Messages

166

[Max] I need help! / Re: Massive Render Dimensions

« on: 2016-06-25, 11:07:34 »

I found this plugin "Blow Up" http://www.alienskin.com/blowup/

 

another one was a AE plugin from redgiant. Maybe this one
https://www.redgiant.com/products/instant-4k/

167

[Max] I need help! / Re: Massive Render Dimensions

« on: 2016-06-24, 15:39:27 »

A few years ago I asked on a forum which image had better quality and higher resolution.
About half of the people chose the lower resolution image as "the one with a higher resolution"

But I used a plugin with a better algorithm for re-sizing (I don't remember which one, there are a few for After Effects as well). The photoshop bicubic sharp one is not enough. Even lanczos is better for that.

A little (secret) trick that can be used in cases where client are requesting huge renderers without any logical reason is to render it out at a lower size and then upscale it in Photoshop. This way the client gets what he wants without you having a major headache.

Of course it has to be a secret :)

168

Off-Topic / Re: Drone

« on: 2016-06-20, 16:43:48 »

I don't think I was notified by your reply. Maybe some wrong setting here on forum.

I kept doing research the last days. I found out that DJI phantom 3 can carry and lift pretty smooth 500g, but you can't mount the camera on the special gimbal where the drone camera is mounted.
A way would be to buy the Phantom 3 without a camera and gimbal, find another gimbal (still low weight) rated for about 500 grams. Mount the camera on that gimbal. Buy a low weight video transmission module to send the video down.
  For less vibrations use sorbothane pad under the camera and equalize the propeller blades with sandpaper. Search youtube tutorials for that.
  But anyway, it's not very straightforward and easy to mount a camera on a Phantom.

169

Off-Topic / Re: Drone

« on: 2016-06-12, 00:46:53 »

I was also thinking of buying one, even more so seeing it has those obstacle avoidance sensors.
Planing to attach a camera on it.

But after some research I found out that the phantom dji3 can carry more weight. And it's cheaper.

I'm more interested in filming with a more telephoto lens, not so much in resolution.

The camera would be this one Samsung NX500, it can film in 4k, and with this lens it has stabilization and motorized zoom, and can be controlled with an iphone or ipad. With the lens I think it has 500g weight.
 But unfortunately not all the details are clear yet.
http://www.juzaphoto.com/shared_files/recensioni/samsung_nx500.jpg

170

General CG Discussion / Re: Unreal Engine 4 for ArchViz - Thoughts?

« on: 2016-06-09, 09:49:35 »

Yes. It was the same with cryengine - even in 2007. So 8 or 9 years ago !!!  . An editor quite similar with 3ds max, inspired from it as an interface, so very easy for a 3ds max user to move into. But in 2007 had soft shadows, ambient occlusion (SSAO), POM (a form of optical displacement), depth of field with circle bokeh, or any shapes (with some tweaks), lots of post process effects - adjustable, a pretty realistic daylight lighting simulation, thin leaf vegetation sss like material. Vegetation dynamics, meaning vegetation would react to being touched, to wind, explosions and so on.
An easy to use track view editor. A node based editor similar with the new Max Creation Graph - used to do animations and logic based reaction.

A very basic mesh editor. A fun voxel sculpting tool.

A better looking wind animation of plants and leafs than the professional software used for nature at that time - e-on Vue.
And much more.

 All these visible in real time in the viewport. Even motion blur. And all these in 2007 / 2008.
And it was so fast and smooth, every time I would switch to 3ds max (in 2007 through 2010 and later) I was so puzzled.

Imagine how it would be to have all that in 3ds max at that time. 3ds max doesn't have those not even now in the viewport. And probably not any time soon.

171

General CG Discussion / Re: Unreal Engine 4 for ArchViz - Thoughts?

« on: 2016-06-08, 19:43:44 »

impressive  -  the rendering time more or less for this type of image ?

Doesn't matter. Still much faster than any 3ds max renderer.

172

[Max] I need help! / Re: Getting color from current position

« on: 2016-06-02, 17:52:29 »

Hmm, Crysis 1 editor had a similar option to make the grass varied, "borrowing" color from the texture on the ground. So I'm guessing this option would be useful for the same thing.

When watching grass (or other types of plants) from above, the colors are not uniform
Picture:

173

[Max] General Discussion / Re: Corona Scatter - temporal stability

« on: 2016-05-30, 18:16:30 »

Sounds like doing it this way, using just one frame maybe it will even improve performance.
As Corona scatter is used often for landscaping I think the options described would be fine. I'm not sure when I would need to animate the surface on which the vegetation stands, but maybe if moving slightly - like for an earthquake, the surface would not visually stretch anyway.

Having some objects colliding would be better than having them popping.

Still, having options like a spinner to chose the frame (and animating the spinner), could be used for more than landscaping, perhaps motion graphics and so on.

I think Corona Scatter doesn't have a paint option, that would be more important I think, for individually painting flowers and manually touching and adjusting the landscape.

174

[Archive] Corona Scatter 2.0 / Re: Rotation Step in Corona Scatter

« on: 2016-05-30, 18:07:09 »

This is a pretty good request.

175

Work in Progress/Tests / Re: corona 1.4

« on: 2016-05-28, 15:48:20 »

Most of the programs I use I keep them in dark grey. Perhaps in other programs the gray is better balanced or something. And also perhaps it's better for color correction work.
But in 3ds max I mainly model either individual objects, or building environments. And many times the work is kind of technical and has less to do with composition and lighting.
And the max light ui is not really white. At least the old one. But more of a light gray.
It also depends a lot how do you keep your monitor. I keep it pretty dark because I constantly switch to white webpages, and text documents. With a dark interface I find I have to increase the monitor brightness a lot, making it more annoying when switching to white text documents.

But in the end I think how you got used to it has also a pretty big impact. After so many years getting comfortable to max ui, starting with 3ds max 1, the dark interface just feels unnatural somehow :)
Fortunately the max UI is very adjustable, so I guess I will try some colors balancing in the 2017 dark version.

176

Work in Progress/Tests / Re: corona 1.4

« on: 2016-05-28, 13:25:02 »

Too bad that in max 2017 the "light" interface looks almost unusable. Completely devoid of contrast and difficult to see. At least judging from the youtube videos.

177

[Max] General Discussion / Re: Cameras

« on: 2016-05-26, 18:15:43 »

Is there a possibility (with any camera type) to have motion blur preview in viewport like it was possible with older 3ds max versions ?
(and I think you could even save a viewport video)

178

[Max] Resolved Feature Requests / Re: Improve CoronaLayeredMtl

« on: 2016-05-25, 16:10:34 »

if I'm not wrong, there was a long long discussion about this and ended with a decision it shouldn't be like that because of development think it is an offense for corona simplicity.

Simplicity is good, but when we talk about a very complex shader network of maps and materials, they are everything but simple. So either way, there's not much "simplicity" anyway if one want to make a complex and realistic material.

 So that added options and checkboxes suggested above might even simplify the shader network, and make the workflow easier.

179

Off-Topic / Re: I'm looking for a wicker basket

« on: 2016-05-20, 11:40:53 »

Yeah, this one would be an almost automatic way to make a basket like this.

http://www.scriptspot.com/3ds-max/mcg/mcg-cane-basket

180

[Max] I need help! / Re: Best vegetation pack for corona

« on: 2016-04-28, 17:12:21 »

Those close-up leaves geometry from the video looked very good.

EDIT : hmm, twigs with high quality leafs sold separately, and not expensive.