3ds Max Studio - where to start from?

[wonjunkang]

Hi there,

I'm a second year Architectural Engineering student, and so far I've been using AutoCAD as a drafting program and SketchUp + VRay as a 3D visualization program, which are pretty much a standard in the industry according to what I read so far in the forum.

 

 

However, I'm not quite satisfied with the renderings so far, especially given the amount of time that it took to complete them.

So, as far as I understood, 3ds Max is also one of the most used programs, along with render engines like Corona or FStorm.

 

 

Being a complete newbie to the program, I wanted to ask you where should I start from (because I can't find any decent tutorial: either there are well hidden or I'm just really bad at googling) and which one is "better" between Corona and FStorm.

Thanks!

[James Vella]

Hi there,

I'm a second year Architectural Engineering student, and so far I've been using AutoCAD as a drafting program and SketchUp + VRay as a 3D visualization program, which are pretty much a standard in the industry according to what I read so far in the forum.

 

 

However, I'm not quite satisfied with the renderings so far, especially given the amount of time that it took to complete them.

So, as far as I understood, 3ds Max is also one of the most used programs, along with render engines like Corona or FStorm.

 

 

Being a complete newbie to the program, I wanted to ask you where should I start from (because I can't find any decent tutorial: either there are well hidden or I'm just really bad at googling) and which one is "better" between Corona and FStorm.

Thanks!

 

It takes time/experience to really get some great results with a good toolset that suits your workflow.

 

Corona - CPU renderer

Fstorm - GPU renderer

 

Depends on your hardware setup, both render systems are pretty much plug and play no need to adjust any render settings - its more about being the photographer (as long as your materials and models are top quality - most of which can buy if you dont have much experience such as Siger Materials or Evermotion/CG Trader models etc), I would also look at how they are built, what makes them look they way they do etc.

 

Aside from having lots of premade high quality content at your disposal all this 3D stuff takes time, I would expect a few years after studying to really get your head in the right space, there is lots to know not just from an architectural point of view but also from the perspective of photographers (composition, camera height, lens tricks, lighting) - I learned a lot more from working with photographers for 2 years than I did working with 3D artists. Not say one is better than the other more so the tricks they use in real world photography is just a different perspective as to how you might approach it in 3D, same goes with just general experience and talking with people about methods of workflow - this takes time and testing.

 

Good luck on your journey, I think things are a lot more simple in 3D than they ever were and you have a good head start having your background in Architectural Engineering, as long as you stay inquisitive and enjoy what you do - you will do well