Topics

31

General CG Discussion / Max hangs for 2-3 minutes upon every "Unhide all"

« on: 2023-10-12, 10:09:11 »

Off topic I know!

And I'm fairly certain this isn't related to Corona, but you guys are smart so I'm asking here.

I installed Max2024 yesterday.

Now I have a scene which hangs (freezes) for 2 minutes or so every damn time I use the Unhide function. Even if every object is on a layer turned off and I unhide, it still hangs. I've deleted all the proxies, scatters, cameras, lights, from the scene... still happening.

Edit: I Emptied the SML... this seemed to help, but only once I had deleted all the proxies, lights etc. If I empty the SME when all these are still in the scene, it's no help.

Anyone come across this before? Incredibly frustrating, I can't pin point a cause.

Any tips appreciated!

32

[Max] I need help! / [solved] Corona suddenly gone?

« on: 2023-10-11, 10:19:04 »

Super strange issue here for me today...

My PC has been acting up a bit, and it suddenly reset today.

Upon loading Windows back up, Corona has disappeared from Max 2023. (The only version of max installed)

I've re-installed Corona. No luck. Uninstalled, then re-installed, but I still cannot see Corona listed in Max as a render engine.

Any ideas how I can get it back? I'm stumped... (hopefully without a full max re-install, please!)

Thanks!

33

General CG Discussion / Align/spacing tool?

« on: 2023-09-05, 07:15:39 »

Not Corona related, I know, but y'all are smart so...

Does anyone know of a good plug-in that works to align objects?

Not array, and not align like the default max tool, but more like how in-design align tool works. See attached.

Might also be known as spacing? Again, not the max spacing tool.

Does this exist? Thanks!

34

[Scatter] I need help! / Scatter slow-downs?

« on: 2023-09-01, 10:55:05 »

I've been pretty ambitious with my scatterings lately and now I've got myself into a bind. My scenes are getting very very very laggy and it's really affecting my workflow...

I'm just inquiring which of the following might be causing massive slow downs (mostly in scene parsing before rendering, and during IR).

- Scatter with texture maps applied for the density (specifically a black/white noise map)?
- Scatters with includes/exclude splines. Does this slow things down a lot?
   - Would calculation theoretically be slower if the curve has more vertexes?
   - Would calculation theoretically be faster if I use only 1 curve object with multiple splines rather than multiple curve objects?
- Scatters with edge trimming? Does this cause a noticeable slow down?
   - Seeing as the edge trimming requires proxy objects preview to be set to 'full mesh' mode, does this also slow things down? (separate to the scatter preview mode, of course).

Or is it just a result of me using all these on 10-20 scatter items in my scene? Too ambitious?

Any insight much appreciated!

35

[Max] I need help! / Anima 3D People + Corona = incorrect gamma

« on: 2023-08-31, 11:10:48 »

This is more of a rant than anything else....

Now that Chaos owns AXYZ, can they maybe ensure that when I use Anima people I don't constantly get the incorrect gamma on Normal maps error when rendering with Corona?

For some reason even when I use the Corona converter to fix these the issue is not resolved...

Any ideas how to deal with this? Am I doing something wrong?

36

[Max] I need help! / more than 10 multiple maps environment

« on: 2023-08-23, 21:52:14 »

I recall a discussion once, but can't seem to find it.

Is it possible to have more than 10 maps plugged in to the multiple maps (lightmix) environment slot?

I'm sure it was possible with a script or something...?

37

[Scatter] I need help! / Script code to toggle scatters?

« on: 2023-08-11, 08:38:32 »

Hi all,

I'm hoping some of you smart people can help me with a quick little bit of code to toggle on/off all of the scene scatters in 3dsmax.

Basically in the same way that it works in the scatter lister, but integrated in to my own existing "make things go faster" toolbar button script that I use.

I'm guessing this is possible, so how might it work?

Thanks in advance for any help!

38

General CG Discussion / AXYZ Anima + 3DSmax

« on: 2023-06-26, 10:47:41 »

Hi all,

I'm thinking about finally buying a yearly subscription to AXYZ Anima for use of both still and animated scenes in 3ds max + Corona.

I've been using Humano 3d people for a year or two, but these aren't cutting it lately.

Just wondering if there is anyone out there with experience who can give me a little insight into the potential pitfalls, complications, considerations etc of such a workflow with Anima. I don't want to buy it and end up with a bunch of unforeseen problems in my workflow...

I also rely heavily on Pulze SM and RM for production, so this compatibility would also be handy to know about.

Looking for any pro's/con's and general advice. Much appreciated!

39

[Max] I need help! / Exporting to CProxy with multiple animated objects

« on: 2023-06-07, 10:48:04 »

I keyframed multiple objects to be animated.

I want to export those pieces as a single animated proxy, but I can't do it (but obviously I can if it's multiple proxies).

Now I'm stuck... I've gone to the effort of animating them, but ideally I'd like to use it in my scene as a proxy but can't unless I re-do all the animation as an animated edit poly within the single poly first, then export the animated proxy from there.

