ruds Posted June 3, 2009 Share Posted June 3, 2009 (edited) Hi All, Just wondering if any of you have tried the 3Dats books - architectural visualisation beginner/intermediate and intermediate/advanced. I am an interior design student with little experience in 3ds max but I am keen to specialise in 3ds max (and maybe purely focus on architectural visualisation as a career). I want to primarily learn how to model photo-realistic interiors in 3dsmax. I have had trouble finding tutorials online so I am looking towards a book like this. I am looking at getting a bundle of the beginner/intermediate and the intermediate/advanced books. Any thoughts? I live in Australia so getting the books here would be a bit of a hassle and a bit costly so I don't want to make an uninformed decision about getting the books. Edited June 3, 2009 by ruds Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jophus14 Posted June 3, 2009 Share Posted June 3, 2009 Ruds: I have two of Brian Smiths books and they are worh every penny. His books will not tell you how to render out the "perfect" interior but it will give you insight on how to maximize the tools in 3DsMax in order to understand how to achieve a great image. I have met Brain Smith and he is very knowledgable with the software and he is truly a master at his craft. You will not be disappointed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danb4026 Posted June 3, 2009 Share Posted June 3, 2009 I have to agree with Joseph on all accounts. Brian's books are great. I find myself going back to them quite often for reference as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smvwhite Posted June 7, 2009 Share Posted June 7, 2009 I live in Australia also - the books are excellent. The money is nothing considering there is nothing in print like them, and they are really comprehensive. You won't regret it one bit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WAcky Posted June 7, 2009 Share Posted June 7, 2009 And you can claim them on tax and probably get the 50% govt. rebate which makes them preeeeetty damn cheap. And if you happen to be using the onyxtree programs you should take a look at this offer! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SandmanNinja Posted June 8, 2009 Share Posted June 8, 2009 Great books, I concur. I've pre-ordered the next book. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danteprojetos Posted June 9, 2009 Share Posted June 9, 2009 (edited) And you can claim them on tax and probably get the 50% govt. rebate which makes them preeeeetty damn cheap. If I import anything in Brazil I have to pay 50% MORE in taxes. I know where I want to move now. Edited June 9, 2009 by danteprojetos Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WAcky Posted June 10, 2009 Share Posted June 10, 2009 Ouch... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ruds Posted June 10, 2009 Author Share Posted June 10, 2009 Thanks for the replies. I ordered the first couple of books eagerly awaiting their arrival. Wacky; wanted to ask you - what government rebate are you talking about - and how do I go about looking into it? I have no idea when it comes to tax etc. I finally received 3ds Max Design 2010 (student version) and was wondering if anybody thinks it's worth getting V-ray as a student? (I thought the difference between mental ray and v-ray may hardly be noticeable to me since i'm a beginner anyway) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WAcky Posted June 10, 2009 Share Posted June 10, 2009 (edited) Its a bit of a grey area for me but if you have an ABN then you can claim the books on tax provided you have some income registered on your ABN, if not it can roll over to next year until you earn some $$ (which is what I did on last years purchases) With the rebate small business' can get a 30% rebate on assets purchased and claimed, which has been increased to 50% until the 30th of june 2009. Whether the books are classified as an "asset" is something i'm not sure of but you should probably ask you accountant. I only ever treat these things as a bonus so if I dont get the rebate then I'm not too worried. The books are a good investment as it is, but if the govt. can help you out with them then thats a bonus! Once again you should probably ask an accountant if you can. Regarding MR vs. Vray I would probably stick with MR until you can really justify the purchase at which point you will be better with MR and have a more comfortable transition to Vray. Update: Looks like software isnt covered (LAME) but a tangible asset is claimable (hopefully a book is classified as a tangible asset) Some other points: A small business that buys and installs a $2,000 computer before the end of June 2009 can claim an additional $600 deduction in its 2008-09 tax return. For eligible assets costing $1,000 or more that they acquire from 1 July 2009 to 31 December 2009, they can claim an additional 10 per cent deduction where they are installed by 31 December 2010. To benefit from this tax break a small business must have a turnover of $2 million a year or less. (No danger there) Edited June 10, 2009 by WAcky Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg Law Posted June 10, 2009 Share Posted June 10, 2009 These are great books and well worth the money. I had no problems getting them on line. The only problem I have had is some of the dialog boxes shown in the tut's don't seem to be the same as in Max2009 design. But then the tut's within Max2010 seem to use some old setups to. The dialog box I'm having the most trouble with is the shadow turn off box I can't seem to find it using the Daylight system. But this could just be me. So if anyone knows what I'm missing please let me know as it is important when using 2d trees. But this is very minor and shouldn't put you off getting them. They have been a great asset to me. They are full on books of high quality. