theo@3drealism.com

Juraj, there is no modelling difference between the Producer and Studio. Originally, there were modelling restrictions on the Studio version but e-on software lifted them. The main difference is the Producer suits a larger company where you can share assets within the studio.

Yes. The best thing is that the level of detail is up to you - you can go crazy. It is a procedural modelling program, you can easily add things such as peeling bark.

Hi Travis, I am using the Studio Version. These are 3 trees from the standard library which I imported into 3ds Max 2014 using FBX and rendered in iray. The Acacia is a billboard tree which is low poly and good for medium to distant viewing. It is not a typical single plane billboard, it has a 3d trunk and branches but has lots of planes at various depths. I have set it up to be constrained to the camera. I have made some trees/plants myself but because I am still learning they are not perfect yet. It is very quick and easy to build trees but there are a few settings I still need to know more about. Also the plants can be exported from The Plant Factory with Point Cache animation which works brilliantly (but I have only tested the Mexican Fan Palm so far).

I am using 3ds Max and iray with imported trees from The Plant Factory. Very happy with it. http://www.e-onsoftware.com/products/plant_factory/

It all depends on how you like to model. I much prefer to use booleans, and ProBooleans work very well for me. It is very fast. ProBooleans work better with Editable Mesh that Editable Poly. Snapping to imported cad files work fine. Simply create walls and windows out of Boxes and subtract one from the other. The main problem with snapping in Max is there are not enough snapping options. Otherwise it works well.

I use iray which uses 1 of my GPU,s (GTX 680 4gb) to render. My 2nd GPU (GTX 460 2gb) is for windows with allows me to navigate in 3ds Max. I have 2 scenes of 3ds Max open, one rendering unhindered and the other allows me to work on another project using the CPU.

Has anyone tired using Onyx plants with iray? I am looking to buy Oynx SuperBundle but would like to know if it works with iray. The Onyx people don't seem to know.