The Area

Remap Vertex Colors

2013-05-22T12:06:41+02:00

I have an object with Vertex Colors that I would like to ramp to other colors (like map grey be green, white be yellow, and black be blue, etc.) and then apply as a Diffuse input. If I use a Gradient Ramp I need some kind of mapping coords, which makes the colors no longer be applied they way they were to the vertices. Is there some way to read vertex colors, alter them, and then use the info at each vertex as the info in a Diffuse or other channel? My model does not have conventional map coords (And they would not help with my goal). So... I can read in a Vertex Color map, and apply that to Diffuse and it works fine. But I want to remap the vertex colors to other colors (and do so differently for different inputs). My vertex colors are coming from a Magma modifier (part of Krakatoa). I suppose I could just use different mapping channels to make the different sets of colors use the different maps as vertex color maps into Diffuse, Refract, etc. That should work... But is there a way to use a gradient ramp somehow? That would give me more control. Thanks.

MR Ambient Occlusion tip...

2013-05-21T01:32:08+02:00

I found this link a few days ago: http://www.3dtotal.com/tutorial/3d_studio_max/fast_ambient_occlusion_mapping/fast_ambient_occlusion_mapping_01.php Using Mental Ray rendering a lot recently, over iRay, I never really noticed how lacking in realism my renderings had become until I added an Ambient Occlusion layer in post production with photoshop. It's not an exact process but it does give some nice results with a bit of tweaking. And it's a lot faster than going back over your material slate and tweaking there... especially if you have a habit of using a mix of Standard and MR/ArchDesign shaders. Just remember to turn off any glazing layers before doing the AO pass. Also remember that this is a bit of a hack-job and not physically correct by any means, more info here: http://mentalraytips.blogspot.com/2008/11/joy-of-little-ambience.html I also found a script for quick AO passes: http://www.scriptspot.com/3ds-max/scripts/quick-passes

Hi res scan to low res object

2013-05-20T07:38:40+02:00

I have an issue that has me stumped... I have a high res scan of a head in .PLY (it includes color mapping) and I need to transfer the color down to a lower res .OBJ mesh. I assumed to use the project modifier but it seems to be unhappy with something :( Can anyone point me to a tutorial??

creating water effect without vray ?

2013-05-20T07:26:28+02:00

Hi everyone, along 3ds Max reference which I am reading, seems they didn't talk about water effect. I wonder there's any way to create water effect without vray (lake, waterfall ...)? my laptop configuration's weakness (1GB ram) and I use 3ds Max 9 :D

Is there anyone can help me to make the OBJ output with texture and animation?

2013-05-19T07:35:13+02:00

Is there anyone can help me to make the OBJ output with texture and animation? http://i.imgur.com/s1pjtmE.jpg Only need with maps & animation combine in obj ! Thanks for help! I Tried very long but do not know the problem that why I can't combine? Request help .... I tried several times, I do not know why they not output mapping together. This is my connection: This is map ... File (* All download link) http://www.mediafire.com/?suzfyupir1f0fau http://dl.vmall.com/c07vsdjkwa http://115.com/lb/5lbqsspu This model .... only with model output FBX file (* All download link) http://www.mediafire.com/?3v0azj35qawizmk http://dl.vmall.com/c0xd86jk7h http://115.com/lb/5lbqsaho MAX file: http://www.mediafire.com/?eu0bb1yvxlip8ty http://dl.vmall.com/c0k8wf2vah http://115.com/lb/5lbqs1xz

bitmap texture assign problem

2013-05-12T02:30:08+02:00

Hi everybody, please help me with bitmap texture. I watched tutorials, read help. I do everything as tutorial maker but I can't see bitmap on box. I use this method: - run material editor - choose default slot material - in section general maps click button associated with diffuse color - in material/map browser select bitmap - set my jpg as bitmap - assign material to box But I dont see bitmap on box. I magnify material slot so I see that bitmap is aplied to material. Maybe some default setting is wrong, I tried change them. Thanks for help.

Final Gather and SSS error.

2013-05-08T05:12:12+02:00

I'm using SSS Fast Skin-shader on a human figure. When rendering without FG, it works fine, but as soon as I turn on FG, it generates a long list of the same error-message: PHEN 0.7 *** MB error: Internal error: misss_call_shader: Unexpected state->type case. As I understand it, this is generated by a material that has an opacity lower than 100%. To avoid this I made sure the materials (cornea, tear etc.) were set to 100% and plugged in an opacity-map to generate the see-through effect that is necessary for such renders (like eyes, tears and so on). Nontheless, this seems to generate this error and prolonged rendertimes, if it begins rendering at all! I ticked off "Flag as opaque" for optimizing this, but it doesn't work either. Ok, it took some time as I was typing this post (and browsing google), but it began to render. <*sigh*> And after the finishing the FG-process, and the rendering began, the render-process gave a greenish overlay... I've attached two pictures; one with the ghoulish green overlay, and the other using Final Gather using standard textures (diffuse, spec and bump-maps). The one with SSS I used two additional maps (middle [orange] and deep layer [red] to simulated what lies beneath the skin).

SSS fast skin + Displacement Map problem!

2013-04-29T03:08:00+02:00

Hello all, Ok I have been making an Alien and have used the "SSS fast skin + Displacement Map" for the skin. It all looks ok until I render and the texture moves as the biped moves. It is almost like the texture has been projected on as opposed to UV Mapped. I have set up what I think is in a correct way. UVW's are above the poly on the stack and then skin modifier. I have searched the web for a fix to this but can not seem to track anything down. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Attached is a video of the problem. Chris

Civil View High Contrast Pavement Marking

2013-04-26T19:57:40+02:00

Hi everybody, I am trying to figure out how to create a material that will add the black contrast edges to Civil View pavement marking objects. The default material civil view creates is a multi/sub-object with the various types of pavement marking as MR A&D materials. I would rather keep the civil view object intact instead of collapsing to a poly. It seems like i should be able to add a gradient to the edges or something but I am not sure how I would do that. Any help is appreciated! thanks

Help on transparency and edges

2013-04-25T17:37:57+02:00

Hi there. I'm trying to create an animation using simple cubes. What I'm trying to figure out is to have the cube's edges colored with a glow but have the faces themselves be fully transparent. If anyone can explain to me how to do this that'd be wonderful!