Jesper Pedersen

Hmmm.. Jeff, we love the new (still) site, but I just clicked on the first post in the "hardware.." forum and the link took me to a tacky/advert over-load Japanes poker/gambling site (and not a review of high-end workstations). Anyway, I checked the date on the post and it's 2010 !! Maybe any post relating to hardware going back that far should be reviewed and ditched as it's probably not relevant. (..or at least the older posts) Just a suggestion. Regards Jesper Pedersen www.pedersenfocus.ie

Hi Terri / Brian, Thanks for the feedback! we've also installed it now and so far so good ..no surprises (it still crashes when we try to select a viewport camera by double-clicking from the list instead of hitting the "OK" button, but this is not new so we are used to it). Thanks! Jesper Pedersen http://www.pedersenfocus.ie

Hi Arthrur, Really cool shot. I tried just doing a photoshop shadow/highlights adjustment of 35%/0% on it and instantly the detail pops out of the shadows (not perfect but often this is a fine quick fix for overly dark shadows). ..and now that we've all helped your friend, can we call round for a BBQ on that cool roof-top terrace when it's finished !? Regards Jesper Pedersen http://www.pedersenfocus.ie

Hi All, Has anyone tried the new 3dsMax 2021 yet? As always we're keen to get the latest version of 3ds Max up an running, but from experience we find it's extremely glitchy until at least a few updates later, .. so anyone with any initial experiences / problems? ..or is it all rosey with 2021? Regards Jesper Pedersen http://www.pedersenfocus.ie

Hi Dan, I'd recommend simply buying a HDRI sky (or possibly there are free sample scenes available) from Peter Guthrie or similar. I don't have any connection to him so I'm not trying to promote the site, except to say we use them and find them very good. The sample scene will let you go in and check all their setting which takes awhile the first time but well worth it. Good luck. Regards Jesper Pedersen http://www.pedersenfocus.ie

Hi Jinmu, We used to go to some of the early 3d conferences in Copenhagen. As Scott said, your office will really benefit from it if you have a culture of sharing skills/knowledge on your return. What is difficult to put a value on, is the feeling of "Enthusiasm" and "can do" attitude that you can get from being surrounded by your peers. We're a small studio and I have often toyed with the idea of getting in touch with perhaps 1 or 2 other companies who are equally ambitious, with the intention of creating a knowledge exchange, where we visit each other's office and do a work session, so the visitor is a fly-on-the-wall. I expect there would be many, "oh, yeah, we never thought of that" ..and "seriously, you've never thought of doing it like this instead" moments. We see the work of offices like Mir ...well mostly Mir, and think brilliant but how do they get that look? It's difficult to find the time for training when your small studio is caught up in ongoing projects and deadlines. The perk here might also be the trip to another country! I expect this would work best if the companies are not competing on the same "turf". ..so, ..if anyone in Bergen is listening, ..spring can be really nice in Cork, Ireland regards, Jesper Pedersen www.pedersenfocus.ie

Hi Tom, That seems to be what I'm hearing generally. Yes looking forward to getting set up with 2019 soon (but form past experience we don't dare to switch in the middle of projects/upcoming deadlines) .. in a few weeks time (January) we'll go for it. Thanks for the advice. Regards Jesper Pedersen http://www.pedersenfocus.ie

Hi Tom, We have always found booleans/pro-booleand twitchy and would save before we begin any boolean work in max (but Autodesk are only small so how can we expect them to catch all the bugs, right? ..hmm) I'd agree with Jose, the version of Max you are using could be the issue. We're still on 2016, despite having 3ds max on subscription. Jose, how are you finding 2019 in term of glitches/ general stability? I've been looking for a post on this but it's promising that there doesn't seem to be a flood of posts complaining about the release. Regards Jesper Pedersen http://www.pedersenfocus.ie

