Tips & Tricks

[duleduxxx]

Many people have problems and get frustrated when 3dsmax freezes on them because of too many polygons in a scene, the lighting setups, and advanced textures all loaded in the viewport. Alot of people know where I'm coming from when I say this, and you may be one of them. So I'm going to give you some tips on making 3dsmax run faster for you, and how you can work more efficiently with the program.

 

Section 1 - Viewports:

 

In this section, I will be giving you tips on how to make your 3dsmax viewport run faster and more efficiently.

 

Let's start with the viewports, probably the most vulnerable feature of 3dsmax to freeze up. I get so many questions from people who can't work on their scenes because they add too many meshsmooth or turbosmooth modifyers to their models, and they just aren't looking at those modifyers full options. When you add any subdivision modifyer to your models, preview it with just one itteration, if it looks somewhat good, then change it back to 0, and set your render itteration to 1 or 2, if the model in the render doesn't look smooth enough, then simply add more render itterations.

 

When you're working on major scenes (that have about a million or so polys, and a few hundred objects), and you are stuck trying to get around in the viewport which is traveling at a choppy 2 frames per second, then simply turn the viewport wireframe mode on (hotkey: F3). It should be easier to get around in, especially when you are previewing animations. Another good

alternative to the wireframe mode is the box mode (hotkey: O). In this mode all the objects in the viewport appear to be 6-poly boxes and is virtually lag free. This is an ideal solution for people who have low-grade video cards.

 

Another big factor for disruption in the viewports is the lighting. Lights take up quite alot of your system memory, and a good trick for dealing with that is to (simply put) delete the lights...but BEFORE you do that, select the lights (individually if you have more than one) and press F12 to get

their position co-ordinates. Make a new text document or something to paste your X,Y,Z co-ordinates and write down the light settings. This may be a little much just to free up some memory, but it's well worth it.

 

If you're viewport ever acts weird (such as models looking bright green and such) then why not change your viewport renderer? There are 3 options for it in 3dsmax, including Direct X, OpenGL, and Software. I recommend using D3D if you have an NVidia graphics card, they seem to perform well together. If you are using an ATI card, then go with OpenGL. If you are using card that doesn't perform as well (such as an integrated card), give all 3 a try. All options should work on any card, but some are more compatible than others).

On my old video card I used the software version, and it worked great (but it isn't recommended on the hi-grade cards). To change the viewport renderer just right click on the 3dsmax icon on your desktop and go to properties, and then add "-H" at the end of the target.

 

__________

 

Section 2 - Rendering:

 

In this section I will be giving you tips on how to make your rendering methods faster and more efficient.

 

To start off, if you have a scene that has a great looking render, and you want to keep it (and you don't feel like redoing the settings every time you work on a new project), then all you need to do is save it as a render preset file (located at the very bottom of the render dialogue window, hotkey: F10). You can save everything from the actual render settings, to the environments/effects, and even the common settings.

 

A good key for rendering is to choose a specific renderer that you feel comfortable working with. I particularily use VRay as my renderer, but that is a 3rd-party plugin. If you have 3dsmax v6 or later, then you will have both Default Scanline, and Mental Ray already to choose from. What you should do is learn both renderers, get aquainted with their settings and capabilities, and use whatever is to your liking. For faster renders, go with Scanline, it is very quick and efficient. If you want to make a good looking render just add a skylight with light tracer (in the Rendering,

Advanced lighting menu). It has great results and renders very fast. Mental Ray can make better looking images in a timely manner, but overall it

renders much more slowly (not to say that it's a bad renderer, because it is very professional).

 

Quick tip: While doing tests renders (not finals) delete the lights in your scene (unless they are absolutely necessary). They are one of the longest things to compute while getting ready to render. Taking them out generally cuts my rendering time in half.

 

__________

 

Section 3 - Getting to know 3dsmax:

 

In this section I will be giving you tips on how to work with 3dsmax and getting to know shortcuts that will get you very far when working.

 

Some quick advice for new 3dsmax users, take the tutorials that are already preset with the program, they will get you farther than any other tutorials, and will teach you the basics of learning pretty much everything the program has to offer.

 

Another quick tip is to start using hotkeys and memorizing all of them. Here is a small list of some example shortcuts that I use all the time:

 

- F9: Quick Render

- F10: Render Dialogue

- Ctrl+C: Create new Camera (from current perspective)

- F12: Positioning Dialogue

 

Hotkeys are a godsend to me, and I always use them when I'm working. It saves me a little time here and there and end up giving me more free-time in the end. I would definitely recommend that you look at the hotkey map and get to know which keys do what, it will more than likely make your experience with max a better one.

