HamburgerTrain

Maya was not really and still isn't targeted at the Arch-Viz industry and never will be, it's animation/game/film/motion gfx orientated and always will be. But having said that, there's no one out there saying you can't use it in the Arch-Viz industry because you can and undertneath it all, it's still just a 3D package but it has shortcomings that Arch-Viz projects can require. Off the top of my head compared to Max: Max has better modelling tools, no doubt about this. Maya is one the worst modellers in 3D at the moment with only minor additions over the last couple of years, the loft tools haven't been updated since the 90's, creating roads on terrain is nearly impossible if not for manually intersecting roads (no drape mesh like in Max), the booleans don't work on anything but watertight, clean meshes, the extrude along path tool breaks on hard edges unless you have an insane amount of polygons, the linear workflow is half implemented in most renderers, the scattering tools that have been on with Max are now just available this year, there are no native 3D arch-viz libraries that exist for Maya, no instant roof plugins, no instant floorboard generators, no random color generators, no IES prieviews in the viewport, It was only a few years ago that V-Ray for Maya did not exist and users had to put up with mental ray for Maya (which if you have used, you will understand), etc.. etc...just off the top of my head. That being said, I make a living out of Maya for Arch Viz and it is easy once you write your own tools and get an effecient pipeline going! I try and model most stuff in SketchUp as it wipes the floor with Maya when it comes to modelling, Maya, however, is much better than SketchUp at texturing, adding details and handling huge amounts of data. I only chose Maya due to learning it. On the other hand I I think it would be annoying to use Max and rely heavily so much on plugins, upgrading them all every year must be a pain. One plus is that with Maya, it's easy enough to write Tools, library managers, importers whatever you want. A bit more work, but it's nice conforming it to how you work. PS I was about to post saying no way AD bought Maya in 2005, but there you go! Seems like it was much more recent than that!

Ctrl + T Then shift click on the axis. Unfortunately this doesn't work on frozen transforms but this would help you: http://www.mayzie.net/maya-scripts/floating-stepsize-for-accurate-modelling and for custom axis http://www.mayzie.net/maya-scripts/align-axis-shortcut

I) Very! Especially if you ask Vlado for nighly access to the builds. IF there is a problem in V-Ray Chaos can usually fix it within a couple of nights. Support is second to none. 2) This is a good place to start. http://www.jamesshaw.co.nz/blog/?p=1325 http://www.jamesshaw.co.nz/blog/?p=1313 http://www.jamesshaw.co.nz/blog/?p=1307 http://www.jamesshaw.co.nz/blog/?p=1300 http://www.jamesshaw.co.nz/blog/?p=1280 I like Guthries method of modelling in SketchUp first but I think the most important thing in ArchViz is lighting. It is the single most important element in Architectural renders because it is the main instigator of mood, realism etc... A good lighting setup is paramount. I really wouldn't worry about critically accurate in modelling but a good model helps.

I think this sums it up perfectly. It's possible to script anything in Maya from simple import clean-up scripts to Forest Pack Pro equivalents etc... I also find that V-Ray for Maya has been a big boost to the situation a couple of years ago to when this thread started.

You can try and export the 3DS Max scene as .vrscene and also as an FBX file. Then inside Maya you can import materials from the .vrscene and mesh from the FBX. You can then get this python script and attempt to replace the FBX files with the .vrscene materials. A lot of work and often with flakey results but if it works, it is good.

Maybe he used the sun to go to the same position as the direct light in order for vraysky to react accordingly but during render time the direct light is the one that is on and vray sun is more of a parent object? Either way it's a fascinating setup in terms of the light quality! Highly appreciate the workflow tips!

That's a great idea - thanks Stan.

Hi, I'm sure this has probably been discussed before but using the search on this site I cannot come up with any results. Anyway, I'm just wondering if there are any issues in legality when placing a published photograph into a render (most notably as a prop on a wall, much like a painting). I'm pretty sure it would be breaching some sort of copyright issues however I'm not an expert on the matter and would like some clarification if anyone knows about this? Especially when the client is asking to put in a preselected (somewhat well-known) photograph - can we do this?

I use SketchUp + Maya + V-Ray combo and work full-time in arc-viz. SketchUp after a few dozen plugins becomes a beast and there is no need to model in Max or Maya as it is a very capable modelling program in the right hands. Although obviously Max/Maya is still required for layout, detailing and rendering. One thing about Maya and arch-viz, you'll definitely have to consider purchasing V-Ray. After years of using mental ray inside Maya, it is pretty much is a lost cause to be honest - it is not worth the pain...and I mean pain. Sure V-Ray isn't perfect either, but if a problem is found, it is usually fixed within a few days. The interesting thing I have found working with Maya over the years, and this can be considered a double edged sword, is that Maya is quite flexible in its ability to be customised to a particular workflow whether it be for Hollywood, games or Arch-Vis. So if you are serious about giving Maya a go, it kind of needs to go hand in hand with some sort of scripting whether it be MEL or Python as Maya is designed from the ground up around scripting. It will take a while to learn but it saves so much time being able to write your own tools and work-flows.

This is such a beautiful scene. May I ask how you got such wonderful exposure? Post or rendered as in Max? It is really well done.

That firm still exist? Old article and website is taken. A bad sign!

Generating tiled exrs might help. Cuts my HDRI load times in half.

Ah...Meny Hilsenrad. Not surprising this is such good work!

The Maya ones they had were a rip-off. The geo was not clean and was not visible in refractions or reflections. A lazy import via obj I suspect. However they're probably decent in Max as it is the native app these scenes are setup in. Just a warning.

Thank you, look forward to testing this out.