Blake Middleton

Here's another: I upped the filter to 5, and it helped with the splotchiness. I also upped the lights to like 750% and they are now showing up. Overall, looking better, I think.

Thanks for everyone's help. You have really helped me out. Here is a litle update: Here are my settings: Initial Quality: 65% (which is greyed and I can't change) Refine Iterations: 15 Filter: 1 Global Subdivision: Enabled Meshing Size: 4 Logarithmic Exposure Constrol Brightness: 85 Contrast: 50 Mid-tones: 1 Physical Scale: 90000 Daylight & Exterior Checked As you can see there are still a few issues, most notably the splotches and the dark corners. Also, it looks as if the lights have been turned off, they have no affect at all, yet I have not changed them. Thanks. [ November 25, 2002, 07:54 AM: Message edited by: Blake Middleton ]

I'm using the Viz trial and have come up with a couple of questions. First, I created just a test scene to experiment with a few things. I added some lights from the Erco website, and rendered with radiosity @ 85% quality. See below for the results: So far so good, looks ok. Then I added sunlight and whoa, it blows out the whole image: Its just the default sunlight settings, and looks about the same if I turn the skylight off. Is there a way to tone down the intensity of the sunlight? Also, I have a carpet material on the floor with a UVW map. I can see it in the viewport, but when I render the scene, no carpet. What's going on? I've used Max for a while, and I've never had trouble with a material not showing up. Thanks.

I'm working in an architectural firm right now and I'm trying to convince them to get a 3d rendering package. I have Max 4 at home that I've done a few renderings for them with. My question is are there any key features in Max 5 that are not in Viz and that are pertinant to Arch. visualization? Since Viz is a lot cheaper, I'm thinking they will go for that instead of Max. This is fine with me as long as there aren't any important tools missing that I might need. Thanks.

Yep, I found it as soon as I got home and looked. Thanks.

Can I create a terrain object in Max4 like Viz? I'm not at home right now, so I can't go look to see if the tool is there. If not, are there any good plugins that will do this (and by good, I mean free)?

Thanks for the tips guys. I will try it out and see what happens.

Just tried the printer driver from Visagesoft, and it works great. The free version puts a little ad at the top for the company, but the full version only costs $49. A lot cheaper than Acrobat.

These look promising Visagesoft . I'm downloading the printer driver as we speak. Its less that 5mb. [ June 13, 2002, 09:39 AM: Message edited by: Blake Middleton ]

Hey Strat, you might try some of these. Let me know if you find one that works. Download.com

Well, in some places very close. I need it to have good relief. Any tips on modeling? Maybe an extruded spline along the wall? Thanks.

Should I model it? (not something I want to do) Or can I use a bump map? Anyone have any good tips on making lap siding? Thanks. [ June 12, 2002, 07:29 AM: Message edited by: Blake Middleton ]

Cesar, How is Archicad when doing actual construction documents? I have tried out the test version, but it seems to be very lacking in the detail and drafting department. Maybe I'm wrong and just haven't gotten to that part yet, but it seems far more 3d oriented than technically oriented. Just want your opinion on that. Thanks.

How do you accurately portray say, a 60 watt light bulb, or any for that matter? I know you can adjust the multiplier to affect the light output, but how does this correlate to real world values? Or does it not correlate? Are you supposed to just keep guessing until it looks right?

Alexandre, that is part of my delima. I'm not exactly happy doing what I'm doing right now. I love to design, but my current job doesn't involve much creativity. I also love doing cg work, and would like to try it out. I'm not in a position to really change jobs at the moment so doing freelance is a good option for me. I am also not really concerned about going back to the architecture world if I decide to do cg full time. Over here, if you know AutoCAD, its usually not hard to find a job. I'm still trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow up, so I must experiment . There are so many things I enjoy doing, its hard to pick one.