3ds Max: OFFICIAL TIPS FOR MAX - Part V
Posted: March 22, 2007
Post subject: 3ds Max: OFFICIAL TIPS FOR MAX - Part V
Post subject: 3ds Max: OFFICIAL TIPS FOR MAX - Part V
90. Metallic Objects
--------------------
If the metallic object is the focus of the scene, you can improve realism by using a Blend material to combine metallic shading with a reflection map.
91. Metallic Objects
--------------------
When you preview metallic surfaces, it is useful to turn on a backlight. This displays metal's glancing highlight. Click to turn on Backlight to the right of the sample slots.
92. Materials
-------------
You can adjust the cool material, comparing it with the hot material. If you like the changes you've made, you can update the scene.
93. Limited Material Slots (Advanced)
------------------------------------
If you think that 3D Studio MAX has a limited material slots, you are wrong. If you want to add more than 24 materials to your scene, Use Multi/Sub-Object material. Use them as a storage. Drag and Drop the material you want, to the surface you like. But this method is also limited. 24 * 1000 = 24000 materials. I don't know any one who can exceed this number in a scene.
94. Custom Sample Object
------------------------
Viewports have a different aspect ratio than sample slots, so using Zoom Extents on the sample object usually results in the object appearing smaller in a sample slot. Do Zoom Extents on the object, and then before you save the file, zoom in a little farther so the object more than fills the viewport. The sample slot projection is based on the width of the sample object's geometry, not on the image in the viewport.
95. Video Color Check
---------------------
Use this option as a guide only. The colors in a rendered scene depend not only on the material color but also on the intensity and color of the lighting. A material that shows as safe in the sample slot might become illegal if rendered under several bright lights. A safe practice for video is to use colors whose saturation is less than 80 to 85 percent.
96. Copy/Instance/Swap
----------------------
Usually when you use the same map for multiple parameters, such as both self-illumination and opacity, it is easier to work with an instance rather than a copy.
97. Color Components
--------------------
When we describe an object's color in conversation, usually we mean its diffuse color. The choice of an ambient color depends on the kind of lighting. For moderate indoor lighting, it can be a darker shade of the diffuse color, but for bright indoor lighting and for daylight, it should be the complement of the primary (key) light source. The specular color should be either the same color as the key light source, or a high-value, low-saturation version of the diffuse color.
98. Shader Parameters
---------------------
For a wireframe material, turn on the 2-Sided option as well.
99. Falloff
-----------
In: Increases transparency towards the inside of the object, as in a glass bottle.
Out: Increases transparency towards the outside of the object, as in a cloud of smoke.
100. Self-Illumination
----------------------
To make a material both self-illuminating and transparent, use the Additive transparency type in combination with self-illumination.
101. Metal Shading
------------------
When you create a metal material, make sure the backlight is on in the sample slot.
102. Multi-Layer (Advanced)
---------------------------
You can create special effects by using Multi-Layer Shading Type for you material and then setting the opacity to 0.
103. Filter Color
-----------------
You can combine a mapped filter color with volumetric lighting to create effects such as colored light through a stained-glass window. Ray-traced shadows cast by transparent objects are tinted by the filter color.
104. Orientation Mapping
------------------------
You can also get a good effect using the same map for orientation mapping and bump mapping.
105. Anisotropic
----------------
Using an instance of the same map to control both anisotropy and orientation can give you good control over anisotropic highlights.
106. Bump Mapping
-----------------
If you render a bump-mapped material and notice aliasing in the highlights, try turning on supersampling and rendering again.
107. Bump Mapping
-----------------
To avoid aliasing caused by a 2D bump map, go to the bump map's Coordinates rollout. Set Blur to be in the range 0.3 to 0.6, and increase Blur Offset to be greater than 0.0. The default Blur and Blur Offset values work well for mapping other material components, but for bump mapping, lower Blur and higher Blur Offset values give better results.
108. Reflections
----------------
Reflection maps look more realistic if you increase the Glossiness and Specular Level values in the Basic Parameters. They are also affected by the diffuse and ambient color values. The darker the color, the stronger the mirror effect.
109. Reflections
----------------
For many kinds of surfaces, however, reducing the strength gives the most realistic result. A polished table top, for example, primarily shows a wood grain; the reflections are secondary.
110. Refractions
----------------
The Reflect/Refract map type used as a Refraction map doesn't effectively model a material surrounding an object, such as a pencil in a glass of water. For this effect, use either the Thin Wall Refraction or the Raytrace map type.
111. Displacement
-----------------
Under certain circumstances, such as when the underlying mesh is fairly simple, displacement mapping of an editable mesh can cause problems because of the way the underlying mesh is tessellated. (These problems don't occur when you apply displacement mapping to a NURBS surface.) When this happens, smoothing does not work properly and you can see the underlying wireframe mesh in the surface itself. To correct this problem, use these techniques:
Avoid applying displacement mapping to large areas of a single color. Map the diffuse color and use a small amount of variation, such as slight amount of noise, in the map you use for the diffuse color.
Add a small amount of noise to the map you use for displacement. This can complicate the tessellation enough to ease the problem.
Add detail to the mesh. The more initial faces, and the smoother the mesh curvature, the more even the displacement mapping will be.
112. Raytrace
-------------
If you turn off raytraced reflections, set the Reflect color to a color other than black, and use a Reflect/Refract map for the local environment (see the Environment parameter, below), you get the same effect as a reflection map in a standard material. This can improve rendering time.
