Adding Dust and Aging Effect with V-Ray

Today we have a new post, and the videos that will be part of the post will be a part of a new “category” of posts that i want to do. Namely i want to have videos that will be a sort of a quick tip type posts. The idea behind these kinds of posts will be to take a certain theme, or a question that i’ve been asked and dive straight to it without any additional explanation. The idea for this came from a few readers that asked for more direct approach to the issue which would result with shorter videos and more directed videos. Now i am well aware that these types of videos can’t be made for all the topics that i choose to cover, but for certain things it might actually work quite well.

For the very first crack at the quick tip video i chose to make a video and answer a simple question, How to add aging or fading effect to your V-Ray materials? This is a very basic thing that you might want to know as it’s always a plus knowing how to add some variance to your model, and in the approach that i will show you in the video you will see how you can get that result by using a procedural mask and VrayDirt material. So if you want to see how you can do this type of thing procedural opposed to unwrapping it and manually making a distressed texture then check out the video below.

The second video covers a topic that’s a bit similar to the first video, but instead of adding procedural damage or fading we will see how we can add some dust to our model. After that we will see how we can setup a second texture ID channel and use it to help us with giving the dust a more natural “disturbed” look. So again if this is something that you would like to know and you aren’t really sure how to go about doing it, then check out the second video.

Ok so if you’ve watched the videos and are still reading this then i would like to ask you guys to leave your comments either here, or on YouTube and tell me if you liked these shorter quick tip type tutorials. And for now that would be it, like always if you did enjoy them like and share them around and keep coming back for more.

Creating Custom Floor Textures in 3ds Max and Photoshop

Today’s post comes as a direct result to a request i got about making a real world scale floor texture. It sounds pretty straight forward when you say it like that, i mean you get the project with the texture for the floor but then comes the realization that the image that the client sent you is something more in tune to a thumbnail, then an actual size for a high quality texture. On top of that he or she might want to have a different color in the pattern of the texture. This is where things can get a bit complicated as you are basically left with a task in which you need to deliver an end result but you don’t have the resources delivered to you, but rather you have to make them yourselves. Once you get to this point in the project, you might start thinking that you are in trouble if you don’t know how to make those high quality textures. Well this is where today’s post comes into play and will explain exactly how to go about dealing with this issue, and hopefully resolve it. Now when i had the initial idea about this video in my head it was a fast 20 min video, but as soon i started recording i actually came to a bit of a revelation as the theme was a tad bit bigger then i initially thought, so in the end i decided to split this into three logical parts opposed to having one huge hour and a half video. Since we do have a bit to cover lets get started with it.

In the first part of the video we will setup the image that we will create (you can choose any design that you might need for this part) and then we will start with the outlining process of the whole thing. After that we will see how we can get the outlined object scaled so we have a realistic scale model, and in the end we will render out a template which we will be able to use in the process. So this is where you would be advised to go and see the video for yourself.

In the second part ( and i do know this is a bit of a longer video ) we take the template that we made in 3ds Max and we bring it into Photoshop. Now i did my best to keep the video as newbie friendly (n00b fR13ndly) so that everyone can follow along even if you are not too proficient with Photoshop. We will cover a bit of layering management, some masking as well as some hand on paining and effects adding. All in all this ended up being a long but in depth video which will leave us with a fully customizable template that we can later use for any type of floor. Also you will hear me mention a few times that you can use this exact process to get Marble and stone floors which is totally true and applicable. But enough with the explanation, go ahead and check out the video.

In the last video we take what we made in Photoshop and we dive back into 3ds Max and see how we can use all those textures. Now the emphasis in the third video is put on using Real World Scale and to explain to you how you can get your textures to use real world scale referencing rather then the default tiling option. So go ahead and check out the video for yourself.

And with this we are coming to an end of our post for today. We covered quite a bit of different things and even though i didn’t expect the videos to be that long in the end i kinda enjoyed making them and i really hope you guys will enjoy watching them and even learn a few new things from them.

So like always subscribe, like and share and i’ll see you all in the next post.

Creating Simple Rugs in 3ds Max

So as much as i want to try and tackle on some gaming posts here, or at least try and set up a base for some gaming posts in the future i keep reverting back to architecture related themes.

Today we are going to tackle on one of the more commonly seen elements in scenes, and that is the rugs element. Rugs tend to find their way into many different scenes ranging from kitchens, bathrooms, bedrooms, living rooms and pretty much any other room that you might have, so knowing how to make them is a big plus. In this post we will see how we can create two different kinds of rugs that are totally different from each other and we will see how to obtain those two distinct looks.

In the first video you will learn how to create a soft looking fuzzy rug. To get this look i will go over the V-ray displacement modifier and explain how you can control the parameters of the said modifier so you end up with a realistic looking rug, and in the end we will even cover how to get that extra bit of fuzzyness (if that is a word) to show up in our rug render. So if this is something that might interest you, then check out this video.