 

Another great feature that 3dsmax has in the XRef importing feature, which lets you import objects from other Max scenes and places them into your new one (and no, it doesn't affect the other scene at all). You can import ANYTHING from another scene (geometric data, lights, helper objects, etc.) with XRef. I use this option whenever I'm working on large scenes so that I don't have to model an object in the scene itself. (And yes, XRef does import the materials from objects so there's no need to retexture them).

 

__________

 

Section 4 - Overall Performance:

 

In this last section, I will be giving you tips on how to make 3dsmax run faster and perform better overall.

 

3dsmax loves RAM, and lots of it. Memory affects every aspect of how the program performs, such as the viewport, rendering, and animation. If you want it to perform better just get more ram. (I know it sounds inane, but it's a necessity).

 

If you already have alot of ram, but 3dsmax is still performing poorly (for some odd reason), then simply exit those other useless programs! Pretty much all graphics oriented software uses up alot of memory, and so do anti-virus/spyware programs, and instant messengers. Exit all of those programs while working inside Max. They affect how you work in the program and are consuming everything that 3dsmax needs.

[Djorzgul]

kul je ovo za render.

ja uglavnom pustim batch, pa onda ugasim maju... mada od skoro koristim Royal Render.... i ne gnjavim se oko batcha at all...

 

elem, od mene par komada, sitnijih :)

1.skroz korisno ume da bude kada sa u hajpershejdu zakomplikuju stvari... ukuck u comm. line...

 

renderThumbnailUpdate false; // turn updates off

renderThumbnailUpdate true; // turn updates on

 

2.

isto kjul skroz, odete u panel/tear off copy i dobijete floating panel koji moze da se baci u full screen, da se radi u njemu shta vetj i onda samo da se ugasi, i sve ostane po starom :P

 

kad se setim josh nechega tjem napishem...

[Djorzgul]

3.

ovaj mi je jedan od omiljenih, toggle xRay... window/settings/hotkeys pa pd categories izaberete user i napravite novi hotkey koji ima ovu komandu

 

if (`getPanel -to (eval("getPanel -withFocus"))`) { 
   $currentPanel = `getPanel -withFocus`; 
   if (`modelEditor -q -xray $currentPanel`) { 
       modelEditor -edit -xray 0 $currentPanel; 
   } else { 
       modelEditor -edit -xray 1 $currentPanel; 
   }
}

 

i bajndujete ga na neshto [ctrl + x je kul izbor...]

 

4.

aaaah, ovaj je isto kjuul

system("load " + `workspace -q -rd`);

ukucate u comm. line ili chak napravite shelf button... ili shta god, i kad kliknete, otvori vam folder trenutnog projekta u exploreru....

 

 

 

 

e i da ne bude zabune, nishta od ovoga nisam ja smislio

sve je mudrost sakupljena sa svima dragog nam interneta :P

[Ji 4Tze]

za 3dsmax je (po default-u):

Q - select (zapravo je i toggle, stiskanjem istog vise puta, menja se tip selekcije, kvadratno, kruzno, poligonalno, freehand, paint selection)

W - move

E - rotate

R - scale

 

nebitno ovo (imas gore kako naci listu svih shortcut-ova a i Help/HotKeyMap), evo onaj stari tip sto sam sluchajno otkrio:

 

...za Editable Poly - QuickSlice sechenje

sa Slice Plane (koji retko koristim ali je zgodan jer odvaja mesh po elementima, quick slice podeli poligon samo). I ladno mi SlicePlane bio postavljen onako kako sam i zeleo :D.

Dakle sa QuickSlice preko snapova preseci mesh, pa undo, pa SlicePlane i sama ravan preseka se postavi tachno po liniji QuickSlice-a.

Takodje, ako se seche sa QuickSlice i chekira Split, selekcija se deli na elemente.

[Djorzgul]

a za mayu je

Q - select

W - move

E - rotate

R - scale

 

:-)

[bobi]

<Max> (verovatno funkcionise i u drugim paketima)

 

Dakle, kako napraviti rupu u poly-ju, a ne koristiti boolean (t.j. ne upropastiti mesh)

 

1. Selektujte poligon na kojem hocete da bude rupa i kliknite inset. Zatim novi poligon skalirajte po osama, dok ne dobijete savrsenu kocku.