113. Raytrace
-------------
A fully saturated color in both the diffuse and transparency components gives the effect of tinted glass. If you want more of an opaque look, pick the color you want as a transparent color, copy it to the diffuse color, make the diffuse color fully saturated, and then adjust the transparency to get the effect you want.
--------------------
If the metallic object is the focus of the scene, you can improve realism by using a Blend material to combine metallic shading with a reflection map.
91. Metallic Objects
--------------------
When you preview metallic surfaces, it is useful to turn on a backlight. This displays metal's glancing highlight. Click to turn on Backlight to the right of the sample slots.
92. Materials
-------------
You can adjust the cool material, comparing it with the hot material. If you like the changes you've made, you can update the scene.
93. Limited Material Slots (Advanced)
------------------------------------
If you think that 3D Studio MAX has a limited material slots, you are wrong. If you want to add more than 24 materials to your scene, Use Multi/Sub-Object material. Use them as a storage. Drag and Drop the material you want, to the surface you like. But this method is also limited. 24 * 1000 = 24000 materials. I don't know any one who can exceed this number in a scene.
94. Custom Sample Object
------------------------
Viewports have a different aspect ratio than sample slots, so using Zoom Extents on the sample object usually results in the object appearing smaller in a sample slot. Do Zoom Extents on the object, and then before you save the file, zoom in a little farther so the object more than fills the viewport. The sample slot projection is based on the width of the sample object's geometry, not on the image in the viewport.
95. Video Color Check
---------------------
Use this option as a guide only. The colors in a rendered scene depend not only on the material color but also on the intensity and color of the lighting. A material that shows as safe in the sample slot might become illegal if rendered under several bright lights. A safe practice for video is to use colors whose saturation is less than 80 to 85 percent.
96. Copy/Instance/Swap
----------------------
Usually when you use the same map for multiple parameters, such as both self-illumination and opacity, it is easier to work with an instance rather than a copy.
97. Color Components
--------------------
When we describe an object's color in conversation, usually we mean its diffuse color. The choice of an ambient color depends on the kind of lighting. For moderate indoor lighting, it can be a darker shade of the diffuse color, but for bright indoor lighting and for daylight, it should be the complement of the primary (key) light source. The specular color should be either the same color as the key light source, or a high-value, low-saturation version of the diffuse color.
98. Shader Parameters
---------------------
For a wireframe material, turn on the 2-Sided option as well.
99. Falloff
-----------
In: Increases transparency towards the inside of the object, as in a glass bottle.
Out: Increases transparency towards the outside of the object, as in a cloud of smoke.
100. Self-Illumination
----------------------
To make a material both self-illuminating and transparent, use the Additive transparency type in combination with self-illumination.
101. Metal Shading
------------------
When you create a metal material, make sure the backlight is on in the sample slot.
102. Multi-Layer (Advanced)
---------------------------
You can create special effects by using Multi-Layer Shading Type for you material and then setting the opacity to 0.
103. Filter Color
-----------------
You can combine a mapped filter color with volumetric lighting to create effects such as colored light through a stained-glass window. Ray-traced shadows cast by transparent objects are tinted by the filter color.
104. Orientation Mapping
------------------------
You can also get a good effect using the same map for orientation mapping and bump mapping.
105. Anisotropic
----------------
Using an instance of the same map to control both anisotropy and orientation can give you good control over anisotropic highlights.
106. Bump Mapping
-----------------
If you render a bump-mapped material and notice aliasing in the highlights, try turning on supersampling and rendering again.
107. Bump Mapping
-----------------
To avoid aliasing caused by a 2D bump map, go to the bump map's Coordinates rollout. Set Blur to be in the range 0.3 to 0.6, and increase Blur Offset to be greater than 0.0. The default Blur and Blur Offset values work well for mapping other material components, but for bump mapping, lower Blur and higher Blur Offset values give better results.
108. Reflections
----------------
Reflection maps look more realistic if you increase the Glossiness and Specular Level values in the Basic Parameters. They are also affected by the diffuse and ambient color values. The darker the color, the stronger the mirror effect.
109. Reflections
----------------
For many kinds of surfaces, however, reducing the strength gives the most realistic result. A polished table top, for example, primarily shows a wood grain; the reflections are secondary.
110. Refractions
----------------
The Reflect/Refract map type used as a Refraction map doesn't effectively model a material surrounding an object, such as a pencil in a glass of water. For this effect, use either the Thin Wall Refraction or the Raytrace map type.
111. Displacement
-----------------
Under certain circumstances, such as when the underlying mesh is fairly simple, displacement mapping of an editable mesh can cause problems because of the way the underlying mesh is tessellated. (These problems don't occur when you apply displacement mapping to a NURBS surface.) When this happens, smoothing does not work properly and you can see the underlying wireframe mesh in the surface itself. To correct this problem, use these techniques:
Avoid applying displacement mapping to large areas of a single color. Map the diffuse color and use a small amount of variation, such as slight amount of noise, in the map you use for the diffuse color.
Add a small amount of noise to the map you use for displacement. This can complicate the tessellation enough to ease the problem.
Add detail to the mesh. The more initial faces, and the smoother the mesh curvature, the more even the displacement mapping will be.
112. Raytrace
-------------
If you turn off raytraced reflections, set the Reflect color to a color other than black, and use a Reflect/Refract map for the local environment (see the Environment parameter, below), you get the same effect as a reflection map in a standard material. This can improve rendering time.
113. Raytrace
-------------
A fully saturated color in both the diffuse and transparency components gives the effect of tinted glass. If you want more of an opaque look, pick the color you want as a transparent color, copy it to the diffuse color, make the diffuse color fully saturated, and then adjust the transparency to get the effect you want.