009, MentalRay
Little blue dots...
I having a problem with little blue dots in the final render, anyone else come across something similar or any ideas for fixes? (pics below)
I realise it's not major and I could probably photoshop it out but I'd prefer to get things right from the start.
Cheers.
close up...
whole picture...
update: this website offers some advice but it didn't seem to work for me, might be because they're talking about v-ray.
update: Figured it out... it's a problem with my computer and/or monitor. The blue dots also appear on pictures I rendered yesterday on another computer. Which also probably means that you won't be able to see the blue dots on the pictures above.
Labels: 3ds Max, andy.r.p, MAX 2009, problem, render, rendering
arches
Used bitmap image to make the smooth arches into blocks of stone. Used the UVW wrap around tool, works the best out of the options but doesnt look perfect at all angles so may have to play around with each arch according to shot.
See how the lines are at an angle on the left arch... and the end of the right arch...
Labels: 3ds Max, Padre Pio, uvw
Max Issue
Anyone else come across the following problem...and any ideas on how to solve it?
mental ray has encountered a fatal error and the application will now shutdown. The error is: MEM 0.5 fatal 031008: can't allocate 170125320 bytes.I've looked on a plethora of sites and can't find a solution. It seems to be some sort of memory problem, but different things solve the problem for different people, except none of them solve it for me. I've tried increasing virtual memory, changing the priority for memory, and many other little tweaks to Windows. Also tried stuff in 3ds Max such as changing the BSP, removing materials, various combinations of using and not using GI and Final Gather, and other stuff too.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
(screen capture below)
update: Currently I'm working on two layers, if I disable one of my layers that has heaps of objects in it the error doesn't occur. So I'm going to try adding other objects to new layers that are specific to various scenes and hopefully I can avert the problem
Labels: 3ds Max, andy.r.p, error, MAX 2009, problem, render
first renders
First render with basic materials.
First interior render.. really dark!
So looked up tute on interior lighting from twitter and used exposure control and mr sky portal and got below. Still playing around with controls and setting etc. Hopefully will get the hang of it all soon!
Labels: 3ds Max, Padre Pio
Grand Rapids Art Museum
After further work using 3ds max 2009, my mental ray renders are complete. Got a great selection to choose from for my final submission. Now onto light studio. Hopefully this will work fine as my initial work on it is going well. Just gotta make sure the render time isn't too long.
Labels: 3ds Max, GRAM, light studio
Intial render of blob interior. Need to work on lighting exposure to get light streaming in effect. Also need to make light rings glow as in the real image .
Labels: 3ds Max, Kunsthaus Graz, Sigma, Team Alien
Grand Rapids Art Museum
And my web site is done. I think its looking quite good. Conveys what I want it to. Now back to 3DS Max. Still in the process of applying all the materials. Steady going but having a few selection problems that seem to take a while to resolve with some accurate mouse clicking.
Labels: 3ds Max, GRAM, web page
revit to 3ds max 2009 mistake
As we were adding materials to the model yesterday we noticed that some of the goemetry we had imported was out of place; after looking into it we realised that the problem came from within revit as something had jumped slightly out of place. So we need to now re export and re add all materials to the mental ray model, very frustrating.... and time consuming.Labels: 3ds Max, DELTA, DELTA_problems, kunstmuseum stuttgart, Revit 2009
Grand Rapids Art Museum
Today was spent touching up a few areas of my web page. Then I applied further materials in max and checked out a few basic renders. Getting some decent images and using the UVW mapping of images has given my floor a great look. More of this to happen over the next few days to get my final renders happening.
Labels: 3ds Max, GRAM, web page
Lighting progress
yesterday simon and i worked on getting the lights in place for 3ds max. This took us a long time but are excited to see the results! we copied the lioghts using instance so each time we change settings the group of lights change at the same time; very useful and time saving.now just working through materials in both mental ray and lightstudioLabels: 3ds Max, DELTA, DELTA_lighting, DELTA_materials, kunstmuseum stuttgart
Linking in Revit
After combining our two models last week, Jenny and I decided that it was better to keep working on them separately and detail-ise some sections that we were both going to use for camera angles. Instead of the copy - paste, which kinda-worked-alright-but-not-great last time, we decided to use the import/link feature in Revit.
While this brings the two models together superbly it doesn't seem to have the ability to create a single file which no longer uses the links (if you know a way around this please leave a comment or let me know).
As such when Jenny and I meet tomorrow to join the two files we will no longer be working in Revit and will use the linked file to export to fbx and dwg and then its 3ds max all the way.
