How to Cheat in 3ds Max 2009: Get Spectacular Results Fast
Including a host of time-saving techniques as well as little-known tools that will make you look like an expert in no time flat, this book will show you how to get results with 3ds max fast.
TABLE OF CONTENTS How to Cheat in 3ds Max 2009: Get Spectacular Results Fast
Preparing Textures
Good texture maps are the key to believability in your renderings. Realistic textures can bring a crude model to life, but it doesn t work the other way around. If your textures aren t up to par, your rendering will suffer accordingly.
Rather than paint your own textures, start with photographs as a base and do a bit of cleanup in Photoshop.
Figure 1: A straight-on photograph of an object makes an excellent basis for a texture map. In Photoshop, remove perspective with the Warp and Distort tools and clean up the image.
Figure 2: If the map doesn t match the object exactly, the background color will bleed onto the object. Use Photoshop s Smudge tool to push the edges of the image and make it larger.
Figure 3: You can also create textures right in 3ds Max by rendering an orthographic viewport. This is a great way to make animated textures for television and monitor screens.
Figure 4: To make a map tileable, cut it into four equal quadrants and swap each one with its diagonal counterpart. Clean up the visible edges in the middle, and the result is a tileable map. This technique is particularly good for landscape elements that need to be tiled over a large area, like grass, rocks, and sand. Use a texture like this with the Gradual Mix cheat to make a natural-looking landscape.
Figure 5: If you need a Bump map, make a grayscale version of your texture map and increase the contrast so...
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