heres another couple of images i produced out of my latest project. No where near perfect (modelling is a little out) and the garage/porch column materials too reflective... but you get the general idea

let me know what you think

S

@wolfy said:

I agree, having a tutorial on how to bring SU into MAX to get this quality would be extremely beneficial! I've tried importing into MAX 2011 here at work using MAX's SU import option, but my humble attempt at V-ray for MAX renders are pathetic to put it politely. Lighting and texturing are frustrating. My Vray for SU renders on the other hand look quite good, since I've been using both for a couple years, but I'm looking for MAX quality these days. Any help out there?

Hi Solo/Wolfy

youre right, you can import SU models directly into MAX. It even imports the camera's if you wish, although i like to add my own. The process of importing and setting up your scene is daunting to begin with, but you must be patient and stick to it! Ive spent countless hours viewing tutorials all over the net, and there are thousands of them! Be sure that you know the basics of 3DS MAX and how to navigate, otherwise youll get even more frustrated! Take the time to get familiar with it and do some basic poly modelling and apply some basic materials!

From my experience, the KEY when importing models into 3DS is:

• • add vray sun/sky
• • add vray physical camera
    ****** in the viewport you want to render, ensure you switch to the vray physical camera view and do not leave it on perspective, this is a mistake many ppl do.
    ** use the eyedropper tool in the material editor to select the material youve mapped from SU and then apply your updated materials accordingly. Be sure you select the 'show material in viewport' option when applying materials otherwise you wont see it in the viewport.
    ** ENSURE ENSURE you set the gamme to 2.2 (linear workflow). There are tons of tutorials that show you how to do this!

Thats pretty much it. I would love to do an in depth tutorial but im way too busy to do one in the near future, if i find the time on the weekend i may just do that...

I cant express how much time ive saved in rendering because of MAX. Its not because it renders quicker, but because of VRAY RT and the ability to view LIVE lighting in the viewport, you get a very good sense on how the scene is being illuminated...

@holmes1977 said:

That is FLIPPIN BRILLIANT

WOW

I so need to get 3DS MAX and Vray. I too love Vray4SU but cos of of SU limitations, I cant see how its ever going to be able too achieve Vegetation like that.

Thanks... Yeah i was quiet happy with the results. 3DS/Vray has ways in which to handle so many polygons as per the grass images below. All you do is create a small patch of grass (5 or so strands) and then 'instance' this as whats known as a vray proxy and you can 'paint' it as many times as you like without consuming CPU/RAM. It makes reference to the original small patch of grass and thats all there is to it! Quiet simple once you get your head around it!
Although, i find Vray SU is quicker at rendering so far for whatever reason! BUT, 3ds Vray is SOOO MUCH better at creating materials as you can see them LIVE in the materials editor (SU Vray editor is too small, cant see material properly) along with LIVE shading in the viewport... makes things much easier... no need to wait to render to see what the lighting is going to look like, you get a general idea once you set up your scene!

Thanks for the feedback!

Hi

As an exercise, I downloaded the house model from the warehouse and done some basic geometry modelling for the landscape and then exported to 3ds max using vray for final rendering.... pretty easy process but still getting used to the idea of using 3ds, so many options and workarounds.... i concentrated more on the vegetation on this one rather than the materials of the building, as I feel SU+Vray it limited when it comes to vegetation so ive become somewhat obssessed with vegetation!

Would like to know your thoughts!

S

Hi all

it may be because the vismat is calling for a bitmap material associated with the vismat.
From memory, those vismats provided do NOT have the bitmaps included.

You can review the exact error here:
C:\ProgramData\ASGVIS\VfS\vfs_stderr.txt

If you cannot open it (due to the program using it), then make a copy of this file and review it that way!

Hope this helps
S

@tensai.always said:

well done mate. I love your grass and trees. Really, can you tell me the grass trick? Really love to know that. well done !

Hi Tensai

Sure mate... grass trick is pretty easy... if you use VRAY (and obviously sketchup) then follow this tutorial and its easily done. It must be done in photoshop (or gimp)...

http://architectural-rendering.andyorban.com/?p=127

Theres so much you can do with vrays material ID.. What i like to do is give all my materials a material ID colour which allows me to easily select/mask it in photoshop! Oh and be sure to add MATERIAL ID in your VFB Channels in the vray options

Hope that makes sense!

