The Beginners Guide To Marvelous Designer

One of the repeating comments that i have received on the YouTube channel has been about Marvelous Designer. Namely people keep dropping the line how they hate MD because it’s hard to work with. Well in my opinion they couldn’t be further away from the truth.

Today’s article has one thing as a goal, and that is to make working with Marvelous Designer simpler. The way that we can achieve that is by actually understand how the tools work. I decided to to split the videos in a few phases and spread the information so it’s easier to digest.

Phase 1

In the first video i go over the basics of creating a pattern. Then we go over how to sow patterns together, how to clone and simulate. We will also see how to solidify models so we can then use them as rigid models. In the end we’ll also see how the freezing affects our model and when to use it.

So having said all of this, if you want to see how it’s done check out the video.

Phase 2

In the second part we basically continue to build on what we learned in the first one. We start off with how to control the length of the patterns that we use. After that we go over how to split the existing lines, and add internal lines. After that we will also check out cloning a layer over existing patterns and how that works. Then we’ll see how the pivot works and how to use it to help us in our work. And then we’ll even go over some of the properties of the Simulation as well as the Fabric.

All in all a nice build up on what we learned in the first video. So go ahead and check out the video below.

Phase 3

In the third part we continue building on our skills by testing out new stuff. Here we will see how the Offsetting for the patterns works. Then we’ll see how the Fold Arrangement tool works, and how to use it to help us get better results. We will briefly go over how the stitching works as well so you have an idea.

So by now you know the drill, you find what you see here interesting and you go watch the video.

Phase 4

In the last video we basically go in more depth to explain how the splitting and merging of patterns works. Here we will see the Pros and Cons of using Internal lines VS using baselines. Then we will move over to seeing how we can plan out shapes into our model. We will briefly touch up on Elastic properties. And then we will also see how to make it so that we can create Chesterfield looking type of models.

So check out the video below here.

Conclusion

So provided that you went over these 4 videos, you should have a good understanding on the basics of how MD works. By doing these 4 simple types of models you will have the experience of testing out the most common options used in MD.

So for now that would be all. As always if you enjoyed the content and want to support what i do, the links are in the description of all the videos. But remember the most important way you can help out is for free and all it requires is you leave a like on the videos and share them around. So until next time, take care everyone.

 

First Look at Vray 5

Where do i get it ?

As the name of the article states we will cover the main features of Vray 5. And the best place to start would be the location where to get it. So if you want to download the Vray 5 Beta version, click on the link below.

Get Vray 5 Beta Version

So what’s this all about ?

Well it’s pretty self explanatory, we will go over the main features of Vray 5. I won’t make this any longer then it has to be, as i know that no one actually likes to read walls of text.

So in short this is what we will cover:

  • New Features of the Material Editor
  • A look at the Presets options for Material creation
  • Overview of the New Coat and Sheen options
  • A closer look of the New material Library browser
  • A look at the new and overhauled Vray Frame Buffer
  • A look at the new way of controlling lights in your render with the Light Mix
  • We will see how to use the new Layered Compositing

So if these bullet points look interesting to you, then you might want to check out the actual video below.

So if you liked the video, don’t forget to leave it a like and also share it around so it can reach more people. So until next time, cheers everyone and keep learning.

Fast and Easy Photorealistic Models With DisplayLand and 3ds Max

One of the main things to have realistic final renders is realistic models. Saying this is easier then actually doing it though. Creating 3d models can be a tedious work, that requires time and expertise. And usually this means that you need to either approach it with traditional modeling, or photogrammetry. Both of these approaches have their Pros and Cons. The traditional modeling is good but you can’t really get everything to be 100% realistic. The photogrammetry approach will get you a 100% true representation but will require a lot of extra gear like cameras and software. Well this is where today’s post comes in as it covers a third option that will try and get the best of the two worlds.

What is this thing you are talking about ?

This is done with a product from the guys over at Ubiquity6. What i’m talking about is an APP for your phone called DisplayLand. The way that this APP works is almost like magic, well technical magic so to speak. Basically once you get the APP for you phone ( Android and Apple ) you basically have a scanner in your hand. All you have to do when you download the APP is just choose an object that you would like to scan, take a short video of it and that’s all. The main difference with regular photogrammetry is that you don’t need to spend time taking 100+ images. The way it works is by taking a short 20-30 sec video of the item you want to scan. But this is just the beginning in all honesty. What happens from here is where the fun begins.

Sounds fun, tell me more ..

Once we do our scan, what we can do from there is take the data and make it into a usable model. Since there are a few steps in this process and some of it has a few tweaks i decided to cover it with a video tutorial. To make it even simpler i decided to split it into two parts. In the first part we will see how to get the APP, and how to do a scan. Then we will go over the downloaded file and get it into 3ds Max. From there we will simplify it, unwrap it and prepare it for baking. So if this sounds interesting so far, check out the first video below.