 

2.Kliknite jos jednom na inset, koji treba da bude vrlo malen (po defaultu 1.0, na primer), i zatim kliknite meshsmooth (ne modifikator novi, niti nurms, vec dugme meshsmooth)

 

3.Kliknite grow jednom, pa opet meshsmooth.

 

4. Ostaje vam samo da kliknete na ekstrude, i podesite ga hoce li da ide na gore, ili na dole

 

5. Evo primera, kako izgleda sa nurms meshsmoothom, iteration 2.

 

Pozdrav.

[nightfox]

<MAX Tip>

 

"Kako kreirati lakiranu boju za objekat ( npr. bilijarsku kuglu koja se onako lepo sija )"

 

 

Creating Lacquered finishes :

The Multi-layer Shader is quite versatile. Multi-Layer shader is especially useful for creating shiny materials that have depth, such as lacquered paint surfaces.

 

To produce a RED lacquered paint finish, open your material Editor.Pick an empty material slot ( with Standard Max material ), and from the Shading drop-down, change your default shader type from Blinn to Multi-Layer. Under Basic Parameters, change your diffuse color to pure red or 255,0,0, and the Diffuse level to 40.

 

For the first Specular layer, change the color to pure white (255.255.255), with the level set to 150 and glosiness set to 75.

 

For the second Specular layer, set the color to the same red as the diffuse color.

( You can click and drag the diffuse color swatch down to the second specular layer color swatch, and make it a copy )

 

Then change Level to 75 and Glosiness to 35 ( or, roughly half of the first specular level settings ).

 

Finally under Maps, add a Reflection map-preferably Falloff map, with Falloff Type set to either Perpendicular/Parallel, or Fresnel ( Fresnel daje najfinije rezultate ali i najduze traje ). Then add bitmap to the second Falloff map slot. The result when applied to a model in your scene, should look like an extremely glossy texture that has "depth"

 

B)

[bobi]

Blur:

 

Kad god to mozete (ne mozete n.p.r. u mental ray-u), za motion blur, koristite image motion blur. Mnogo je brzi od object motion blur-a, a daje slicne rezultate.

 

Svetla:

 

Pre nego li posegnete za Global Ilumination-om, uvek prvo probajte sa standardnim svetlima i scanline renderom. 3 (recimo) omni light-a najmanje, jednom ukljucite shadow map (sa 512 povecajte na 1024 (to je jos jedan tip, uvek povecavajte za duplo)), ostalim svetlima smanjite intenzitet i uvek postavite back light, nasuprot kamere ili perspektive (koji bi trebalo da daje obrise objekata). Svetla uvek zamisljajte kao sredstva koja boje scenu, a ne kao prava realna svetla.

 

Kamere:

 

Ne vitlajte okolo sa njima. Prave animacije se rade na rez i sa staticnim kamerama (ili sa vrlo sporim zoom-ovima, kao sto je to slucaj sa Blizzard-om). Savladajte osnove montaze. Nikada ne vezujte dva kadra u kojoj su kamere jedna nasuprot drugoj. To se zove rampa i time samo zbunjujete gledaoca (sto, doduse, nije lose upotrebiti u scenama bitke, recimo).

 

Zlatni presek:

Nasuprot misljenju vecine, sredina ekrana nije mesto desavanja na koju svest i podsvest obracaju najvise paznje. Dakle, podelite ekran sa dve linije horizontalno i vertikalno, dobicete 4 tacke. U tim tackama su centri na koje nas mozak obraca najvise paznje. Probajte da bitnije objekte postavite na ovim mestima i dobicete lepu sliku.

[pailhead]

Ajde gledajte da tekstove napisete na srpskom, ili da ih prevedete, mislmi da je mnogo korisnije.

[neba77]

Za walkthrough mode ( od maxa 7) ako vam je kretanje na tastaturi sporo, dok drzite npr. strelicu gore = pravo, u isto vreme pritisnite i drzite uglastu zagradu (levu- brze kretanje, desnu-sporije).

[Ji 4Tze]

e da, CTRL+N u polju za neku vrednost otvara "Numerical Expression Evaluator" tj. kalkulator (bar ga ja tako koristim) :)

help/Index/Expression Techniques za detalje

[babybottle]

MAX:

 

CTRL+C pravi kameru iz trenutnog pogleda.

 

Mozda je ovo neko vec napisao... ali nije lose da se nadje i zasebno.

[3dM@niak]

pail je upravu.. tutova na engleskom ima ko pleve..

