Beginner question

[charette]

I started using 3DSM6 recently last semester in my architecture class. We had teach our selves the program, and didn't have much time to spend on it. I am looking for a very basic book or free tutorial. I checked out the tutorials on this site, and some are a little over my head. Also, what is a good 3rd party renderer to use? I have had some problems when trying to render an outdoor scene. Should I use the Daylight or Sunlight system, with omni lights?

 

thanks

[William Alexander]

There are others, do a search here on CGA

 

'Mastering 3DstudioViz3' OMURA good archy techniques

 

'Inside 3D Studio Viz 3' HUBBLE & BOARDMAN

 

These are old versions, should be available is some form, however they're imho probably some of the best for starting out. Much of 3dviz3 is from the core of Max and has not changed much.

 

Ted Boardmans current Max book, can't remember where I put it or the exact title, is good also but maybe a little to general and there is quite a bit of moderate to advanced stuff like particles & so on.

 

Check Out Amazon.com

 

Forgive my lack of University geography, where is Fayetteville?

 

Cheers

WDA

[rivoli]

a very good renderer (apart from the scanline) is already part of max, that is, mental ray. you might want to check a couple of links to pick up some basic (as well as not that basic) knowledge:

 

http://www.cgtalk.com/showthread.php?t=104578

 

this thread is supposed to be about shaders, but you can find useful informations about other stuff such as GI, sub surface scattering and lighting tecniques.

 

other very good stuff can be found directly on CGA, here:

 

http://www.cgarchitect.com/vb/showthread.php?t=4707&page=1&pp=10

 

here:

 

http://www.cgarchitect.com/vb/showthread.php?t=6211

 

and here:

 

http://www.cgarchitect.com/vb/showthread.php?t=6230

 

other third party renderers such as vray and brazil have both demo (vray demo, brazil rio) and free versions (vray free) that can be downloaded here:

 

http://www.splutterfish.com/sf/sf_gen_page.php3?printer=1&page=plugins

 

and here:

 

http://www.vrayrender.com/download/

 

i'd suggest you to download them both and give them a try yourself.

hope it helps.

[ishpalsingh]

the books wich wda told u r a nice way to start on max

and also people use vray for architectural renderings than vray

[Ricardo Eloy]

Anything written by Ted Boardman will do.