What are my options? What am I missing?

Thanks for any tips!

40

[Max] Bug Reporting / Corona Layered Mtl + light + front/back

« on: 2023-06-05, 13:27:10 »

If I have a set-up of a corona multi-material with a CoronaLightMtl as one of the layers and a corona front/back node creating the mask, the light material doesn't show on the backface. Why is this?

If I flip the normals of the object it works as expected (so long as I also flip the front/back colours).

If I disable 'emit light' it works as expected (but obviously without emission).

I know there is a simple fix to this, as described above (flipping the normals and making sure the light is emitted from the 'front' side), but I wonder why this is the case. Is it a bug?

Not sure if this is clear or not, but hopefully the screenshot helps?

Cheers!

41

Jobs / Rigged asset Job

« on: 2023-05-23, 10:39:52 »

Hi all,

I have a simple job offer:

I have purchased a robot/cyborg model, it is apparently rigged (biped, I presume).

I just need the robot to be sitting in posed position. Is anyone capable and willing to take this on?

Please PM me with a rough quote and any interest. Many thanks!

Never mind, this is no longer relevant! Thanks anyway

42

Jobs / Rebuild a big ArchiCAD model

« on: 2023-02-08, 10:27:29 »

Hi all,

I'm looking to hire someone for a archviz modelling job.

It's not a fun one, I have to be honest.

I have a project with approx 14 buildings on site. All different. The 3d model comes from ArchiCAD and it is a bit of a mess.

I'd like someone to take this ArchiCAD export and clean it up nicely and sharply in 3ds max. Using layers is a must to differentiate between buildings and materials. Note: This job offer does not require any materiality or rendering.

It should be very clean geometry but it doesn't require much detail. The main focus will be on clean geometry and organized objects.

I would expect to do this sometime this month (Feb, 2023) and for the modelling to be in about 1 week.

We could begin with modelling a single building first as a (paid) trial, then see how we go.

If you're interested, please PM me with some sort of example screenshot and a rough quote. (I know it's hard to quote for this, so it's open to negotiation, but I do have a rough figure in mind for the whole job already).

Thanks!

43

[Max] Daily Builds / Constant crashes with slate preview load

« on: 2023-02-03, 08:53:04 »

This is going to be a half-assed bug report because I don't have much info to share on it, and I'm wayyyyyy too busy to try and de-bug at the moment, but I'm interested if anyone else is experiencing any similar issues?

Ever since upgrading to Corona 10:
I'm getting constant crashes when using slate material editor. It seems to happen when loading the preview textures/bitmaps/materials (I'm not sure) of legacy materials (but possibly also PBR mats too).

I will load up slate, select an object to retrieve its material, it will begin loading (rendering) the textures etc and quickly crash. I can't predict when this happens, but it's happening often. With some materials, and not others. Sometimes clearing the slate material editor helps, sometimes not. Sometimes it happens on a fresh scene, sometimes old. Sometimes happens 2 mins after loading file, sometimes 2 hours after loading 3ds max file.

I get the usual max error asking if I'd like to save a backup.

My only hunch is that out-of-core textures is causing this. (I had major issues with this back in C9 dailies). I say this as I see the material preview loading and get buggy when the crash happens, in a very similar way to how the out-of-core bug happened to me previously.

Is anyone else experencing similar issues with material preview loading causing crashes?
and
Is there any way to disable out-of-core textures (I don't want this feature anyway).

(apologies for not sharing bug report/scene - will try to do this asap).

Thanks!

44

[Max] General Discussion / Max extremely slow to close

« on: 2023-01-26, 10:15:47 »

Hi all,

I'm not sure if this a Corona-related issue or not, but since updating to Max 2023 (I think) (And maybe since getting Corona 10, but probably earlier than that too) I've noticed my scenes are EXTREMELY slow to close.

Like it takes 10 minutes...

I figured this was because I have a pretty heavy scene, where I first noticed it. But it's not obscenely heavy.

Now I notice it's happening too in much more simple (but freshly made) scenes, with only 4-5 materials.

Anyone else experiencing such issues?

I'm on Windows 10. Max 2023.1. Corona 10 daily Jan 2 (but was happening with Corona 9).

I also use Pulze SM plugin.

Any thoughts? Thanks!

45

General CG Discussion / Reset Xref/Collapse/Edit Poly

« on: 2023-01-26, 08:30:12 »

I'm a big fan of speeding up my workflow as much as possible... I'm not great with scripting but I get by with basic skills.

One thing I've never been able to figure out is how to make a multi-command script (accessible by toolbar button OR hotkey OR both?) is:
 - (with selected object)
 - Reset Xref, then
 - Collapse, then
 - Convert to Edit Poly

I find myself doing this hundreds of times when setting up a new imported file.

Does this tool exist? If not, are there any super smart scripters out there that can quickly help me out?

Thanks for any tips!