Week 13, December 3rd, 2009 - Compound Objects, Cameras and Materials

To start off, we'll go over another one of the project sample images. We'll then go over three more compound objects: terrain, ShapeMerge and ProBoolean. To finish out this session, we'll go through rendering composition specifically with cameras. We'll talk about how to create and position them as well as how the angle of the camera, and the placement of objects within a shot, can evoke different emotions from the viewer. Finally, we'll go through materials. We'll talk about the material editor and the Mental Ray-specific material types: Arch and Design and ProMaterials. To finish up, we'll go over how to use the UVW Mapping modifier to correctly place materials on the surfaces of objects and have them tile correctly.

Week 12, November 19th, 2009 - How Far Did We Get?

To start off the class, we went through two of the project sample images and how the basic massing of them could be built. During the rest of the class we will initially discussed the concept of modifiers. We went through what I would call shape-changing modifiers. These modifiers, such as bend, bevel and noise, were applied to geometries to alter their shapes based on the settings entered into those modifiers.

Week 10, July 30th, 2009 - Lighting and Advanced Rendering

In our final class, we'll start by talking about how to create realistic lighting using photometric lights. We'll go over their settings which includes templates, shadows, light distribution, intensity/color/attenuation and light shape. After that, we'll create a Daylight System. We'll talk about it's parameters relating to positioning and the Mental Ray Physical Sky environment map. Staying with the same topic, we'll go over how to control the overall distribution levels of the daylight system with Exposure Control. Next, we'll be discussing mr Sky Portals which, when placed outside wall openings (such as windows) draw sunlight to them. To finish out lighting, we'll go over a couple of organizing features including the Light Lister and the Layer Manager which can be used to group all lights in a particular room and help control whether or not they're on in either the viewport or rendering. Finally, we'll go over some advanced rendering techniques using Mental Ray. We'll first talk about the concepts of Mental Ray including Indirect Illumination and Final Gather. We'll go over some of the settings on the Render tab of the Render Setup dialog box which controls the quality of the Mental Ray calculations. We'll go through some of the rendering presets as well as discuss the Global Quality Control Knobs on the Rendered Frame Window. Finally, we'll discuss 3ds Max's Review technology which, when turned on, lets you see some of Mental Ray's effects directly within the viewport. We'll also go through some techniques for increasing rendering efficiency including batch rendering, scene states and using a render farm.

Week 9, July 23rd, 2009 - How Far Did We Get?

During this class, we first took a small step back and went over two more Compound Objects called boolean and ProBoolean. Next, we talked about how to create a material made up of many sub-materials called a multi-sub object material. Following that, we went over the process by which you can tell 3ds Max how you would like a material to tile, or be placed on, the surfaces of objects using the UVW Map modifier. Next, we went over two more maps called bitmap (which is used to attach images to materials) and tiles. We then went over the Mental Ray-specific material-type called Arch. & Design. We discussed many of its features including tool tips, templates, reflections, refractions and transparency,as well as special effects including ambient occlusion and rounded corners. Then, we briefly went over another material type first introduced in 3ds Max version 2009 (as well as Revit Architecture 2008) called ProMaterials. To close out materials, we talked about a new features to release 2010, the Material Explorer.

Week 8, July 16th, 2009 - How Far Did We Get?

During this weeks class, we talked about how to bring multiple files together into a single file by using the Xref Scene command, the Merge command and the new Containers feature of 3ds Max Design 2010. Moving on to Chapter 7, we went over the general concept of object-space modifiers with the bend modifier. Then, we talked about other available modifiers including bevel, cap holes, free form deformation, noise, subdivide, tessellate, TurboSmooth, slice, shell and symmetry. We then finished up the chapter by talking about the Compound objects known as terrain and ShapeMerge. Next, we talked about cameras and their various settings and how to insert a background image into the viewport as well as your renderings. Since time allowed, we began going over the basics of materials. First we went through the Material Editor including its built-in options, pull-down menus, icons and the ability to double-click a material editor slot to see a larger version. Finally, we went over the heirarchy of how materials are put together and some of the map-types that can be applied to channels including car paint, checker, color correction, gradient ramp, mix, noise and smoke.

Week 7, July 9th, 2009 - How Far Did We Get?

During this class, we downloaded a random, sketched, building elevation from the Internet, scaled it up in AutoCAD to determine its real world size, brought it into 3ds Max and apply it, as a material, to a plane. We converted the plane into an editable poly, selected the horizontal and virtical segments and moved them to the edges of the signifigant objects such as walls, doors, windows and roofs. We then used a Poly Select modifier to select the faces containing the parts of the of the image we didn't need and applied a Delete Mesh modifier, thus maintaining our non-destructive modeling process. Next, we used such tools as connect and cut to create more horizontal, vertical and diagonal edges to conform to the objects in the image. Finally, we used a series of poly select modifiers to select the individual polygons of the elevation that would be extruded specific amounts. We then applied to those selections, face modifiers to extrude them.

Week 6, July 2nd, 2009 - How Far Did We Get?

During this class, we talked about the differences between converting a shape to an editable poly and applying to it, an edit poly modifier. We then talked about the tools available in release 2010's Ribbon including selection tools such as ring and loop. Next, we covered the process of Box Modeling a cabinet by using the Ribbon's tools including extrude, outline, bevel, inset and swift loop. With this process we discussed the various sub-objects of editable polys which are vertex, edge, border, polygon and element.

Week 5, June 18th, 2009 - How Far Did We Get?

During this class we continued Chapter 5 by going over how to use shapes created with AutoCAD to create 3D objects in 3ds Max. We drew the cross-section of half of a vase in AutoCAD and used it with the Lathe Modifier (similar to the Revolve command in AutoCAD) to make a 3-dimensional vase in 3ds Max. We then took a section drawn in AutoCAD of a floor, walls and roof and used them with the Compound object creation process known as Lofting to create a curved roof. To further the lofting lesson, we drew several cross-sections in 3ds Max, as well as the lines and arc for a path (which we joined together and then used the Weld command on its vertices), to create a sidewalk with curb cuts. We then went over the Editable Spline (discussing the difference between converting a 2D shape to an editable spline and applying an edit spline modifier) and all of it's properties and settings as well as how to gain access to its sub-objects. We began talking about destructive modeling versus non-destructive modeling when we drew several lines, joined them together, and used the Trim/Extend modifier as opposed to trimming them directly at the Editable Spline level (thus destroying the original lines). We talked about using Selection Sets on sub-objects for easy re-selection later. Finally, to finish out the chapter, we used the Extrude Modifier to give thickness to our imported classroom elevation. Since we had some extra time, we began Chapter 6 - Graphite Modeling Tools, by creating boundaries for our classroom steps in AutoCAD and converted them to a single Editable Poly in 3ds Max. Next, in Polygon sub-object mode, we selected each face individually, held down the Shift key and clicked the Extrude command on the Ribbon to reveal its options. We then went face by face extruding each step.

We finished up Chapter 3, going over the Align tool as well as how to determine distances using the Tape Measure tool. The, I went over a few more basic rendering features like Safe Frames, the Rendered Frame Window and its features, the Render Setup dialog box, the Print Size Wizard and the RAM Player. We also finished Chapter 4, going over how to create objects with the built-in tools of 3ds Max including the Standard, Extended and Architectural objects on the Geometry tab of the Command Panel. Additionally, we went over the Clone, Array and Mirror tools. With extra time before the end of class, we began Chapter 5 and went over the built-in shapes from the Splines and Extended Splines groups. After learning how to use these shapes, we went over the Spacing Tool.