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ruds Posted June 12, 2009 Author Share Posted June 12, 2009 Just a question for the guys in Australia - I received a package today from 3Das but to my disappointment it only contained 1 of the books (I ordered 2). If you ordered multiple books at the same time did they come in the same package for you (as I assume it would) or did they come one after the other? Anyway, I just emailed 3Dats about it hopefully it hasn't been lost along the way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WAcky Posted June 12, 2009 Share Posted June 12, 2009 I ordered mine seperately so I dont know but Brian at 3dats is a very discerning fellow and I'm sure he would not make such an oversight. He'll take care of you, no worries. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg Law Posted June 12, 2009 Share Posted June 12, 2009 (edited) Just a question for the guys in Australia - I received a package today from 3Das but to my disappointment it only contained 1 of the books (I ordered 2). If you ordered multiple books at the same time did they come in the same package for you (as I assume it would) or did they come one after the other? Anyway, I just emailed 3Dats about it hopefully it hasn't been lost along the way. Ruds, I ordered mine at the same time and they arrived Ok. I'm sure you will get a first class reply from them. Brian Smith just helped me sort my shadow problem. I have to admit it wasn't the book that was the problem it was me not seeing what was starring me in the face. After Brian and Bev sorted me I will have to upgrade my score on the books from 99 out of a 100 too 100. These books I'm sure help get a lot of people going in this art. I'm looking forward to get the new one. By the way the dialog box I refer to in the early post must have been in another tut I had done on the subject, as Brian doesn't show on in the the book. Just refers to it in the text. Edited June 12, 2009 by Greg Law Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ruds Posted June 12, 2009 Author Share Posted June 12, 2009 Wow, just got a speed reply from Brian. I didn't notice some important information (the books will arrive separately) that was shown when I bought the books so I can breathe easy now. Also another question to the Australians on the boards - do you guys work in Architectural Visualisation or is more of a hobby? If you do work in ArchViz did you do any sort of professional training (ie like a uni course/tafe course etc). I am approaching 3DS max more as a hobby that maybe has some potential for work in the not too distant future within Sydney. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WAcky Posted June 12, 2009 Share Posted June 12, 2009 No training here and I dont even know if there is any available apart from the stuff vismasters do... I learned from reading...and a helluva lot of it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ricardo Eloy Posted June 12, 2009 Share Posted June 12, 2009 If I import anything in Brazil I have to pay 50% MORE in taxes. I know where I want to move now. C'mon! It's not like that. You can import books without paying taxes (unless, of course, you buy like 100 copies). And the import tax is 50% of what passes US$ 50,00. For example, if you buy a videogame for 60 bucks, you pay a US$ 5.00 fee. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danteprojetos Posted June 12, 2009 Share Posted June 12, 2009 (edited) C'mon! It's not like that. You can import books without paying taxes (unless, of course, you buy like 100 copies). And the import tax is 50% of what passes US$ 50,00. For example, if you buy a videogame for 60 bucks, you pay a US$ 5.00 fee. Oh, I wasn't aware that books are tax isent. I'll be ordering mine next month then Edited June 12, 2009 by danteprojetos Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg Law Posted June 12, 2009 Share Posted June 12, 2009 I am using it as part of my work. Doing images of structures etc. It is a great tool for that type of thing. As a landscape Architect I plan to expand it's use as I get more time with it. Hence the importance of getting the 2d tree thing right. I sure it helped get a large project pass a client just the other week. The sketch artist was late getting the hand drawn image to us. So the package relied on my 3d images to tell the story and the project was accepted with very little change, which is unusual for China clients. This is the power of this Art. As for training I'm learn from books etc these days. But you should find courses at Taft colleges and I think Karelcad might do some. If I was younger I would go down that road. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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