S

@holmes1977 said:

Hi Mate
Well done. Looking great. The over all lighting is great. You matched the render and photo so well.
Where are you from.....Oz?

Thanks mate! Most of the work was done in post, pretty time consuming but was overall happy with the end result.

Yeah from Oz, I take it ur from NZ?

P.S - thanks again for the render material

fantastic render! You can see all the effort youve put into it!!!
Love the detail1

May I as how you modelled the ridge? Or is that a material with displacement?

Hi all

Thought id post my latest work... used Sketchup, Vray and PS.
Was on a tight timeframe with this one.... the original site had no grass so i had to PS it in, left the sky as per the pic i took and didnt place another on in PS.

S

didnt realise there were vid clips (work browser doesnt show them up)... wow how long did that take to render? great job

great work - nice difuse glow on the images!

Can i ask how you modelled the roof tiles? In paticular the ridges? My method of doing this is very slow and was wondering how you achieve it?

Thanks
S

in regards to the blackout script, another method (if you use VRAY as a renderer) is to select a couloured MATERIAL ID (such as white) and ensure you include it as one of your VFB channels... You can use this method for as many materials as you like in the scene for EASY selection in POST PRO....

good luck

@andybot said:

If you get a good bump map - you can use that either in the bump or displacement slot. You could also try playing with the noise and stucco texture in the vray materials textures. As far as color, you can create an additional diffuse layer to adjust color only, and use the Alpha color trick to make your first diffuse layer transparent (and use the bump map as your texture to control the mapping.) Hope that all makes sense

Andy

Thanks heaps Andy, Ill have a play tonight when i get a chance and let you know if it works... you wouldnt happen to have a vismat you could share so I can study it to be sure im doing it right?

appreciate the response!

Hi

Over the years ive had trouble coming up with a render wall texture to suit walls that are RENDERED. Its kind of hard to explain the texture so ive attached how trades people do this. Its basically a rough wall (concrete'ish) render.
How would i achieve this?

Ive tried using a diffuse colour only in the diffue slot and use a bump to get that rough texture look but i dont get the desirable results... what im after is something that shows the rough texture... I also need the flexibility of changing the render colour, so is it possible to use any diffuse colour i want and add a bump/displacement to achieve this result? Or do i have to create this text in photoshop (along with colour) and had it in the diffuse slot?

See attached images, hopefully someone can help me'

Thanks guys
S

Hi all

Thought id start a thread in the hope we can help one another in what plug ins we use or are seeking to help assist in architectural modelling.

I've predominantly use 1001bit tools, mostly to create louvres, windows and columns. Apart fromt that i generally use the default tools provided by SU.

I would LOVE a plug in which will model floor tiles/roof tiles....have looked aruond for this but not much luck... oh and also a nice window/door plug in would be handy, not sure I like the onews in 1001bit

would love to know what else you find very helpful...

I have actuallty realised that this DOES WORK in Vray 1.49.01. All materials when imported were still mapped and it rendered correctly...... no idea whats going on here

Hi

Am hoping this is around somewhere otherwise it would be a GREAT idea as a plug in...

All material IDs are defaulted to black. Is there a plug in that randomly applies difference colours to each material ID to make it easier in post?
I usually have to do this manually but if there is a plug in for this idea that would be much easier

Thanks
S

oh really that sux... using 1.49.01!!!

Thanks for getting back to me... lets hope its re-introduced in the near future.

Hi

I downloaded some audi TT somewhere off the net and i imported it in Sketchup only to realise that when i rendered this without any of my own touch ups, it had also imported the vray settings of the cars materials and it looked fantastic... i dont recall where i got it from though...

My question is, is it possible to save a component in SU which i have already applied vray materials to (for example; reflection, bump etc) so that next time i use this component it is automatically mapped to vray materials? Not sure hwo this was done by the TT but it worked great!

Hoping that makes sense...

Any assistance would be appreciated guys!

Thanks
S

Hi Bryan

ITs actually due to me resizing the image to upload it here, i used office picture manager and just resized it and thats how the jagged lines occured.. the full res image doesnt suffer from anti aliasing.