rafaellopez

Hello Chris I might have a different look on it. I work with both MentalRay and Vray. Without a doubt I work more with Vray, fast and efficient. But recently I have started to render some of my work with Mentalray, and yes it is challenging to understand both render systems. What i did was to replicate render with Vray, in Mentalray. Reason for doing that most will have the ability to upgrade every year. I have fallen behind, and cannot upgrade to a newer version of Vray and 3dsmax. Hope it answers some of your questions. Learn Vray it is a great render engine, additional you will have additional knowledge on another rendering system. Most firm will have Vray as their rendering engine.

I will agree with Joel, there are a lot of tutorials available fro Blender. I have been working on other 3d applications as Blender and Lightwave 3d now, in a sense looking for a alternative to 3dsmax, the cost every year to upgrade , plus plugin needed for certain things, have left me looking in other directions. BlenderGuru is awesome, and their are some great links to on their site. check this link http://forums.cgarchitect.com/73062-rainy-street-call-crits.html#post373504

Hello John I will shared my points with you. I have read all the other members and will say I agree with them. Getting a little more experience will help down the road if you are looking into freelance work. I just recently lost my job, very hard to find a new one. I have 20 years experience from 3dsmax, AutoCad and Revit. I have been freelancing now, and believe me it has been hard. Beside the knowledge of CGI you need to have that business edge to. Marketing yourself takes money and a lot of effort. Having the proper equipment, software to get most of the job out the requires an investment. In the freelance arena I started in the architectural side, very competitive, so I do other graphic work, as furniture modeling for photo shots, product shots for labels, and lately some scientifical graphics related to viruses and bacteria and how they move and interact. Get more experience, learn form other how to develop skills faster, all of this will help you make a better decision if you decide to freelance. Rafael L.

Hi Jonas Great site, I would say just continue posting your work. I am starting freelance work too, what I have done is send out my portfolio to some of the architectural firms around. I will agree to diverse your self in other graphic presentation, I myself are working on mechanical medical and scientifical illustrations. You have a good understanding on lighting and modeling. It take a lot of hard work when freelancing, budget well your time and cost of the projects. Just my (2) two cents. Hope it helps.

Hello Scott I have tried to weld the vertices and it has not worked. I too tried to quadrify the model, changing the topology to see if it would work. Bit it did not.The reason for the unwrap is to prepare a map for the entire model, export out as a obj file, and then import as a 3d model in After Effects with the 3D element plugin. https://www.videocopilot.net/products/element/ Check it out.

Thanks Tom I do not have Polytrans, without a doubt I am sure Polytrans will convert properly. The stl file render very clean, on the interior of the model there is some artifacting or something strange, but the outside is great. All I am trying to do the the Unwrap to map it to the model, but it is very tessalated and i guess that might be the problem. On the Unwrap dialog window when I flatten the same it breakup into a ton of faces.

I wanted to know if anyone here have tried before importing a stl file in 3dsmax, from Solidworks, and have UVW Unwraped the model for further texturing. I think the UVW work better with native models, it is a thought, hope to here from you 3dsmax for some indication.

Hello Ramy Thanks for sharing these point or differences between Mental Ray and Vray. I started with Mental Ray, has the same issues too. I now work with Vray, but I am considering to work back with Mental Ray. Thanks for sharing. Love your work.

Hello I have come to the forum to see if anyone here might have a suggestion on how to develop or do scratch edges on furniture such as tables , chairs or any other piece. I have tried several option as plugins from Neil Blevin, edgefinder to get a very good quality. Maybe some suggestion with PhotoShop.