Hi Nigel, You may have this worked out by now, but if not, my advice would (like Franscisco) be to keep it simple and try to avoid introducing more variables. So use a vRay physical camera with physical camera exposure control. Keep your sun and skylight set with multipliers of 1.0 (you can play with these later when you feel comfortable and in control ie getting consistent reliable results). Don't mess with Gamma, so leave it at 2.2 or default. Physical camera, start with ISO 100, f6 and shutter speed at about 1/500. Then begin to adjust the shutter speed or aperature. Eg image too bright bring shutter speed from 1/500 to 1/1000, or adjust aperature from f6 to f8 eg image too dark bring shutter speed from 1/500 to 1/250, or adjust aperature from f6 to f5 , etc Apologies if this is too basic (just trying to help) good luck! Jesper Pedersen http://www.pedersenfocus.ie

Hi Avi, I would agree with Ievgen, don't try and learn lots of 3d packages, pick one and learn it well. Perhaps more important than the 3d package is your choice of renderer, and here I would recommend going with one of vRay or Corona. Personally I think you need to get right into production and avoid experimenting. This may sound like the opposite advice of what a lot of people in training will tell you, but in my experience you learn a lot faster when you are focused on a specific goal or deadline. You will automatically learn the skills important to getting to results you need, and as you gain experience, the new skills will come naturally with every new challenge. I hope this helps. Good luck! Regards Jesper Pedersen www.pedersenfocus.ie

Hi Sonny, I think we had similar problems some time back. One issue in an earlier version of Max was a problem with scenes containing groups (at the time we got a response from AutoDesk along the lines of "just avoid using groups until we fix it", we nearly laughed ..nearly. We use groups constantly. Anyway I'm sure this was back in version 2015 or even 2014 so presumably not your problem now. I suggest you copy the xRef max file and rename it (keep track of where you keep the original of course). Then save a simple dummy max file in place of the previous xRefed file. Now you'll be able to open the scene with an empty xRef being called. You can then separately import the objects from the original xRef into a new (empty) scene. We usually found that a single object was corrupting the file. It's a little tedious, so speed up the process by importing all items with names beginning from A-M for example, if that goes ok, save it, with the extension A-N in the file name. Then try importing all the items with file names N-Z, if this crashes you know the problem item is in the 2nd half of the itmes, then just keep importing sets until eventually you've found the problem items. If you'e lucky you can remodel the item causing the crash (assuming the file name will tell you what it was. Perhaps you can even see at a glance in the scene what's missing. As I said, it's little tedious but might fix the problem. Good luck! Jesper Pedersen http://www.pedersenfocus.ie

Hi Alex, if you're new to Architectural Visualisation & Photography then it's probably a good idea to get a book on the subject to understand the concepts that make a good image (lighting/composition/camera techniques etc etc). I could recommend "Architectural photography" by Adrian Schulze or "Architectural photography" by Norman McGrath, and probably any introduction to photography. After that, it comes down to your own creativity and ability in arch viz., but it's a good idea to do an image search online to get inspiration for your project, keeping in mind the brief your client / architect has given so you're heading in the right direction. Ie prepare your own style sheet at the beginning of the project. Good luck, Jesper Pedersen http://www.pedersenfocus.ie

Hi Francisco / Philip, Yep, I'm with Francisco, we avoid installing any new releases till Autodesk are at least a service pack or two into the relevant version. We have found though that our Autodesk agent / supplier was able to provide direct links so we can install e.g Revit separately to version 2018 while keeping the rest of the Suite / bundle in whatever version we're using at the moment. I'm not sure if it's a formal Autodesk service or just our supplier being helpful with these links, but one thing is for sure we will not be guinea pigs any longer for the glitchy new releases. Regards Jesper Pedersen http://www.pedersenfocus.ie

Hi, As Dhaivat said, we also use Evermotion libraries with a mix of other trees scattered it give a good look it think. See atttached. Regards, Jesper Pedersen www.pedersenfocus.ie Save

Hi All, We were big fans of Maxwell and stuck by it for a long time, but after we switched to vRay we have found the render times we are achieving have increased productivity immemsely and perhaps more importantly the vast amount of resources now available to us (ie without having to convert materials) means we are saving more time. Now, next on our wish list is a serious contender to replace our reliance on 3ds Max, which we are feel is evolving so slowly now, we'd jump to a better faster software if we felt we had a serious alternative. Subscription has us where it wants us! Regards Jesper Pedersen http://www.pedersenfocus.ie