About this blog

This is a combination of resources from everywhere online to help new artists to learn more easily from one place online. Some are written by us and is geared to speed up the learning curve usually associated with 3ds max and vray.

You have just downloaded a version of 3ds max, what next? This blog will get you started with 3ds max and this should take you to the next level. Feel free to ask us just about anything about the use of these two products as we go along and if you have any requests we will try to explain with a video if necessary. Write to use at mtifordshawn@gmail.com
website: mitford.wix.com/mitford

vray

Welcome! by reading this page i see you have made it this far and you are now ready to start RENDERING. First lets talk abit more about rendering. As we stated in our 3DS MAX posts rendering the process by which we send out images from 3DS max. 3DS 2013 come with its own build in renderers, namely: the scanline renderer, Mental Ray renderer and Iray renderer all of which are powerful renderers but i never took the time to learn these renderers because there is another render called Vray which i much more prefer and it has more tutorials from which you can learn. Vray is used in many commercials and movies an is fast becomming an industry standard. Vray is refered to as a plugin and so it is a software that needs to be installed and it attaches itself to 3DS max to basically function inside 3DS max. Vray is made for many different modelling softwares so when you want to test it go to the makers website CHAOSGROUP and sign up and download the version of vray relevant to 3ds max 2013 which is vray 2.40.02 Here is a video i put together to show you how you activate Vray after installation inside 3DS max and how to use it so to speak. Enjoy!

Economising on geometry for things such as game or even for simple architectural renderings in 3ds max

When designing for games or you just want to have a huge scene that looks very detailed without increasing the amount of polygons you can simply use the technique of texture baking. This process involves making a geometry with a very low amount of polygons then copying that geometry make it more detailed by adding in extra geometry and details in the geometry like holes etc. The render to texture dialogue in 3ds max allows you to do this by baking in details from the high poly object to the low poly object via maps such as the normal maps and lightmap which you will save out and then plug these maps back into the appropriate material map slots and apply it to the low poly geometry. It is a very simple process but puts you ahead of the game, check out this video which shows you the overall process.

Modeling techniques used in 3ds max

There are many ways to model in 3ds max but you have to start with a particular technique. There are a few ways to start in 3ds max. Here are links to videos on each one. each technique is good for certain purposes and enables you to model with more speed and comfort and also the knowledge of what to next. A big issue i find with people is that they get stuck on on little issues as where to start. Well if you know the techniques you ultimately eliminate that question. As a beginner learn these techniques and you will be ahead in the game, here is also a link to great tutorials (Digital tutors)
Digital tutors have the best self paced tutorials and they come highly and most recommended by me and you can watch them all for free by joining, enjoy!

Box modelling
Polygonal modelling
Spline modeling

GrowFX 1.9.3 Beta for making plants in 3ds max!

Growfx beta version is now available, it is a great plugin and many artists have taken advantage of it over the years. There are also a few others with similar strengths but ultimately when it comes to CG its more of what the artist knows to do than how the software operates. Here is a link to other plant creation softwares that I have personally used over the years aswell.
vterrain
ATree3D
speedtree
onyxtree
xfrog
laubwerk
Here is also the link to the GrowFx beta here

Viewing Tile able Textures in Photoshop

Ever wondered how to view textures you have just made a tile able texture in Photoshop? here is how you do it taken from "3D Game Textures, Second Edition" just follow the instructions.

Testing a Tiling Texture In Photoshop

After you have rebuilt and repaired the texture to your liking, you
can test the tiling of the texture. This is easy to do using the Define
Pattern option in Photoshop. Note that there is a difference between
defining a pattern and the Pattern Maker. We are defining a pattern
to later fill in an area; this does not alter the image. Pattern Maker
attempts to create a tiling pattern using a selection. Pattern Maker
gives me mixed results, sometimes good and sometimes bad. Even
the good results will require some touchup.
1. In order to get the best result, you may want to first look at
your image size. If you are working on a large image (and you
should be), you might want to create a copy of the image and
reduce it to 256×256 so you can tile it across a larger canvas
without creating a super huge image.
2. Select your entire image (Ctrl+A). You can select an unflattened
Photoshop file, and this method will create a pattern using all
layers that are visible.
3. Go to Edit > Define Pattern. These steps are illustrated in
Figure 4-38.
4. The Pattern Name dialog box will appear and you will see a
small thumbnail image of your pattern and have the option to
name it.
5. Select OK. Nothing will seem to happen, but your pattern is now
in the Pattern Preset Library.
6. Create a new image (Ctrl+N) and make it at least four times the
size of your texture. If your image is 256×256, then make the
new image at least 1024×1024.
7. Select the entire surface of the new image (Ctrl+A).
8. Right mouse click inside the selection and choose Fill.
9. When the Fill dialog box comes up, you will be able to choose
what to use to fill the selection with.

3D Game Textures, Second Edition- Create Professional Game Art Using Photoshop[Team Nanban]tmrg

RailClone2 is here!

This is a plugin which  we here at MITVIZ have had a love for ever since it came out, simply because it has the ability to do so much in so little time with just a little knowledge RailClone is a 3DS Max plugin for parametric modeling based on custom geometry parts, definable by the user, and a set of construction rules. This new concept of modeling lets you to build complex and realistic structures for Architectural Visualization, Civil Engineering, Industrial and Interior Design. See the demo here CLICK and here is a coupon link to get it cheaper CLICK. also visit itoosoft to view other products they might have in offer. Read more......