This is something I've looked for for a while, and finally found it hidden in a dark corner in the interwebs! I take no credits for this, I'm only sharing because I find it to be very useful.
Mainly what this little program does, is that it allows you to preview you TGA/PSD files in window explorer. And that my friends, is awesome.
Follow the link to download it and install or get it directly from here!
I have been out of touch for these last few weeks, and the reason behind that is I recently accepted a job offer as a senior environment artist at Hi Rez Studios in Alpharetta GA...you know how moving is :)
I'm very thankful and happy about this opportunity and can't wait to share with you all what we are making!
Peace
Hi guys, the issue of 3D artist magazine that has the tutorial I made is out! Go get your copy :)
OR, have a look at the PDF of the section I created here.
Tip #3 Edit Poly Magic!
This is a recent little trick I've discovered in 3ds Max, which tells me there are so many other things that I don't know about this program...
This little trick in 3ds Max is very handy and is a very good way to have a non destructible workflow. You might end up with a "few" modifiers, but then its up to you to collapse and leave the ones that you feel could be useful later to tweak your model.
Having said all this, this only works with Edit Poly modifier (NOT editable poly!)
I'll keep this simple for the sake of presentation, and I'll let you experiment with it more.
Lets use a simple cube, and add an Edit Poly modifier on top. (Notice the Edit Poly Mode with the <No current operation>)
Next is, make some kind of Edit to the model. But before, and this is the crucial step here, make sure you select "Animate". All I'm doing is selecting some random polys and beveling them. Now for organization purposes, rename your modifier by right clicking it and selecting rename. I've renamed mine "Edit_PolyBevel_01"
Note: for this to work, make only one operation per modifier OR just remember that Max will only take in consideration the last one you've done ALSO note that where it said <No Current Opperation> now says "Bevel Polygon"
Next, apply another Edit poly and then make another modification to your model. I'm selecting some of the edges and chamfering them (Make sure you have animate selected again). Rename your modifier. I'm renamed mine to "Edit_EdgeChamfer_01"
Feel free to add more modifiers, but I'm going to stop here for this demo.
Here is where the magic happens, go back to the first "Edit_PolyBevel_01" and click on settings. This now will open up the Bevel option box that we used earlier and give you the option to change those setting WHILE taking in consideration the modifier on top (You can also completely change that to another operation BUT it might mess up your end result).This way you are not really committed to a change you've done and have the opportunity to play with different looks.
This technique works great if you are adding edge controls around your mesh (for high poly modeling) but not sure how tight the result would be, by using this method you can go back and control the "tightness" of your mesh. Try and keep you modifier stack clean though, because things can get out of control pretty quick.
Voila! I hope you have learned something from this little trick.
Thanks for stopping by, and keep on learning !
Tip #2 Double TurboSmooth
I’ve used this trick quite a lot in 3ds Max to really speed up my high poly hard surface modeling. This workflow is not destructible which means you can always go back to tweak your model. This also gives you a great start to build your low poly when baking normal maps.
Yes, you can use edge loops to control your hard edges. It’s totally up to you; it’s just nice to have another way of doing it. I personally use both workflows; it depends on the complexity of the model and also on how fast I can get it done.
Let’s get started with a simple techy model. The end result we are aiming for are nice and crisp edges all around.
1- you'll first start by applying a different smoothing group on every face or group of faces that you want to have a hard edge on.
2- you'll then apply a TurboSmooth modifier on the model. The trick here is to check “Seperated by Smoothing Groups”
3- Last step is to apply another TurboSmooth on top and...Voila!! You can control the smoothness of your model by giving it more iterations (don't go too high or you might crash Max!)
4- End Result
Very simple workflow yet very powerful, as long as you set your smoothing groups right.
Experiment with different smoothing groups for different results.
Thanks for stopping by, and keep on learning !