Now going into the second video we will see how to bake the textures from the scan to the model we made. We will use a free program for this called Xnormals. From there we will go into Substance Painter and prepare the rest of the maps for the material. And last we will get the model into UE4 and create a material to go with it. So you can see how all of this looks in the video below.

Anything Else ?

As far as the technical portion of this video goes, this about covers it all. As a closing statement i would like to add that i actually had fun creating this video. And i can tell you from personal experience that doing it requires minimal effort and the results are great. So next time when you are on location at a client, grab your phone and take a few scans of certain objects they may have and surprise them in the end. Another thing you could also do is take a few scans while on a hike, and then use those models for your scenes as fill assets.

All i am saying is, get the APP and have some fun with it 🙂

Anyways, hope you guys had fun with these videos and as always managed to learn something new. If you enjoyed the video help share it around so it can reach other people that might like it. With that being said, keep learning and i will see you all in the next post.

3ds Max To Unreal Engine 4 Asset Creation Workflow

What will this cover?

From the get go we will jump straight to the point. In the last couple of years Unreal Engine has started creeping in the ArchViz scene. Nowadays though, it’s almost like the next industry standard. With the new standard, we have a new set of challenges we need to address. This post will try and cover the basics you will need to know in order to create assets for UE4.

I went ahead and divided this into five videos so it’s easier to follow.

Modeling The Low Polygon Model

When you are creating a model you can either start from a high poly model, or a low poly one. The main difference is that if you start from a high poly, you will need to do a retopology run. In this particular case since we didn’t have any sculpting, we start from scratch. This is by no means a bad thing. In the first video you will see how to logically divide the model. And then start modeling the base of the model.

After we go over the first video, in the second one we will still be doing the low poly model. The reason here for the two videos was because i didn’t want to have one extra long video. So go ahead and check out the second part of the video.

So if you watched these two videos now you should have a base on which to start.

Modeling The High Poly Model

In the second phase of the creation of the model we go over how to create the high poly model. The main plus that we have going for us is that we have a properly created low poly model. With that model we can create the high poly model with ease. Check how i did it in the video below.

UVW Unwrapping

Ok so if you followed along, you should have both the low poly and high poly models done. Next step would be to prepare the model for baking the textures. What this means though is that we will have to prepare the low poly model by UVW Unwrapping it. So in the next video we will see how to take the Low poly model and unwrap it with Unfold3D.

Preparing And Baking The Model with Substance Painter

In the last part of the process we will see how to prepare the model ready for baking. It is here where we will address the importance of normals.  After that we will do the actual baking inside Substance Painter. All in all an interesting topic to help finish up the whole process. So go ahead and check out the video below.

Conclusion

Provided you followed along with all the videos you should now have an idea about the workflow. You can see everything from the concept, down to the baking of the maps. The only thing missing here i guess would be to do the actual materials. But that’s a whole different topic for another day.

So in short that would be it for this topic. If you found this helpful, and you learned something new then share these videos so it can reach more people.

Modeling a Chandelier with 3ds Max and Vray

Today we go on another modeling tutorial adventure. For today’s topic i have chosen a model that received a request a while back. That was how to model a specific chandelier.

Modeling Phase

Like always, modeling starts with setting up a blueprint to follow. So if you want to follow along with me, get the image from below. Now the actual modeling for this chandelier model took a bit longer then what i initially expected. Due to this  i decided to split it up in two parts. In the first part we will go over how to create the cage of the chandelier. And then we will also create some of the elements for the inner parts. So check it out in the first part of the video below.

In the second part of the video we will continue with creating the rest of the elements. That being the crystals, the light bulbs and the holders for them. You will also see how to get the crystals perfectly aligned on the handing part of the chandelier. So check this out in the second part of the video below.

Texturing And Materials

When creating modeling tutorials i usually don’t go over the materials. Main reason is that to me it seems very simple, but i’ve received some requests so here it is.

Generally when creating materials for a model, first thing you do is separate how many materials will you need. After this you need to go ahead and address those material needs. In this model it ended up being three materials. The metal, the crystal and the material for the light bulb. Before doing any of the materials though you need to see if you have to do UVW unwrapping. For this model, i got away with doing the simple UV mapping with the UV Map modifier.

The metal material will show you how to control the reflections and color of the shader. The crystal material will how you how to get that colorful refractive look that makes crystal unique. And the shader for the light bulbs will show you a few tricks on getting that glow effect. So all in all if you want to see how i did it check out the video below.

