taran0

really nice, love that you did it all on a minus budget

thats very interesting halestorm i came from a gaming background before i got into viz so i've always stuck to modelling efficiently and as low poly as possible. which worked out great as it meant that renders went a lot faster. so the eventual trend towards realtime is great for me. I was really interested in the unity 3d engine really liked how it could play in a web browser only problem is i dont have access to mac. a pc version means i'm defo going to check it out. I have been checking out crysis which is amazing for exterior environments and landscaping but not so great for interiors, and the new version crysis warhead has been updated to run more efficiently so you dont need a heavy uber pc to run it. You dont need that heavy a spec to run it. The plugin support for max is good also I have been using the Torque engine which is good and Quest 3D is prob going to be the one I use. taran

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how should i correct this, 1) should i be using white balance on the phys cam 2) using diferent cam settings so that i don't expose the blue so much 3) edit in photoshop or is it somethign that i can do with the vray sun, because when i move the sun below the horizon this is the blue that it gives me taran

hi here are some exterior test renders created using vray sun/sky and phys cam theres one daytime, an evening and a nighttime scene. would appreciate any feedback or advice on how i can improve these Thanks Taran

i think the original looks better taran

hehehehehhee..... I have been thinking along the same lines. not charging for any crysis stuff, but just for my 3dsmax time, OR asking the client if they want to checkout my latest level which has their new building in it and then they can give me a donation for being such a dude! alternatively just hide a grenade launcher in the reception area, and if anyone asks its a defend your office block level. I'll post a video up in the next few days, and im working on another sample. taran

not at the moment it is only available as a game license, so you can license it to create one of your own games. not too sure on the price but another engine which is similar is unreal 3 which goes at approximately £750,000 dollars, but for big games companies who are selling millions of copies of games it is viable. Crysis is probably a little more then that. there is only one company so far who has the crysis engine for architectural work and that is imagtp you can see some info on the link below http://digitalurban.blogspot.com/2007/02/crytek-realtime-engine-for-architecture.html hopefully they will come up with a solution for architectural companies who aren't making games, but will have to wait and see. until then theres just experimentation and fun of the non-profit kind. alternatively you can check out Quest 3D at about a couple of grand its not a bad engine. Taran

ok i make 3d models from cad plans everyday. 1. clean cad file and import and lay out 2. trace the plan view using spline with snap to vertex 3. extrude 4. convert to editable poly and then cut out doors windows 5. shell also depends on whether you are doing interiors or exteriors, but i never use boolean, very messy, unless its powerboolean which is cool. taran

a good technique i always use is to create lines and then add extrude and shell modifier, go back to spline and turn on show end result, create your lines, and your drawing walls. different heights, just make a seperate line and then copy and paste two modifiers from other spline, change extrude amount. in the end just convert to editable poly and then poly model the rest out. - you can also set different widths using the shell modifier as a lot of buildings i work on use different widths for walls. or at poly model stage just extrude walls out a bit. - another plus, cut the shell modifier off convert to editable poly, paste teh shell back on, now you can cut the windows doors out on a 2d plane and then the shell on top will make the thickness of the wall never use the AEC walls very messy indeed taran

thanks yes the install is on the cd, once you have installed the game install the sandbox, its very small and when you go into the crysis/bin folder you see the editor.exe there. 3DS MAX you should also download the crysis sdk 1.2, it has a all the plugins for photoshop and 3dsmax. The crysis team have integrated it really well into max, you get these crytools which allow you to prepare objects and characters etc for crysis and do most of the work in 3dsmax. the crysis editor is a lot like 3dsmax, so you will feel right at home. TERRAIN The landscaping tools are great, you get somethign similar too vue or bryce where you can either import a heightmap or/and use algorithms to weather or create a surface. additionally you get layer editing tools such as flatten and noise so that you can set height levels and then paint away. TERRAIN TEXTURES terrain textures have a visible texture and also a detail texture, so when your up close you can see the detailing, you can also change the lightness of the material fro variations VEGETATION the foliage is absolutely amazing, you can create different sets of trees and grass or even stone objects and then either distribute according to texture applied to the terrain or angle of slope. The better way though is to select your sets and just paint away on the surface. you can also set the wind speed so that the foliage sways. LIGHTING the "time of day" features are awesome, you can set the path of the sun and then run through the 24 hours of the day, theres loads of other settings that i haven't even looked at yet, but the shadows all move in real time. EXPORTING haven't got the full hang of exporting yet, but basic objects are pretty simple to export and you can keep your max modifiers on them, they have a built in shader for the max material editor which can physicalize your object for collision, alternatively you can use a proxy mesh. the scripting is also pretty simple, but powerful, it uses a flow chart system and you basically select different functions to add into the flowchart and then link them to the tags of the physical entities. yes the mech suit character really does do something for the mood of it, heheheh you can create your own characters for crysis, although i haven't tried it yet. you can also create new models for the car, helicopter, boat and hovercraft. I haven't really played crysis much because I kind of got bored half way through, just wanted to roam around and explore the island but people kept shooting at me. it's GREAT FUN!! and i'm working on another project now Taran.

I'm doing a Masters degree in CAD and Construction and as part of my Realtime CAD assignment i decided to learn and use the Crysis Sandbox editor to create an architectural visualization. The assignment was to create an interactive architectural environment in an engine of your choice. This was my first time using Crysis, as i had previously used the unreal engine, I managed to produced a whole island and also managed to import an architectural model into the engine. I was surprised at how easy and user friendly Crysis sandbox is compared to other architectural alternatives. I manged to to do this pretty quickly and had loads of fun in the process. the whole island and architecture model was done within a 4 days( in between my off days from work) It isn't totally finished but i ran out of time and did the presentation as it was just meant to be a test excercise. They were very impressed with the quality of Crysis, and the other examples created in Vizard and Quest 3D just paled in comparison to what this can do. this was just a quick test and i am working on some more advanced examples. you can see a few examples below, To see more images you can check this flickr set at the following URL Tarans Crysis Arch Viz SLideshow Architectural model within 3ds MAX Taran

i think we are also overlooking realtime engines, with the onset of powerful processors and more powerful graphic cards realtime engines are getting scarily close to rendered images, with the added ability of being able to walk around and open a door and maybe even talk to the receptionist and see people walkign aroudn using the environment in real time. the future is realtime, just look at the game engines, crysis can render realistic outdoor environments with foliage in a fraction of the time it takes to do it in max and you are actually designing in realtime, while the sun is setting and the clouds are moving and the waves are moving and the leaves are swaying at the wind speed you just set. i recently created an island in crysis, it took me a fraction of the time it would have taken, and i could change things on the fly no rerendering. taran

theres a program called seamless texture generator does a great quick job to remove highlight and create a tilable texture, its small and can run from a usb stick - i never leave home without it it wont work fro everythign but 60percent of the time it just works and then i mgith just do a 15 second touch up in photoshop taran