Tom Sproule

Hi Rishika, I'm hoping you've solved this by now. The first thing I'd try, if I had this problem, would be to merge everything into a new scene. The reason being Max crashed for a reason so there could easily be corruption in the scene you are working in. The second thing, if it didn't resolve, would be to reset Max. Best, Tom

Hi Jeremy, Yeah, I've no idea if it's that or something else, I just thought maybe, and it's worth a look. One of the viruses infected my computer and it corrupted any scene I was in whenever I closed Max. It would automatically overwrite the saved scene and corrupt it. It would also change some light properties and move the camera. Obviously it does different things for different people. It also seems to just sit there for weeks or months dormant. I think to just spreads itself to different scenes and tries to infect as much as possible before starting to actually affect scenes. Have a good Easter! Best, Tom

Hi, I'm wondering if it's a virus. Here's a link to where it's talked about on the autodesk forums (its mentioned in many other places): https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/3ds-max-programming/is-this-an-alc-virus-in-max/td-p/7991084 The ALC Betavirus has these effects: Crashes or fails to open Corrupted scene data Empty helper nodes (¡¡×ý×û and ×þ×ü) Unable to save the scene manually Unable to use the Undo function Displays various MaxScript errors Corrupts or removes cameras, lights, and/or materials Forces an auto-save after breaking the scene or when choosing "Don't Save" when closing Adds itself to an existing script in the MaxScript startup directory Force closes 3Ds Max Unable to save V-Ray lights The CRP Bscript virus has these effects: Undo function is broken and no longer works after switching to different viewports Scene lights may disappear or be deleted Scene materials may deleted Damage scripts in MaxScript startup folder The ALC 3 Alpha virus does this: Crash 3Ds Max when open Empty helper nodes Unable to use the Undo function Displays various MaxScript errors Change render settings (V-Ray): VFB size, materials, GI settings etc. Tiny save your render from VFB and send to remote e-mail Gather system information and send to remote e-mail: IP, MAC, HDD info, Memory, CPU, 3Ds Max version etc. Send gathered data from fake e-mail sss777_2000@126.com (nfkxovtedspjgedv) to rrr888_3000@126.com Download from remote address and update itself from http://www.maxscript.cc/update/upscript.mse One of the solutions is to download the prunescene script and install it in max. It's here: https://3dground.net/manual/prune-scene Seems like it could be one of these to me. Maybe I'm wrong, but I thought it could be a possibility. Best, Tom

Hi Paul, We can't tell without an upload of your scene. At a guess, to handle it, I'd say change your render engine from V-Ray to one of the others and then back again. This will reset your render settings and should handle it. Like I say, if it's still a problem, upload your scene and we'll take a look. Best, Tom

Hi guys, For a year now I've been putting up tutorials on YouTube and I'm asking if you could please take a look and let me know what you think. I started creating tutorials as, in the office I've found I spend my time teaching guys what to do. I'm showing them how to create materials, or how to use Bercon Tile, how to put god rays into scenes, etc., etc. Also, there are tips and tricks you pick up when working with others and I thought that rather than keep these to ourselves, we'd share them. Anyhow, please take a look and let me know what you think. https://www.youtube.com/leonleon51 Much appreciated, Tom

Hi Kristen, I think the reason you didn't get a response is because it's not really clear. If you could at least upload some renders so we can see what's going on, then maybe someone can give you a suggestion. Also, we'd need to see a screen shot of your fog settings. Thanks, Tom

Hi, If you really want to know what the problem is, best solution would be to upload the scene and someone can take a look. If you want to handle the issue quickly, then build a roof over the existing roof and make sure there are no gaps, that way you wont get light leaking in. Should handle it. Like I say though, if you want to really know what's causing it, then upload your scene and we'll take a look. Thanks, Tom

Hi, Are you using a display port to connect to the monitor or HDMI? HDMI is usually 1920 by 1080. You should be using display port. Thanks, Tom

I read most of the article. We do a lot of renders and they have a lot of diversity, with blacks, asians and whites. Sure, some renders don't. But when we add people we normally add in the various races as well as age demographics. If it's a problem with a specific studio or artist then she should take it up with them, rather than just making a general statement about all visuals or visualisers. I'm sure they would be happy to correct it, given the chance.

Sounds like you’ve reset your render settings. If you are using progressive, the default time is 1 minute, so just change it to the length of time you are after. If you mean to use bucket, then change it to bucket rendering and adjust any other settings you need.

Hi, We've no idea. Best would be to rebuild the ceiling and that should handle it. Probably what I'd do first is create a box, align it to the ceiling, change it to an edit poly, click on 'attach' and attach the ceiling. Then delete the box. That should remove any geometric errors on the ceiling and reset the geometry. If that doesn't work, then rebuild it and that should work. Best, Tom

Hi, The reason is there is no camera setting which works perfectly all the time and we all have a different work flow. What you need to look at is camera settings for photography and then copy those and put those in 3DS Max and V-Ray. Really you are looking at 3 settings, which are all on your Physical Camera: 1. Your aperture f/ which by default is set at 8. See what is suggested based on your scene in a professional photographer forum. 2. Shutter settings - by default it's on degrees. I normally use 1/seconds - set it to 20 if you want it to be 1/20th of a second. Again, look at pro photography forums. 3. Exposure - make sure you install exposure control. You will need to select either EV or ISO and then set the correct amount. I hope this helps. Best, Tom

Hi, I'm not 100% sure on what you are trying to do, but you could remove it from the environment slot. Then open the render setup dialoge and open the Environment roll out and then turn on Reflection/refraction environment and place it in there. That should achieve what you've asked for so far. I know you are not using HDRI's but this tutorial is really about the environment rollout in the render dialogue and should give you more information: If it's rendering too dark in the reflection then put it into an output map and increase the RGB value, that should pump it up. Best, Tom

Hi Antony, For GI you would need Light Cache and set it at about 1500 to 2000 and then use Brute Force. When guys do animations in the office I have them get an animation of a frame down to about 15 minutes. I do it by increasing the noise threshold and lowering the subdivs in the 'bucket image sampler.' The subdivs sometimes as low as 10 and the noise threshold as high as 0.03. This creates a hell of a noisy render sometimes, but then we put on the VRay Denoiser element in the Render Elements and then change the preset to strong. That normally gives us a pretty good animation which renders quickly. To handle any remaining flickering you'd need to lower the noise threshold and increase the subdivs - which will increase rendering time and depends on how much you can spend on rendering. Due to the fact the denoiser can make the image slightly blurry it's a good idea to add on an AO. Here is a tutorial I did on how to do that: You basically add a VrayExtraTex render element and then in the texture slot put a vray dirt map - set it at about 100mm. Add that in post and your details come back. That's a simple breakdown of how to do it. Like I say, if you are still unhappy with the flickering then you'll need to look at lowering the noise threshold down to around 0.005 and increasing the max subdivs. But that will increase render time and cost. Best, Tom

With the bump it should look like your render, as the water is now pointint in other directions and so reflecting different areas of the room. You could try lowering the amount of bump if you like, I would suspect your bump amount is too high.