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Messages - phildavis17

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Gallery / Re: Advanced Wood
« on: 2019-08-20, 15:16:04 »
The material setup is a little more complicated than I would prefer, but this is as streamlined as I've been able to get it. Attached is an image of a summarized material setup. I use the Advanced Wood map in Explicit Map Channel mode, and control it with planar UVW maps. The idea, then is to get a darker material on the faces that are normal to the Z axis in UWV space. Here's how it works.

1. Create a wood material, and a second one with identical settings except for a darkened diffuse map.
2. Feed these materials into a Corona Layered Material, with the basic material in the Base and the darker one in Layer 1
3. Create a Corona Triplanar map for the Mask on Layer 1. It has to have the following settings:
    a. X and Y colors are black, Z color is White
    b. Blending set to 1
    c. Mapping Space set to Reference Node
    d. Scale set to 1
4. Create a Dummy helper. This will be used to control the orientation of the triplanar map.
5. Link the rotation of the Dummy to the rotation of the UVW map applied to objects in question.
6. Rotate the planar UVW map to the correct orientation, which should rotate the linked Dummy simultaneously.

This will put the dark faces in the right places, and give the correct blending from light to dark on angled or curved surfaces. It's a fair amount of work, and it requires a seperate Layered Material and Dummy object for every major grain direction in your model. I think that's still still less than UVW unwrapping, and saves the trouble of finding end grain bitmaps that match the rest of your wood. If anyone has ideas on how to streamline it, I would certainly appreciate them.

It's worth noting that this would be simpler if the Corona Triplanar map had a setting that made it respond to UVW mapping, but I understand why that's a counter-intuitive feature request.

2
Gallery / Advanced Wood
« on: 2019-08-19, 15:19:37 »
I've developed an Advanced Wood material setup that is able to replicate the look of solid wood furniture with visible endgrain. Endgrain absorbs more stain than the rest of the wood, giving it a darker appearance. Using the Advanced Wood map in conjunction with CoronaTriplanar gives pretty good results.

3
Gallery / Re: Hollywood Hills
« on: 2019-04-22, 14:58:57 »
Great lighting.

4
Work in Progress/Tests / Dining Room
« on: 2019-04-17, 19:17:45 »
Something I'm kicking around. C&C welcome.

5
We often have to render spaces where the tile layout has been designed very specifically. The best way we've found to capture the design accurately is to model the tiles. Getting the corners, or other special circumstances, to look right using a texture based approach requires a fair amount of custom work that is not easily applied to future models. By modeling the tiles we can keep using the same tile materials regardless of the shape or layout of the tiles they are applied to.

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Work in Progress/Tests / Re: iridescent shader
« on: 2019-03-07, 15:00:23 »
I'd love to know more about how you achieved that result.

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General CG Discussion / Re: Sketchup to max?
« on: 2019-03-04, 16:21:02 »
We do a ton of Sketchup to Max here, and you're right. Sketchup geometry is really difficult to modify once it's brought into Max. Our approach is to do all the modeling in Sketchup, so we don't have to make changes once it's in max. We are careful about grouping geometry and softening edges in Sketchup so we don't have to worry about welding or smoothing groups once it's in Max. Big chamfers are modeled in Sketchup, and small ones are taken care of with a Corona Round Edges map. By the time we bring our geometry into Max, all we have left to do is apply materials and add lighting. If we need to make a change, we update the Sketchup model, export the changed geometry, and delete the out of date stuff in Max.

If it's absolutely essential to be able to modify your geometry in Max, you may be better off building it in Max.

Also, for what it's worth, we get our best results importing .skp files, backsaved to version 8. There are fewer unnecessary edges, and it better preserves material names.

8
I'm liking it so far.

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[Max] I need help! / Re: Render without shadow...
« on: 2017-05-15, 15:01:41 »
You may also be able to get the result you want using render elements in photoshop. If you layer the CShading_Shadows pass over your beauty pass using the Screen blend mode, it should neutralize the shadows created by environmental lights. This has not always worked well for me with interiors, but you won't have to change anything in your scene to try it, so I think it's worth a shot.

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[Max] I need help! / Re: Round Edges 1.6
« on: 2017-04-28, 15:17:06 »
Should this thread be moved to bug reporting?

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[Max] I need help! / Re: Round Edges 1.6
« on: 2017-04-26, 19:58:11 »
I agree. Deleting the inner faces at junctions like this is not intuitive, and will add considerable time to our modeling process. It breaks our old scenes, and will add to the work we need to do when a design changes.

This doesn't help me do anything I couldn't do before, requires changes to our workflow, and breaks our old scenes. Sounds like a bug to me.

12
We have a Sketchup based workflow here, and have also had difficulty matching camera views with 3ds Max. If what you need is just the lines, you might have an easier time using a CTexmap render element with the CoronaWire map. It won't be the same as Sketchup, but it has been close enough for us in the past.

13
Gallery / Re: House Wikus
« on: 2016-11-03, 19:39:39 »
The contrast and saturation in this image both feel low. Perhaps this is deliberate, but it looks particularly strange around the car. The color of the paint looks pale, and the tires and bumper are far lighter than I would expect.

14
[Max] I need help! / Generating a Procedural Normal Map
« on: 2016-02-09, 23:10:20 »
Hello,

When I need to render a material with a subtle sparkle, I do it by using the technique described in the Corona Car Paint tutorial embedded below. I rendered out a normal map using a plane and some rotated scatter objects.

I was wondering, though, if it is possible to generate a procedural version of this kind of normal map. Generating a random RGB value is easy enough, but I'm not sure how to generate an RGB value that is within the specific color domain of a normal map. I have been working on it a little, but I haven't gotten a good result. My vector math is pretty rusty and I have never tried to do anything so precise in the Max Material editor before, so I thought I'd ask for some guidance.

How would you do it?


15
Jobs / Hiring: Junior Architectural Renderer
« on: 2015-12-16, 19:25:47 »
Peter Pennoyer Architects, a New York City based, AD 100 architecture firm specializing in classical and traditional design, is looking to add a full time Junior Architectural Visualizer  to our 3D production team. This position will be responsible for creating 3D models, renderings, and other content for the firms active projects, as well as maintaining and improving the firm’s general 3D capabilities. The ideal candidate will have prior experience with 3D visualization work and/or a degree in architecture, engineering or a related field. Compensation will be commensurate with experience.
 
Duties and responsibilities:
·         Create accurate and highly detailed 3D architectural models
·         Reproduce specific furnishings,fixtures and design elements in 3D from 2D drawings and sketches
·         Develop real world materials and finishes as required
·         Maintain and organize existing texture and 3D resource libraries
·         Produce compelling renderings
 
Key Skills and Abilities:
·         Proficiency with Sketchup, 3DS Max, Rhino, and Photoshop
·         Familiarity with Corona as well as AutoCAD and Revit a plus
·         Comfortable with the full breadth of 3D production work, including modeling, texturing, lighting, rendering, and post production.
·         Ability to understand and an interpret complex 2D architectural drawings
·         Creative problem solving, and an interest in continuous improvement
·         Comfortable working independently in a meticulous, detail oriented environment
·         Excellent communication skills

To apply, submit a resume and PDF portfolio to phil@ppapc.com with the subject line Junior Architectural Visualizer

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