Modeling Books and Populating Books Shelves in 3ds Max

One of the most common things that you will get to make in the visualization business is modeling books. Modeling books can be quite useful when you want to give your scene some detailing and general depth.

In most cases the modeling of books is helpful when you need one or a few books to place around. You can also use those same 3D books to populate a big book shelf or a full on library. For something like this you generally need to have a 3D model ready. It can be something that you made in the past or maybe even bought or downloaded from a 3D store. Even if you don’t have a model like this it’s not a big problem as you can model one for yourself. Well in today’s post we will cover just that. In the two videos below you can see the whole process.

Detailed Explanation

In the first video we will start from scratch and create our book. We will create the base in low poly which will allow us to make quick tweaks to the shape and size of our book. As an added bonus the unwrapping of the texture will be much simpler and easier to do. After the book modeling portion is done, we will find a suitable texture for the front page and see how we can quickly switch it with another texture. That will help us make different types of books. After all that is done we will go over how to create the custom texture for the pages in Photoshop. And in the end we will put it all together to form up our finished book model. So go and check the video below.

In the second video we will continue from where we left off in the end of the first video. We will take the 3D book model and will copy it around a few times. After making the copies we will download the Book Scatter script from Moure Lask’s website. Now that you have the script you will be able to follow along with the video. We will see how to make our models populate a custom size shelf, and how to randomize it. In this second video we will go over all the details of how the script works, and will focus on each of the options individually. So go and check out the video for yourself.

After watching these videos you should now have a better understanding on how to create books, as well as book shelves. I really hope you guys had some fun going through the videos, and more importantly you learned something new.  If that was the case then leave a comment, like and share so more people can see this post. That’s all for today so i’ll see you all in the next post.

Detailed Intro to Working with Forest Pack Pro

Today’s post is a bit of a hybrid post, and what i mean by this is that when i was actually thinking about making a post about Forest Pack Pro i thought it would cover the basic options in a 20-30 min video and be done with it, instead we ended up with what you see here today. In the videos below you will be able to learn what is Forest Pack Pro and how it works. Now i am one of those people who thinks that when you are learning something it’s always good to have a certain model, or a project that you are trying to achieve and learn that way. Well today we will cover most of the options that Forest Pack Pro has in it’s arsenal, and at the same time we will do a couple of different end results. One of the things that specially makes me happy about these videos is the fact that i will cover a topic that has been asked from me multiple times, and that is the topic of creating grass and grass fields. So lets get down and start breaking down the four videos that you will be able to see here.

The first video in the string is more or less a very easy to follow basics of Forest Pack Pro. You will learn how to add a new Forest Pack node, then you will see how to change the display properties followed by how to add custom geometry. After this you will see how to control the density and spread of geometry on your surface. All in all this is the bare basics you need to understand before you start working with Forest Pack Pro. So go ahead and check out the first video.

In the second video we will see how we can use Forest pack Pro to create a modernistic Nail Art picture. To get this right we will kick it up a notch and go in a bit deeper into controlling the transforms of the geometry with the help of a bitmap. This is also where you will learn how to constrain the effect to certain plains and axies. All in all it should be an interesting video and even though it is a second part to the video series it won’t feel like it as it is a stand alone video. So again go and check it out.

When we get to the third part this is basically where we go in deeper with explaining even more features and at the same time we tackle the grass topic. Now for this video when i started it didn’t go as planned as i started modeling grass manually which was a huge time hog, so i scrapped the initial idea and went with a much faster and procedural way of making grass by using a free script called Debris Maker 2 so feel free to click the link and get it for yourselves. So if you have this plugin then you should have no problems with following along with the video, and creating a grass field of your own with ease. So go check it out and come back for the last video.

And in the last video for this post we will cover a topic very similar to the grass creating tutorial but with a twist, we will be using built in presets. Forest Pack Pro comes with a number of different presets that should be helpful to pretty much anyone working in the Visualization business. Other then that you will also learn how to constrain the effects of the scattering through the use of splines, and then at the same time use those same lines as base for scattering new geometry which will leave you with a very flexible end result. But enough with the explanation go ahead and check it out for yourself.

So with that done we come to a conclusion of our post for today. These were one of the more intense videos to record for me as i did get a number of crashes and the rendering times were a drag, but in the end i am actually happy with what it ended up looking like. So the only thing that i can hope for now is that you guys enjoy watching these videos you have some fun while watching them and most importantly of all you learn something new that can help you in your projects. So like always if you enjoyed the videos then hit the like button and subscribe if you haven’t already and i will see you all in the next post.

Creating floor geometry with Floor Generator

When ever you get to work on a interior scene the inevitable fact is that you will need to either use a texture for the floor, or take the road less traveled and drop in geometry for the floor planks provided it is a wooden floor. In this tutorial we are going to take a look at how to deal with one of the most used features when ever you are modeling interiors, namely we are going to tackle the flooring.

A disclaimer though before we start, like i said previously you might want to think about whether you want to use a texture or geometry based on the needs of your scene. If you have a few renders from a distance it might be a better choice to take the quicker texturing way, but if you need a closeup or want to have a bit of a worn down parquet or aged wood flooring then geometry might be the right choice.

Alright if you are still reading i guess you want to see how it’s done, so get strapped and go and download the free scripts that you will need for this video:

Link for Floor Generator

While you are there you might want to pick up the two other free scripts as they are really amazing, and need i say again FREE. Ok so no more further delays, here is the video tutorial.

So if you are back and reading this then you might have just actually enjoyed the video, if that is the case then help spread the word and comment, share and subscribe to the YouTube channel. And also if there is interest i will do a a tutorial on how to get similar results by using textures while trying to preserve the details we get from the geometry way of doing it.

So until next time stay safe, and keep on learning!

  • 2015 © Copyright DKCGI | All rights reserved.