Labels: 3ds Max, andy.r.p, novy dvur, revit, theta
Problems..
yesterday was tough; we couldn't get the mental ray renderer working properly however we did get it parts of it working; unlike lightstudio.Lightstudio has created many problems and questions. What we have managed to do so far is to render in lightstudio but had to delete all glass and mullion surfaces; found this very weird. 
Talking to Jane.B yesterday she was having exactly the same problems; however she needed to delete her roof.We are back in working on the transfer into 3ds max today; hopefully make some advance.Labels: 3ds Max, DELTA, DELTA_problems, kunstmuseum stuttgart, lightstudio, MentalRay
renderings
Merged all files successfully and tried renders in mentalray with all basic material. Seemed to be working fine. Still trying to get our head around 3ds but started today by organising elements into layers so that elements that are to be assigned the same material will be grouped togeather.
We did have one problem with our revit model in that the skylight does not seem to be allowing light through it... we cant seem to figure out why since there are no elements blocking it. Forgot to ask in tute today!
Labels: 3ds Max, mental ray, Padre Pio
Materials update
Well today we applied rough surfaces to throughout the building; from here the plan is to map and create bump surfaces where needed; hopefully get a look at some rough renders soon. Havn't yet checked that the model works in lightstudio but we have faith; mental ray worked fine which was great. We are having a few problems applying mental ray materials to families that we have created with mutliple surface finishes.Labels: 3ds Max, DELTA, DELTA_materials, families, kunstmuseum stuttgart, materials
Almost finished model and then 3DS file corrupts leaving my model with a sweet grill! Lucky I had been diligent with saving and had a back up
Labels: 3ds Max, modelling, Sigma
rendering!
Sally and I linked all our files togeather today and everything went very smoothly!
We exported the all linked file as a fbx into 3dsMax and got started on mental ray rendering with help from Matt during tute. The model looked a bit sketchy at first but a render showed that all the elements are working fine.. it is a very big file though!
One thing we didnt model are the ridges which connect the end of the trusses to the roof... we tried but it was really hard to line them up, now when we render interior scenes they kind of look like they are floating... will put up pictures soon to get opinions.
But for now we will be busy assigning mentral ray materials to our model!
Labels: 3ds Max, MentalRay, Padre Pio
update
been doing renders and getting some sweet images coming out, although need to add some lighting as the interior renders are not going as well as the exterior views.
going to start adding materials next to see how that all goes.
having trouble with the internet connection at uni, can't get on to do some work on my website so will try again tomorrow
Labels: 3ds Max, AutoCAD, GRAM, render
Completed Novy Dvur!
Haven't blogged for a while so a quick update...
Jenny and I finished our two halves and joined without major issue, just needed a bit of tidying up along the join lines. See whole building below:
I had trouble getting my model into 3ds max for the Assignment 1a renders, which I think was a problem with my computer as it seemed to work ok at school. However time constraints meant that I had to make do with Revit renders which are adequate but not ideal. However the embedded 3d thing is looking good a nifty. The document is available from my
website.
I haven't finalised all my camera angles yet but are sure of one of the church, so I've started modeling some of the furniture that goes in, the choir and lecturn so far. I'll do the altar later, and I think the candle holders will also make a big difference. Hopefully get some pics of those up in the next few days.
Labels: 3ds Max, andy.r.p, novy dvur, render, revit, theta
3DS Max White Paper - render ideas....
Gidday
One of the most useful simple summaries that I have found to the use of Mental Ray for rendering in 3DS Max is this
white paper from Autodesk.
It can also be found
here.
If you get lost in the help files - look at this.
Labels: 3ds Max, Render Tips, tips
assignment 1a
we have started to export and play around with the 3d viewer in 3ds Max. exported from revit 2009,fbx file; then made every material default. added a camera or two in and then exported the 3d viewer. does anyone know how to embed a quicktime movie in powerpoint?? Labels: 3d viewer, 3ds Max, DELTA, DELTA_assignment1a, kunstmuseum stuttgart, powerpoint
3DS Max Tutorial with Mapping
Here is a link to a
3DS Max tutorial that covers pretty much all of what we learned in the tutorial on
Tuesday. It covers diffusion maps, bump maps, sky and water creation, landmass creation and a whole lot of fundamentals.
It does require you to create an account, and activate it, but apart from that it is easily
accessible.
Labels: 3ds Max, shovelface, tutorial