Final Thoughts

So if you followed the videos now you know how to model a chandelier like this. It was fun creating it for me, and all i can say is i hope it was helpful to you. Also if there is anything that you would like to see me create a tutorial about leave a comment on the YouTube channel and i will do my best to help you out. So until next time i leave you with the blueprint for the chandelier.

Chandelier

 

Modeling the Rondo Chair in 3ds Max

For today’s article we have another modeling tutorial. This time around we are going to check and see the whole process of creation. We will start from the blueprints, the modeling and end up with the UVW unwrapping.

Preparing the Blueprints

This is the first phase of modeling anything really. Usually i don’t cover this phase as i have created a video about this in the past. But since i have received multiple question about the creation process i decided to include it this time around. We will start with creating the front and side views as we are lacking a top view for the blueprints. The creation process is in Photoshop so if you want to see it check out the video below.

The Modeling Phase

Modeling this chair wasn’t really that hard, but it did have a few challenges. We will go over creating each part of the chair separately, the legs, seat, back rest. Since creating these elements is a bit of a time hog i decided to split it into two parts. Main reason for this is because i don’t like creating videos that are over 30 min long. Anyways if you want to see how i created the basic version check out the videos.

After having watched the videos you will have the basic chair model done and finished.

Creating A Tall Version of The Chair

Before going on to the UVW Unwrapping phase i decided to go in and make a variation video. The idea here was to give you an overview on how you can reuse your modifier stack before collapsing it. In this case i only had to do minor adjustments to get the tall version. But actually if you have the modifiers in your model, you can get a much more complex model. And the bonus is that you will have to do half the job. So if you want to see how i created the tall version check out the video below.

The UVW Unwrapping Phase

This is the last video for the chair and it’s going to be about UVW unwrapping. Again this is where most of the people for some reason are having issues. As i’ve said before, UVW mapping is not that complex, and with the help of Unfold3D it’s fast as well. So if you want to see me do the unwrapping for this model check out the video below.

Final Words

So if you’ve went over all of these videos then you know how to model this chair from scratch. So all i have left to do is leave you with one last thing, and that is the blueprints. This is in case you don’t want to create them yourself in Photoshop.

As always i hope you guys had fun and learned something new. If that is the case help with sharing this post so it reaches more people and hopefully helps them as well.

Front_BP Front_Tall_BP Left_BP Side_Tall_BP

Creating a Car Paint Material with 3ds Max and VRay

What is all this about ?

Well in short this post came to be as a direct request from one of the subscribers. Namely i was asked how to create a realistic car paint material. Initially i thought it would be a short and boring topic to cover it for a video. Needless to say i was wrong, so very wrong.

 Starting at the base

As soon as i started taking a better look into the car paint shader it started to get interesting. To get a realistic car paint shader you would need to approach this as it was in real life. If you have ever bothered to read about car paint, you will learn that it’s a multple layer color.

D01

In the image above you have a case where the paint of the car is getting damaged. This actually allows us to see that even though this is a metallic shader, the base is actually very glossy. This means that the first layer will control the color and doesn’t need reflection. As soon as we get that done we can go over and create an additional layer for the coating. Once we have both of the layers created we can call it done or we can push on.

D02

The next step was to create the flakes you see in the metallic color when it’s sunny outside. To get this result i used Vray stochastic flakes material. This is a new addition to Vray since 3,6 . That means that if you want to get the same result as me you would need to have that version.  So if you want to see how i did the basic shader for the car paint material check out the video below.

 

Creating the Pearlescent color shader

After creating the basic shader i thought about pushing it a bit more and create a pearlescent version. That is basically a paint that changes color depending on the angle of viewing. You can see how that looks check out the image here.

PS03

 

As you can see it looks cool and it’s really not that hard to achieve. What i did was mix a different diffuse color base with a different mix curve and got the result. But since rarely are things in Max that simple you can see me doing it in the video below.

So if you followed the two videos you now know how to create a basic and a pearlescent shader. And with that we put a end to today’s topic. As always if you enjoyed it make sure you like the videos, comment and share. And don’t forget to come back for more next time.

Basics of Quixel Megascans

After some issues with the host and the site being down for some time we are back, and we are continuing with another video about the new kid on the block, namely Quixel’s very own Megascans. Now if you haven’t heard about it don’t worry as it is a very new program (at the time that i am writing this) that has some amazing abilities when it comes down to creating environments and textures for them. So now that we gave it an amazing intro lets jump in and talk about the details.