[Djorzgul]

Kad god to mozete (ne mozete n.p.r. u mental ray-u), za motion blur, koristite image motion blur

 

a odakle ti ova informacija??

u mental reju sasvim lepo mozesh da izaberesh da li zelish da koristish linear ili exact motion blr... shto je upravo to shto ti mislish da ne moze... chak mozesh da override-ijesh per object kakav tje koji mb da ima... nisam probao, ali kazu da sasvim fino i to funkcionishe...

 

dalje:

jos jedan tip, uvek povecavajte za duplo 512-1024..

nema ovo veze sa povetjavanjem "za duplo", tj. jeste duplo, ali je sushtina u nechemu sasvim drugom [prijatelj cg mi je to objasniyo mnogo detaljnije].. naime sushtina je da su najoptimizovanije vrednost takve jer su stepen broja 2 u osnovi, a taj "princip" je u osnovi binarnog sistema po kome komp funkcionishe [1kb=1024bajta]... pa se iz tog razloga preporuchuje da zbog funkcionalnosti obrade podataka npr. teksture u osnovi uvek imaju te "stepen broja 2" vrednosti..

 

Svetla uvek zamisljajte kao sredstva koja boje scenu, a ne kao prava realna svetla.

potpuno subjektivno mishljenje, koje se razlikuje od projekta do projekta... shto isto vazi i za kamere

 

na kraju, istina je shto si napisao za montazu, kadriranje... to mu dodje i jedino korisno u tvom postu...

 

i da ne davim vishe...

malo razmishljanja pre postovanja ne shkodi...

[thinker]

tako je.

samo da dodam, u MR-u kad rendam, koristim njegov motion blur, tj Fast Rasterizer (Rapid Motion Blur) ne radi passove a izgleda sasvim kul. (tip by marex :)

[bobi]

a odakle ti ova informacija??

u mental reju sasvim lepo mozesh da izaberesh da li zelish da koristish linear ili exact motion blr... shto je upravo to shto ti mislish da ne moze... chak mozesh da override-ijesh per object kakav tje koji mb da ima... nisam probao, ali kazu  da sasvim fino i to funkcionishe...

 

Uvek sam koristio image motion blur, prosto zato sto je mnogo brzi od object motion blur-a, posebno nakon sto mi je jedan lik sa stranog foruma (cije radove jako postujem) to predlozio. Sada, sa zadnjom scenom koju sam imao, morao sam zbog HDRI-a, da je rendam u mental ray-u, pa sam samim tim i video sto u max-ovom helpu, sto na net-u, da mental ray, ne moze da radi sa image motion blur. Zbog toga sam to pomenuo. U svakom slucaju hvala na dopuni. Voleo bih da jos pojasnite (t.j. date neki tip) kakva su vasa iskustva sa motion blur-om i deepth of fieldom u MR-u. T.j. kako ih najbolje optimizovati za test i prave rendere.

 

dalje:

 

nema ovo veze sa povetjavanjem "za duplo", tj. jeste duplo, ali je sushtina u nechemu sasvim drugom [prijatelj cg mi je to objasniyo mnogo detaljnije].. naime sushtina je da su najoptimizovanije vrednost takve jer su stepen broja 2 u osnovi, a taj "princip" je u osnovi binarnog sistema po kome komp funkcionishe [1kb=1024bajta]... pa se iz tog razloga preporuchuje da zbog funkcionalnosti obrade podataka npr. teksture u osnovi uvek imaju te "stepen broja 2" vrednosti..

potpuno subjektivno mishljenje, koje se razlikuje od projekta do projekta... shto isto vazi i za kamere

 

Potpuno tacno. Ni sam nisam siguran gde sam to procitao (verovatno u max-ovom helpu). Sad, mozda sam trebao malo bolje da ovo pojasnim. Ali ni sam nisam 100% ubedjen da bih znao kako. Ali ko zeli dublje da zadje u tu problematiku i zasto je to tako uvek moze da google-a.

 

Nego O.K. da ne duzim vise.

Hvala na sugestijama. :)

 

P.S. Dobar je onaj tip ctrl-c, za menjanje iz perpective view-a, u kameru. Bas sam se ovih dana pitao da li je to moguce.

[babybottle]

Ako treba da presecete objekat sa jednom ravni, a zelite da izbegnete boolean, to mozete postici primenom Slice modifajera i posle toga staviti Cap Hole modifajer da zatvori rupe.

 

Ukoloko treba da uradite to na vise objekata, seletujete ih sve i uradite identicnu stvar. Modifajeri na pojedinacnim objektima ce biti instance.

