What I Talk About
- 3ds Max
- 3ds Max Tutorials
- Books
- Brave New Network
- Clarion Media
- Clients
- CSS
- Design
- Design 101
- Design Tutorials
- Hardware
- Internet
- Java
- Java Tutorials
- JavaScript
- JavaScript Tutorials
- Life
- Making Money
- Meta
- Movies/TV
- Music
- Networking
- OOP
- PHP
- PHP Tutorials
- Programming
- Software
- Technology
- Tutorials
- Tweets
- Video Games
- wapClix
- Web Development
- Windows 7
- XHTML
- XHTML/CSS Tutorials
When I’ve Posted
- December 2009
- October 2009
- September 2009
- August 2009
- July 2009
- June 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
- March 2009
- February 2009
- January 2009
What I’ve Posted
What I’m Doing
Creating an Exhaust Effect
This is a quick and easy tutorial for creating a cool exhaust effect in 3ds Max. It’s great for using with jet airplanes or other vehicles with jet engines, but it has a variety of other uses as well. To do it, we’ll use a particle system called “Super Spray”. When we’re all done, this is what we’ll get:
Quick Update
I haven’t posted in a while, mainly due to the fact that I’ve been pretty busy recently, particularly with some clients. Anyways, I just want to let you know that I have some tutorials lined up for Photoshop, XHTML/CSS, Java, JavaScript and maybe another 3ds Max one and also a brief overview of design principles. I’m not sure in what order I will do them in, but I thought I’d at least give a quick heads up on what’s on deck. Hopefully I’ll get a couple out this week.
Stay tuned!
Scene Render
I posted this earlier directly to my site, but for some reason it lost its framerate. I tried uploading to YouTube and it retained its framerate, so here it is:
Also, a quick update: I am planning on doing a particle system tutorial for 3ds Max soon, which can be used for dynamic weather effects like hail, rain, snow, etc.
3ds Max Mental Ray Lighting Tutorial
This tutorial will walk you through the basics of setting up an indoor scene and properly lighting it and rendering it with Mental Ray, great for both beginners and intermediate users. Before we jump in, I’d like to note that I am using 3ds Max 2009, but I think most recent versions of the software will have the features I’m using. Here is what the result will look like after all is said and done:
Click for full-sized
Final Render
It took only 7 hours, but it’s finally done! 280 frames, 24 FPS. It looks grainy because I had to keep the sampling down and anti-aliasing off or else it would have taken like 14 hours (no joke). Also, I just realized after posting this online and watching it that the framerate drops. I have no idea why, but it kind of pisses me off. I might try uploading it to YouTube as an avi to see if that will keep its framerate. Anyways, check it out:
Render Update
I took a quick video of the scene fly-through in wireframe mode to give you a better idea. The framerate dropped because the screen-cap software I was using bogged it down. The full render will be 24 FPS (film quality).
3DS Max Renders
I’ve been working with 3DS Max lately, and I thought I’d post some renders of my work. The first two are just a couple screen grabs from a scene I made. The third is a render of a business card I designed. Click the picture for the full-sized.
Completed!
This website is now completed. I finally finished up on the “about” page and added the “work” pages. “Work” includes a portfolio of some of the websites I’ve done, some of the graphic design and print design I’ve done, and some of my articles. Go check it out! Although I have to admit I haven’t cleared up the IE6 issues yet (IE is such a headache). Also, the second part of that Java tutorial might not be going up as soon as I hoped, but my goal is to get it up by the weekend. I’m also planning a full-fledged website tutorial that will take you through the process of designing a website, coding it, etc. I’ve been thinking of doing a 3DS Max tutorial as well. Who knows when I’ll actually start working on either of those though. The past two weeks have been pretty busy for me.