Megascans is very good for both architectural (Specularity) and gaming (Roughness) workflows. What that means is that it can take the surfaces that you make and then export textures depending on what you need them for. In the video below you will see me start from scratch on a surface, basically what you would have when you install the program. From there i will show you where to get more surfaces, how to install them and then how to use them. We will see about the properties that each of the surface layers has, then add in an extra surface and blend them together and after that even add a coat layer and liquid layer. You will see that by controlling just these 3 types of layers you can get some amazing looking results, and that is without me touching on the 3D assets and adding any 3d scanned models into the scene. But instead of reading about it you can go check out the video and see it for yourself.

Now that you saw the video i hope that you guys are excited about it as i am, and if Megascans catches on some traction i am confident that it can change the playing field when it comes down to creating environments. In any case if you guys like the video click the like button and i’ll see to it that i make more about it and cover the 3D assets as well. For now that would be all so like always like, comment and share it around so it can reach more people.

Stay cool everybody and have fun learning.

Sculpting a Detailed Rock Asset in ZBrush

One of the most common models that you will have to model if you are doing architectural visualizations, and especially if you are doing assets for environments for the gaming industry is creating a model of a detailed rock or cliff formation. Well once you get to that point you will quickly come to a realization that even though at first glance it looks and sounds really simple, in reality rocks can provide a bit of a challenge and especially if you have never done it before. Well in today’s post i decided to tackle this issue and show you how you can create a fairly detailed rock in ZBrush, then make a low poly model of that and bake out normal maps and AO maps that you can use as a mask. To make it easier to follow i divided this into two videos so it’s easier to understand.

In the first video we will start with a little intro and a general overview of what kinds of a rocks we can see after which we will jump straight in ZBrush. We will use Dynamesh to get the general form, and then from there we will work with the Trim selection, the Trim Dynamic brushes as well as the Trim Smooth edges brush. After this we will take a look at the noise maker option for adding general noise on your model and we will finish up the fist stage of the rock. So if this sounds interesting check out the first part of the video.

In the second video we will continue from the same place where we left off in the fist one, and the very first thing we will do is get out of Dynamesh and Remesh our rock. This is where the “Holy Trinity” rule of Duplicate/Divide/Project will come into play in order to help us get all the details from the Dynamesh model onto the new ZRemeshed model. After all this we will also see how we can use some custom brushes to add in some details on the rock and finish it up. Then in the end we will use UV Master plugin for a quick UV unwrap and we will use Substance Painter to do a quick bake of the maps. But enough with the explanation, go ahead and check out the video for yourself.

After watching those two videos you should have a better understanding of what it takes to create a Rock asset that you can use in your Visualization projects as well as use it as a game asset. To be perfectly honest i wanted to make this video first so i have a base on which i can reference for a future video that i want to make that will cover many of the things covered here but create something more “cool”. But for now this will be all, and like always if you enjoyed the videos and you learned something new then share the post around so it can reach more people.

Modeling Complex Carvings And Shapes on Uneven Surfaces in 3ds Max

In today’s post we will cover a bit of a complex topic and that is how to model complex shapes like carvings and such on uneven surfaces, or rounded ones. Generally from what i’ve seen many 3D artists do when they have to model some complex shape on an uneven surface, they go ahead and manually start building the model and move the vertecies one by one to get the carving to conform to the surface. Well that approach is not wrong, hell in some cases it’s the only option there is to take, BUT and this is a big but there is a way to work around issues like this and kinda cheat to save on time and nerves. This cheat that i am talking about is what this post is all about, but in order to be able to follow along you will need to download a script which you can get from the link below.

Download SlideKnit Script

OK so if you have already downloaded the script then you are all set. Now in case you don’t know how to install the script don’t worry as in the video below you will see me explain it step by step on how to install and how to make a custom menu inside 3ds Max and dock the plugin there. So after we go over how to install the script i’ll show you the model that i have in the scene that will help me showcase different types of scenarios for the SlideKnit script. You will see how you can wrap different types of geometry on different types of surfaces. Another important thing to note is that i will go and explain how you can unwrap rounded surfaces so they end up with planar UVW layout, which is actually quite important in our case. But enough with the intro, if what you saw here is something that might sound interesting to you go ahead and watch the video below.

So after watching the video i have to note one thing about myself personally, and that is that i was sick and coughing when i was making the video so if i didn’t edit out some place and maybe a cough slipped by i apologize. That aside i’m really hoping you guys had fun watching the video, and more importantly managed to learn something new. As you were able to see, SlideKnit is a small but yet very powerful script that can give you amazing results. Also i want to note it here one more time that I AM NOT THE MAKER of this script, so if you know who is leave a comment and i will leave a backlink to the creator as he really does deserve the kudos for making it.

And that would be it for this post, you know the drill by now, if you liked the video then like, comment and share it around so it can reach more people. So until next time …

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