For the second type of a rug we are going to try and make a longer, hair like strands rug. In this case we will see that we can’t use the same displacement type as we saw in the first video, so we will use the Max native Hair And Fur modifier. We will cover the properties that this modifier has, as well as how to tweak and control all the aspects of it so we can end up with a result that will make our rug look exactly the way we want it to look. So if this is something that might interest you then check out this second video.

Ok so that should cover the basics of creating a simple rug in 3ds Max. Now this is usually where i ask you to like and share the post, but i have the feeling like it’s seen as a formality by most and i don’t blame you if you don’t do it but for these two videos i want to ask everyone that actually watched and liked the videos to hit that LIKE button on YouTube. I’m simply curious as how the likes work as some of the videos got 6000 views and less then 100 likes which in YouTube’s book means they aren’t that good. So let’s see if we can drive those likes up a bit.

So if you are still reading this, and maybe even watched the videos and liked them then i salute you and leave you with this here link to download rug textures.

Modeling a Gabion Wall in 3ds Max

Just like you will be able to see in the video once you start watching it, i got the idea about making this video from a tutorial request from the Evermotion Forums. Namely one of the guys there was curious as to how you would go around and model a gabion wall (basically a bunch of rocks inside a wire mesh) without using maps. The reason why i liked the idea of making this video about this theme in particular is the fact that it can be a good example that can help me showcase the use of the Bloob compound object, as well as some modeling techniques that can help you get a generic rock without having to go outside of 3ds Max. And to top that we even get to see some use of the MassFX tools that come prepacked with 3ds Max.

So in the start of the video you will see how to start from a few primitives, and from there extrapolate a starting mesh for our rocks. Now opposed to what i would do for a project like this and take it to Zbrush for sculpting, here we will see how we can get some interesting looking results by sticking with 3ds Max only. After that we will also see how we can use MassFX to simulate the rocks and help them form the shape of our wall. In any case that was the short explanation, but if you are curious as to how you would model something like that then go ahead and watch the video for yourself.

If you watched the video and for some reason you weren’t able to find the texture that i used for the rocks, but you want to follow along feel free and pick it up here. Note though i did NOT make this texture and all the rights to it belong to whoever made it, i simply got it from Google and i am sharing it here with you guys. (Don’t want to get sued for something)

Seamless_Rock

So i hope you liked this video and you managed to learn something new, and like always if you liked what you saw you can help spread the word by liking on YouTube and Facebook, share and comment so it could reach more people and hopefully help someone else the same way it helped you out.

Starting with V-Ray Part-3, Understanding Antialiasing

So in the third part for this series we go over the Image Sampler or AA (Antialiasing). Anti aliasing is one of the main things that you need to understand how to tweak inside V-Ray in order to get a faster render, while maintaining the quality of the render.

In the video below you will be able to see what are the differences between using the Fixed and Adaptive DMC image samplers, as well as learn how does the AA work and what it’s used for. But i don’t want to make this post any longer than it should be so i’ll let you go and check out the video below.

I really hope that you enjoyed this video as well and if you have any questions feel free to leave them as a comment either here or on the YouTube channel. Also if you enjoyed this post then subscribe to the YouTube channel, share it around or like it and help spread the word around.

That’s all for now and remember, stay hungry for more knowledge as that is how you get to improve.

Hello World … Sorta

And here we go, the very first official post on the site, the origin, the start, the beginning. As this is the very first post on the site i would like to make it an introduction post in which i will give a brief explanation as to what this site is supposed to feature on it, and what you can expect to find on it. But before i get deeper into that i would like to drop a few quick lines about who i am and what i have been doing.

My name is Denis Keman (That’s the DK in the CGI .. i know pure genious) and i am an Autodesk certified Professional for 3DS max, and a inhouse and online training instructor. I have been doing that job for the better part of the last year and a half ( at the moment that i am writing this article ). Before i started teaching 3DS Max and VRay i did a lot of freelancing, which in all honesty i still do as i find that freelancing can be quite a fun thing to do, and if you are good at it you can make some decent cash too. Anyways back to the point of the site. I can’t say that i have great experience with site managing, or blogging though i did lead a blog about World of Warcraft back in the days when i used to play the game, but what i do have experience with is working with 3DS max and VRay and this site would be the media outlet where i would like to share the tips and tricks i have learned through my own experience of working with 3DS Max.

Start 

So in short, on this site you should expect to see posts detailing how to do certain tasks in 3DS Max, tutorials on building certain models, videos about various settings for V-Ray as well as  3DS Max, Marvelous Designer, 3D Coat, ZBrush and a bunch of other programs and plugins. So in any case i don’t want to make this post any longer so i’ll cut it here and i’ll leave you  with an image for the end that is ironically a START image.

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