Materials Map

[Tim Nelson]

In another thread I started a while ago, Ernest Burden mentioned the following....

 

"The single most important thing I do is a materials map. In Lightscape I have to do some tricks to get it, but it can be done. In MAX, or C4D, or other modern renderers its usually a checkbox. With a materials map as a layer in Photoshop, you can select ANY material to adjust. That way you can play with light/dark, transparency, etc"

 

If I could manage to figure that out, I could rule the world! I think the quality & speed of my renderings would improve so much from this. But I really have no idea how to make that happen. Could somebody please enlighten me? I'm using Viz 2005 and Vray.

[Iain Denby]

Tim

 

As far as I know, Viz or Max doesn't do this. But you can get plug-ins that do, such as PSD Manager.

[Tim Nelson]

Tim

 

As far as I know, Viz or Max doesn't do this. But you can get plug-ins that do, such as PSD Manager.

 

I've seen that before, but for some reason I never looked into it. Do you use it?

 

Or does anybody else use it, and how do you like it? Easy to use?

[Iain Denby]

Tim

 

It is very good. However, I have problems with Viz crashing when I use it. But to be fair, I think I'm the only one who does!

[Tim Nelson]

I think I might have to buy that. A $150 investment could save me a lot of work.

[Poco]

Hi timmatron,

 

There is something called "color correct" that I think does some of the things you mentioned and its a free plugin. Maybe you could check it out before buying psd manager. Anyway, here is the link http://www.cuneytozdas.com/software/3dsmax/

[Tim Nelson]

Hi timmatron,

 

There is something called "color correct" that I think does some of the things you mentioned and its a free plugin. Maybe you could check it out before buying psd manager. Anyway, here is the link http://www.cuneytozdas.com/software/3dsmax/

 

That looks cool too, but it seems like that plugin makes you do the adjustments in Max, when I would rather be able to do it in Photoshop.

[William Alexander]

With a materials map as a layer in Photoshop, you can select ANY material to adjust. That way you can play with light/dark, transparency, ect.

Tim,

 

I think it was an anology to a material's controls (diffuse, opacity reflection......) in programs such as max working basically just like photoshop and it's layers. One button (check) and a map is inserted into the material. That compared to lightscape, the map had to be created with the effect in PS. For example a mottled specular had to be build into the material map.

 

Max6 has an adobe PSD reader for a bitmap, as does Viz4. Max6 updates during a session, don't remember if viz does without relaoding. Is this what your looking for or did I install the same plugin on 3 computers and the one with viz4? It Could be:eek: ?

 

 

 

Cheers

WDA

[vizwhiz]

hey Tim

 

here is a link that might be interesting

 

http://www.drapefx.com/

 

There is a free Trial download version too

 

here is an arch exterior link page

 

http://www.forumdesk.drapefx.com/viewtopic.php?t=9

 

and an Interior kitchen example

 

http://www.forumdesk.drapefx.com/viewtopic.php?t=14

 

and another Interior view page

 

http://www.forumdesk.drapefx.com/viewtopic.php?t=10

 

LS Interior bar scene

 

http://www.forumdesk.drapefx.com/viewtopic.php?t=16

 

**

 

look good to me

 

Thanks

 

Randy

[bigcahunak]

Tim

As far as I remember, what EBIII meant was that he renders a solid color pass of his view, without any GI in it, so it would be easy to create selection sets in PS for later editing on the final rendered image.

As far as I know VRAY doesnt support all that G-buffer fancy stuff that PSD manager has to offer.

what does support VRAY, and I already posted a link to it for dibbers lately, is "AF export channel" plugin from http://www.af-video.com

Its $35 and exports PSD with the layers you need to tweak.

Good luck.

[Tim Nelson]

Tim

As far as I remember, what EBIII meant was that he renders a solid color pass of his view, without any GI in it, so it would be easy to create selection sets in PS for later editing on the final rendered image.

As far as I know VRAY doesnt support all that G-buffer fancy stuff that PSD manager has to offer.

what does support VRAY, and I already posted a link to it for dibbers lately, is "AF export channel" plugin from http://www.af-video.com

Its $35 and exports PSD with the layers you need to tweak.

Good luck.

 

Thanks for the tip on the AF Export plug-in. The demo. shows real promise, so I can probably shell out 35 bucks for something that will hopefully improve my work.

[Tim Nelson]

Ok, long story short...I ended up purchasing both PSD Manager and AF Export Channels. I haven't gotten the license for AF yet, but I have used psd manager for my first rendering job, and I can't believe how awesome it is to be able to control each layer individually in photoshop. It even works with Vray! Its so nice to to have to get all the materials just right in the 3d app....render, adjust, re-render, adjust, bla bla bla.

 

SO, thanks everyone for the tips. And thanks to EBIII for getting my brain working. A little research is definitely worth the time.

[Ernest Burden III]

thanks to EBIII for getting my brain working.

 

Da nada.

 

I'm sorry I missed this thread all week. I would have posted an example of what I'm talking about, though you seem to have 'gotten it'.

 

Right! You do NOT have to make every material and light perfect in the renderer, you can live by the lazy film-makers mantra "fix it in post". Speaking of film-making, it still is best to get everything just right for doing animation, so you can use the output as-is.

[Tim Nelson]

Speaking of film-making, it still is best to get everything just right for doing animation, so you can use the output as-is.

 

Thats the only thing that bothers me about how dependant I am on Photoshop for my renderings. Someday somebody will want an animation with just the same quality they see in my renderings, and I will have to find actual suitable 3d landscape & get all my materials, colors, etc. just perfect. Would be a ton of work.

 

Thats probably the reason Dibbers doesn't do animations either. They are a totally different animal. But Ernest, you seem to be doing pretty well with them though. I really like your interiors and camera work.

[Iain Denby]

Thats the only thing that bothers me about how dependant I am on Photoshop for my renderings. Someday somebody will want an animation with just the same quality they see in my renderings, and I will have to find actual suitable 3d landscape & get all my materials, colors, etc. just perfect. Would be a ton of work.

 

Thats probably the reason Dibbers doesn't do animations either. They are a totally different animal. But Ernest, you seem to be doing pretty well with them though. I really like your interiors and camera work.

 

I wouldn't worry about it. In fact, I think that the Photoshop work is the key to producing distinctive work. Too many visual around (although excellent) look the same because they have not progressed from the 'out of the box' results.

 

Your right about why I don't do animations, they just don't excite me because for me, they lack the detail, life, interest and polish that you can achieve with still images. They should be seen as 2 completely different animals.