vangutendog

Hi all When I started 2 years ago I began with Blender and Cycles and have found that it works well for me with my clients and the tutorials were a lot easier to come by. However now I am finding more and more jobs demanding 3ds Max and Vray as a prerequisite. Can anyone suggest any good tutorials that I can follow over the next month or so to become comfortable with 3ds max and Vray (particularly Vray) as I want to start transitioning over. Thanks in advance

Thank you for the informed feedback Dimitris. I will carry on looking based on your suggestions As I'm looking to emigrate I don't have the luxury going for a desktop device so the laptop need to render as well

Hi guys... been keeping an eye out for specials on laptops. The one I found is Dell Inspiron 5737:4th Generation Intel Core i7-4500U Processor (4M Cache, up to 3.0 GHz), 17.3in FHD (1920 x 1080) Backlit Display with AG, AMD Radeon HD 8870M 2GB GDDR5, 16GB (2x8Gb) 1600MHz DDR3L, 1TB Serial ATA (5400RPM), Intel Wireless 1705 Card, Internal DVD+/-RW, Windows 8 64bit Getting it for about 2 thirds of its usual price but I mainly want to know if it will do the job. At the moment I'm mainly rendering stills (Blender, photoshop and 3ds max) but I should have a few animation jobs coming in towards the end of the year so it needs to work

Thx for the feedback Eli The main reasons I was looking at Macbook is that I need something without distractions. I don't like fiddling with hardware and most apple products I have used have been "this is what you get and its good for the next 3 years". Also I have purchased normal laptops in the past only to battle with them 2 years later. Yup a lot of people are using bootcamp but I have still not found any CG artists who have given any reviews as to if it is worth the effort. That said I am going to look at those laptops tomorrow thanks. Most likely I'll be going for something like that

Hi all I'm a nerd without the technical knowhow and need a bit of help with purchasing a new laptop. My new office runs as a "when you get here find a space" sort of thing so I need a laptop that can be kept mobile. I have been working in blender recently but I'm not convinced that its the program I will stick to so I might be migrating back to 3ds max. I was looking at a macbook because of blender and I do a lot of concept design so my budget would be the price of a macbook 15" retina ($2000). And I have Cintiq 13hd that is my main workstation. Are there any suggestions you guys can make? I basically need something that will take the place of my home desktop I I won't be pulling out my hair in frustration in 2 years. I'm always connected to a power point so battery life isn't the biggest issue here. Thank in advance.

Hi there. I've read through the forum and have come across a few blender posts but the program is evolving so quickly that I thought I'd ask again. What is blender like for architectural rendering? the fundamentals are essentially the same but is there anything in that one can do in 3dsmax that can't be done in blender?

I think if you've been in business as long as you have, you're able to read who the client is and how to handle them. But If you think about it from a point of view of starting up, its best to set rules and stick to them. The problem with not setting these rules is that its harder to do so later if you see the need but easier to grant leniency in the cases you've mentioned above.

Np, hope it helped. Just remember, he is your client not them. Its not your job to run after them.

What is small claim's like in Oz? Here there is a cap so it you can only get paid out a certain amount. That's fine for smaller projects, but not so much for the bigger ones.

Hi Andy Don't contact his clients. It will create a bad business relationship between them and him and a possible one between you and he. Also you are not a dept collector. I too am new to visualization, however I have run enough businesses to know that you should never go on trust alone. Always set up contracts clients and demand a deposite upfront. Your client, likewise, should have demanded a deposit up front before passing work on to others. The idea of the deposit is basically for this reason. Whatever costs a service provider incurs are covered until the work is done. You are not a bank so don't treat your time as a loan. I've seen, too often, close relationships go south because of trust alone. I've also seen individuals go bankrupt because they placed "trust" in a client. If he pays you himself then that is very good. If this doesn't work out then count your loses and use this as a lesson for the future. When I started my first business, I trusted everyone and was "skrewed" by a very close friend. Since then I've learned, "because I trust everyone, I trust no one." Hope this helps. EDIT: This is completely accurate. Some large firms get to a stage that they consider themselves untouchable. The will often completely ignore contract because they feel the other party does not have the means to sue. If sued, its a simple matter of throwing up their arms and saying "sorry, here's your money" or worse, counter suing.

Thanks newbie. Was very interesting. I have sent a mail to Mickael to find out more. Bare in mind, the 3d printing and gaming engines are simply examples of new tech coming out. So although your link was not relevant to those, it is following exactly what I am trying to explore here. Thank you.

Thanks for the feedback Dan. I think the common theme has been that although there is the ability to develop gaming models and 3d prints, the specialization, time and resources spent makes it too difficult to utilize for every project and that solutions and strategies need to be developed to use it effectively. It also looks like the application of gaming engines in architecture might also incur elements of "the uncanny valley". A term used in robotics and cgi that says that if something that is clearly not human is given human qualities we find those qualities endearing. But give it too many human characteristics, then it starts looking like an imperfect simulation/slightly disquieting. But if you get passed that and make it look like a perfect human the observer starts to accept the object again. Maybe this could account for why a perfect still image rendering is often far better received than an imperfect flythough or 1st person simulation through a gaming engine.

Awesome stuff. Just found this a few minutes ago Looks promising, Really wanting to see how it pans out. The headmounted display is a nice gimmic, though if you're presenting to a board of people I would think a screen with one person on the controls would be best. Otherwise a multiplay feature would be fantastic for convention displays or really getting that wow factor. Still need to read up more.

Thanks Stephan. Had a look at Realis3D. Very interesting, but the visuals that I saw still have a very plastic look to them - compared to what I saw with ENODO. However, in regards to process, is it possible to work with the Architect, importing Autodesk models, whilst designing the buildings. EG: Stage 1 would be to import the base model that the Architect has designed into the gaming engine, Unity/Crysoft, to create an environment that the user can fly/walk around. Stages 2 would be to import sectional edits that the Architect has done to the design. Stage 3 and onward would be to do into the design with the Architects to add (via import) materials, furnishings and resolve the design in general? Until the final stage whereby the artist will resolve model for final presentation. This would definitely take a long time - I noticed that ENODO's project took anywhere from 2 weeks to a year, but it would also allow the architect to design the building from the ground up and simulate and edit a variety of issues such as how people would move around and interact with the building.

Yar, Lumion definitely doesn't have the quality but it will be interesting to see how it evolves. I did a bit of reading on Enodo and it definitely looks like they are pushing boundaries. I'd love to find more of a write up on them, what procedures they follow and how they interact with the architects. A train of thought after watching Oliver's video link was combining bypassing 3d models completely and utilizing holographic technology: http://vimeo.com/8078523. I'm not blown away by the video, but that was 2009.