Tips for materials/lighting/renderer in Max?

[k@spar]

Since I'm learning to visualize AutoCAD (Architectural Desktop) designs in 3D studio Max, I'd like to ask other users to share their experience and preferences.

 

Getting the DWG into Max is relatively easy - file linking between ADesk 2005 and Max 7.0 works pretty well. Assigning materials doesn't seem too complicated (simply using Architectural materials) and using 2sided option for funky normals - basically after doing these steps we have a textured model to render.

 

The real headache seems to start when moving on to lighting the scene and rendering it (I'm working on outdoor scenes at the moment). In order to get realistic (transparent) shadows I use radiosity together with logarithmic exposure control and a daylight system (will experiment with simple lights though).

 

Maybe it's too much to ask at once, but are there general guidelines for achieving renderings that look somewhat realistic? Of course a lot can be done in Photoshop afterwards, but it would be nice to start with decent textures, shadows and lighting.

 

1) Choice of renderer: using scanline seems to produce decent results (except the textures looking washed-out, no matter what settings I use with logarithmic exposure), but it's sloooow (forget about animation). Would it be better to learn mental ray or try some 3rd party renderer (it seems that Vray offers best time spent learning/achieved results ratio )?

 

2) Lighting - any tips? Daylight or spotlights? At this point (working with conceptual models) the precision offered by geographically correct lighting is not necessary.

 

3) Materials - what works best with Max's architectural materials? If I use mental or Vray - should I use other materials? Any better options/3rd party libraries?

 

Sorry for being so vague, you know how it is with newbies, I just get overwhelmed with all the options and finding a routine/systematic approach takes some time. I'd appreciate any suggestions and these would probably be interesting for anyone starting to learn Max.

 

Kaspars

[DennisHolland]

Hi Kaspar,

 

Don't bother to ask if you want to speed up the time and steepness of the learningcurve okay?

 

1- renderer? It won't be that hard to find out that most arch-vis designers are using vray. It's userfriendly, great quality, not that expensive and a good supportteam. Just try the different free versions or demo's and see which one is comfortable to work with. But isn't it better to get a grasp on the basic skills in max before thinking about a third party renderer?

 

2- Lightingtechniques are all over the place and yes, it's frustrating to see how much effects can be achieved with all kinds of nifty tricks out here. Maybe a tip for outdoor lighting with the scanliner? Hang a wide directional on a nice angle in your scene (multiplier less than .90 for a start turn on overshoot), covering the whole thing. Bring in a skylight and leave the color default (turn on shadows) go into your renderdialogue (F10) and dive in the advanced lighting tab. Pick lighttracer and activate it. Now do a testrender and examine your render and the lightsettings. Tweakin' time starts and you'll probably must lower your directional multiplier to about .60 depends on your scene and the materials. You'll see that the lower multiplier (less power and so are the shadows) will give you nice soft shadows, (bot full pro but acceptable) caused by the mix of directional/skylight(lighttracer). Interiorlighting is a completely different and longer story....

 

3- Materials It's an even longer story because every material and the settings are different from eachother. There are a lot of nice standard materials in max (explore the archmat folder for a while) and that will bring us back to part one. Just enjoy working with max and keep your eyes open for techniques and suggestions from professionals in the business, stay focussed and be patient. You'll notice an upgrade of skills every time you're in a dilemma and figure things out by yourself or pay close attention to good advice out there.

 

It's not very 'in depth' but more ment to be an overall view on how to work with max as a starter. Hope it helped you getting inspired? Good luck.

 

Dennis

[k@spar]

Don't bother to ask if you want to speed up the time and steepness of the learningcurve okay?

 

Not sure what you mean there, Dennis , but thanks for the lighting tip! I guess the biggest problem comes from me not knowing what to ask, it's like "tell me about God and universe, name 3 examples" - too broad in other words.

 

The only reason I asked about 3rd party renderers is because I thought it could be easier to set up and achieve the desired results with than Max's. Anyway, it's back to the basics again - the pressure of having to come up with something before the deadline expires while realising that I probably don't know where to start... ah, the joys or learning, yes

[Ricardo Eloy]

In addition to what Dennis said, don't be impressed by what you see being done with this or that renderer. Wonders can be done either with VRay, finalRender, Brazil r/s, Maxwell AND max's default scanline. When you know what you're doing. If you're a starter, then worry about starting, not with the newest technology. Remember, when you choose a third party renderer, besides learning max you have to learn how to use the new renderer, which can be very difficult (Mental Ray and Brazil are really complicated) and frustrating.