dean@pikcells

maybe you should compare both 2008 and 2009 both with x64? maybe max 2009 is more stable, but slower? maybe there are more features using more ram and processor power in 2009? have you tried rendering through backburner, so the 3dsmax interace is no longer loaded?

Why not have a few photography lessons? So much of an image is composition, lighting and location, which is relevant in both traditional media as well as digital media. Also what about life drawing classes (or even drawing by yourself)? I find sometimes we produces images for others to look at, but often we forget to look our selves. Drawing makes you observe, and the more you do, the more details you will add to your professional work. Plus it always nice to step away from the PC and use a pencil and paper instead!!

It does sound to me like the advert is for a perminant position, but also freelancers should get in touch too. As said above, it's a free market. For someone flipping burgers at McDonalds, £12 an hour freelance contract would see very interesting! But as I always say, "Pay peanuts, expect monkeys!"

We have used photoshop for our compositing and post processing for many years, and dont really have any issues. Although recently we are looking to use After Effects for compositing the passes. The main issue with photoshop is that it doesnt support floating point images (16bit), where was After Effects does. We render all our images as passes, and you are correct, it does give you so much flexibility. Changes to materials, lighting, etc can sometimes be a very simple tweek in post production, rather than wasting time rerendering your scene again. The Gnomon DVDs are a great place to start, even if you dont use the exact same software. I have watched the compositing in Fusion, and a lot of the work-flows, and understanding, can be used in most applications. As for the pre-multiplied issue, there are several ways around this, but if you want to do things correctly, use a compositing program like Fusion, Nuke or AE. I think Fusion also has a free learning edition too. Hope that helps, Deano!

Another recommendation for SoulBurn scripts! There's so many useful scripts that I use on a daily basis in production!

and if it is a well known space / building then people will know anyway where you got your ideas from anyway.

Great first attempt! I have a few comments for you though... I think your textures need more attention. Make sure your brick, wood and render have bump maps, as they look a bit flat at the moment. Also experiment with reflections too. Also get some content inside the house, or at the least some curtains and blinds, it will make the image more interesting. Your vertical wood tiles quite badly so I'd definitely change that. What are those black parts of the building? It almost looks like a render error? And finally, I'd try to make both images have the same background, and alter the sky and colours depending on each image. Hope that helps! Dean

You gotta think about time here. It may be quicker photoshopping 1 image, but if the client changes something such as the view, then it would have been quicker to model it properly first time. Plus modelling stuff generally gives far better, and more realistic results.

what is your brief for this image? im guessing it's a personal project, but i personally make up a brief so i dont wander too far. is it an office, reception, living room? what is being shown through the window?

Or to throw something else into the mix, try using Vue. We use it on environments where there is loads of vegetation (mainly shots of forests), and composite the Vue and Vray stuff in post.

so am i right in thinking that you want everything inside the box to be invisible to the camera, and everything else visable?

is your "base layer" the RGB pass?

Licensing with using games engines can be very costly, if they are available at all.

Welcome! I wish Huddersfield was more like Paradise City!!

We've just done loads of furniture, and I believe the best way and most realistic way, is to create displacement maps. You have to unwrap the model, it's worth doing this well first time, then paint your displacement map in photoshop. Dean

i was serious about deleting stuff you know! delete anything you cant see, and delete objects that are hidden or of no use (such as cad drawings). by the way, even if an object is hidden, it will still use resources. also delete back facing polys, and other polys you dont see. Dean

Hey Joel, Any chance of you posting some spec's and details or maybe even some web links of your system? It's been so long since I looked at hardware. I noticed the other day my home pc is 5 years old, and only just hanging onto the latest software developments, so a new machine might be in order!! Cheers, Dean

bitmap dimensions can kill machines easily if you dont keep an eye on them! only use the size bitmap you need, for example, a flag at the top of a tower may only be rendered as a tiny proportion of the view (say 10px by 10px), but Ive seen people use 1000px by 1000px. as for proxies, definately use em! or atleast learn em so when you need them they are there!

use the delete button?

try posting in the 3ds max section of the forum for a start? other than that, try a multi sub object material.

I guess it depends on what exactly you want to learn. For example, there are two sides to lighting, the technical side (actually setting up the lights correctly inside your software) and artistically. For the technical side there are 100s of books. Have a look on Amazon and read their reviews. This one stuck out at me as I recognised the cover image!! http://www.amazon.com/Essential-Lighting-Techniques-Autodesk-Entertainment/dp/024052117X/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_c For artistic side, I'd recommend going to a good book store and looking through photography, architectural, interior design, etc, books. Cheers, Dean

Welcome and good luck with finding your 1st gig!

The omni light doesn't have any physical properties, you can't render it. you need to model the light source (ie a bulb) and give that some self illumination materials. Also try asking the in 3DS max section of this forum.

Here's two I found in about 20 seconds of googling "vray studio setup" http://www.aversis.be/tutorials/vray/vray_studio_lighting.htm http://www.renderray.com/tutorials.php?cId=8

but you still run into the issue of using stock elements. Every Tom, **** and Harry owns a set of AXYZ characters. We only use 3D characters in animations, because this is easier and way cheeper than green screening all the people into the scene. Dean