[Monolith]

Just wondered if anybody is conversant with 3DS max and Vray here?

I've been working with Maxwell Studio and Maxwell Render for quite some time now and it might be more hassle than it's worth to make the switch from MR to Vray but I'd like to know if anybody has experience of both. I'm currently reviewing my workflow methods for 3D modelling and would firmly like to move away from using Sketchup Pro with the Maxwell plugin if at all possible.

I have worked in a professional capacity modelling in Vectorworks (outmoded method but some benefits) but again wonder if investing time and energy with a move to 3DS Max might be worth it.

With respect to 3DS max, I would like to ply you with some pm questions if any kind soul would mind.

Cheers.

[bigd942]

Never used Vectorworks, VRay or Maxwell - my normal setup is Solidworks into 3DS Max and I've the Brazil Plugin - from the looks of it not a million miles away from what you're looking at.
Max is a great platform for composing a scene and doing animation but as a modeller I found it came way short of what I needed. Solidworks was the reverse, great parametric modeller but crap for rendering, using them together however (along with Corel Draw and Photoshop for texture maps/product label artwork/alpha channels etc) I've never been left wanting for anything in the last four or five years.

I'm engineering, plastic components and metal fabrications, basically stuff from the size of lego blocks all the way up to oil terminals. With everything based in Solidworks it's great as stress analysis etc is only a few clicks away and your time is never wasted, going to a 2d drawing again is only a few clicks away. If you'd modelled in Max you'd basically have to redo everything again in ProE, Autocad etc to get these.


This is (or used to be when I used it) a great forum, http://www.maxforums.org/ - if you have any questions I'd post here to be honest, loads of guys in your line of business - architecture??

[Monolith]

Thanks for that mate.

Yeah it's a total minefield trying to keep abreast of developments in line with expanding your knowledge base. I'd be really interested to read more about Solidworks and love to see some examples of your stuff if you have any?

To be perfectly honest, Maxwell is so comprehensive and though it's been a long process of learning the software as well as the principles underpinning lighting physics, I think I've come pretty far in a relatively short space of time with it. My colleague I was working next to at the rendering firm I worked for was using a Vray bridge with Cinema4D. As it was the company workflow, I too had started to render through Cinema4D but it's lagging sorely behind compared to what's happening with Maxwell, Mentalray, Vray etc etc.

Inasmuch as I'm aware though, I don't believe you can suspend and resume a render unlike in Maxwell where you can output an .MXI file that 'remembers' the sample levels passed. I could be wrong..?

The reality though is that this is only a very small part of the skills base that I need in training to be an architect. It's a huge edge to have over those who can't render well which is why I want to ply time into this as efficiently as possible prior to doing my forthcoming masters years. To be able to present renders with the qualities that are suited to my tastes quickly is the absolute aim here. To give you an idea bigd942 of my tastes,

(bar the third image down which has clearly been done in a hurry and resulted in a lot of noise, this is my style of work and render style, here

A good many images here including the Stockholm project here

I have used BIM software for a considerable period with Archicad but I found it more stress than it was worth trying to do anything of a more complex geometry beyond the orthogonal. Importing elevations and sections, plans etc into Sketchup, lifting them about a base point and then tracing over the elements is one fairly simple way I've also worked but can be too messy for my liking. That's where I wondered whether 3DS Max might not assist me.

Big ramble sorry but I think it's indicative of the choices! Thanks for your help bigd942,

Tom.

[Monolith]

I watched the first look video of Solidworks and it looks amazingly good! Dragging and dropping models onto a layout sheet to give instant dimensioned drawings!!! Presumably you can work the other way around and import your cad elevations,plans sections and give extrudes and whatnot? I'm psyched to get involved!

[bigd942]

Tom,
       pm me your e-mail and I'll send over some of my previous work. None of it's ground breaking but from a conversation about an idea to a photo realistic render in a few hours ain't bad. Brazil I found very stable, like anything you have a learning curve and tweaking the settings normally gave good results in minutes rather than hours - pausing mid way through a pass was possible but normally most things never took more than 20 mins, global illumination was the biggest hit on time but play around with lighting and materials a bit and similar results with much less rendering time.

Everything in the Stockholm file I see as very doable, even the in-situ moc-kup. Model up in Solidworks, export in 3DS, add materials, set your picture as the background and play around with the camera a bit to get it looking right - an hour at the most I reckon - and yes I appreciate the shape/style etc of the building will take you much longer to figure out, I mean an hour once you know exactly what shape you are going to model.

As for sketching up, I used Corel for this for a long time as I was fairly good with up - in the end I now use Solidworks to sketch, honestly it's that fast to knock up something once you figure out the basics (spinning, mirror,patterns etc) a parametric modeller will be the first place you go to as the start of the process. You can import existing drawings easily enough although sorting out scales take a bit of thought now and again.

Head over to here to see some Brazil stuff http://www.splutterfish.com/sf/WebContent/Gallery/

Neil Blevins work is also good - http://www.neilblevins.com/artgallery/artgallery_thumbnails_by_category.html