Together again, for the first time.

[Stain777]

It's been years (since version 3) since I've used Max. But, for a number of reasons, I'm going to be picking up a copy for architectural visualization. I thought this would be the perfect place to get the best information on what tools and plug-ins you guys think are the most helpful additions to get your work done, with the most professional results.

 

My plans are to buy Max 8, Vray, and whatever additional items you guys come up with until my money runs out.

 

Thanks in advance for your help.

[mahorela]

very good choice going with max and vray, in my opinion an unbeatable combination for arch viz.

aside from this I suppose the obvious software you will need is photoshop for images and texture modification and premiere for animation editing.

some model and texture libraries I recommend:

Evermotion archmodels are superbly modelled and very modern.

Xfrog plants and trees are incredibly well detailed and useful despite the high poly counts.

Marlin studios texture libraries are also very useful.

If your going to be doing exteriors with vray, you will probably want to use HDRI images for image based lighting. For this I recommend the Dosch libraries of HDRI images.

should keep you busy for a while.

[Stain777]

very good choice going with max and vray, in my opinion an unbeatable combination for arch viz.

aside from this I suppose the obvious software you will need is photoshop for images and texture modification and premiere for animation editing.

some model and texture libraries I recommend:

Evermotion archmodels are superbly modelled and very modern.

Xfrog plants and trees are incredibly well detailed and useful despite the high poly counts.

Marlin studios texture libraries are also very useful.

If your going to be doing exteriors with vray, you will probably want to use HDRI images for image based lighting. For this I recommend the Dosch libraries of HDRI images.

should keep you busy for a while.

 

Thanks for the response. I've got Photoshop covered and Dosch's HDRI library. That leaves XFrog, Marlin Studios, & Evermotion.

 

Any Max plug-ins that you think I shouldn't be without? Mr-Stair-Maker, or Instant man-hole plug-ins? Just kidding.

 

Honestly, I'd love to hear about any helpers that get you home a little sooner or make the modeling a little faster.

[martincg]

fully agree with mahorela /MAX8 and Vray/

[aligrafix]

Second to none is 3dsmax+vray. Dosch HDRI library and evermotion contents are addition to your art work. Best of luck man.

[Verma]

If you are getting Vray then check out http://www.gnomon3d.com

they have 2 training DVD's on vray renderer, quite useful for architectural visualization stuff.

 

One more plugin I can think of is DreamScape, very nice for doing terrain, sea, sun, sky, clouds etc.

 

Good Luck!