[okmijun]

KAKO DA KOD VRAY RENDERa SVI MATERIJALI U MEDITORU U STARTU BUDU VRAYMAT

I DA SVE SENKE PO DIFOLTU BUDU SA VRAY SENKE

 

 

You can do that yourself by creating a new Defaults scheme for 3dsmax.

 

For example, copy the maxroot\defaults\MAX folder into \maxroot\defaults\MAX.vray folder; then in the material editor, fill all the 24 sample slots with default VRay materials, and save the material editor as \maxroot\defaults\MAX.vray\medit.mat.

 

Optionally, edit the \maxroot\defaults\MAX.vray\CurrentDefaults.ini file to specify VRay as the default renderer by replacing the lines

Code:

DefaultProdRenderer=1 0

DefaultDraftRenderer=1 0

DefaultIReshadeRenderer=1 0

DefaultMEditRenderer=1 0

DefaultMEditRendererLocked=1

 

with

Code:

DefaultProdRenderer=0x73bab286 0x77f8fd0c

DefaultDraftRenderer=0x73bab286 0x77f8fd0c

DefaultIReshadeRenderer=1 0

DefaultMEditRenderer=0x73bab286 0x77f8fd0c

DefaultMEditRendererLocked=1

 

 

You can also specify that the default shadow type should be VRayShadow by replacing the lines

Code:

[30 1011 0]

castShadows=0

useGlobalShadowSettings=0

; Shadow Map

ShadowGenerator=0x100 0

 

with

Code:

[30 1011 0]

castShadows=0

useGlobalShadowSettings=0

; Shadow Map

; ShadowGenerator=0x100 0

ShadowGenerator=0x1daee05f 0x74b2d60f

 

 

You can also make other changes, as you wish. Then, start 3dsmax and from Customize > Custom UI and Defaults Switcher choose the Max.vray configuration. Restart 3dsmax.

 

Now VRay will be your renderer by default when you start 3dsmax, and the material editor will contain the 24 VRay materials by default. Also, the standard lights will have vray shadows by default when they are created.

 

Best regards,

Vlado

[borabora]

za ovo predhodno za v ray postoji skripta koja to omogucava, a lakse je samo promeniti start.max i onda stalno imati ovo sa v ray materijalima. inace postoji i modifikovana blur skripta koja cisti materile i pretvara ih u vray iz mtlbrowsera

[kukac]

za max: drzis desni klik +P = object properties

[Vlada]

Ako neko koristi MAYU na XP-u,a sigorni ima takvih,sigurno ste primetili da kad pokrenete render i kliknete negde sa strane ekran pobeli i ne vidi se render koji je u toku.To mozete resiti desnim klikom na maya.exe file,properties,compatibility,run this program in compatibility mode,pa onda stavite Windows 2000!Vuala!

[babybottle]

MAX Tip, NURBS

 

Ukoliko ikada budete radili bilo sta u Nurbsu, znajte da je CTRL+S shotcut za Soft Selection a ne za Save File, tako da umesto da usnimite fajl moze da se desi da imate cudne pojave prilikom selektovanja (pomera se vise tacaka odjedanput), sto inace soft selection i omogucava. Resenje je ili da ukinete taj shortcut ili da snimate fajl preko padajuceg menija.

[Albatros]

A ukoliko ne zelite da ukidate shortcutove, na extras paleti (toolbaru) se nalazi dugme Keyboard Shortcut Override dugme...

[thinker]

max tip :

 

nisam se ranije setio jer nisam dugo modelovao nista, elem, ako zelite da sacuvate selekciju prilikom prelaska iz jednog u drugi sub object level,..

 

npr selektovali ste nekoliko poligona, ali kad predjete u vertex selection mod, izgubite tu selekciju, odnosno ona se vraca na prethodnu koja je u tom modu bila.. pa nista samo drzite Ctrl kada kliknete na "vertex" ili bilo koji drugi sub-object, i selekcija ce ostati ista, i bice selektovani vertexi koje obuhvataju prethodno selektovani poligoni.

 

glupo sam objasnio ali ovo spasava zivot kod poly modelinga.

[neu3no]

Za maxa.

 

 

Kad se max zaglupi,kao, nije puko, al ne reaguje na klik, cesto posle prekida rendera ili kad se igrate sa materijalima... ukucajte u command line:

 

gc() i on se instant oporavlja.

 

Destroys undo buffer i ostalo.

 

Ovo max inace radi automatski kad se nivo slobodne memorije spusti opasno, al on tu akciju delay-juje dokle god moze. Ovako se to na silu.

 

Vise o tome u Maxscript refference pod memory allocation ( ili bese resource)