A Mixed Bag
Well, it’s just under 3 weeks since my last post, so today’s is a mixture of snippets I’ve been meaning to tell you all about.
1. First up - Have you ever wondered about the release history of ‘3D Studio’, such as code names, and what features were introduced when, etc. Yes? Then lucky you, the magic of the internet is here to help, by clicking here. 3d Studio Dos screengrab shown below.
Still not good enough and want to go back further? Then click here.
2. www.MyMentalRay.com has been newly updated and includes a fresh new look, and content. If you haven’t visited recently, then I recommend a visit to check it out.
3. www.MrMaterials.com is a very promising new website of exciting new mental ray materials ready for you to use. Why not create and upload your own, and become world famous*.... (*not guaranteed). Many of the materials are created by Jeff Patton, renowned as one of the main authorities on MR and rendering.
4. Following the implementation of the EPW file format for accurate Daylight systems in 3ds Max Design 2009, many of you have asked where to get these freely available files.
There’s a wealth of information out there, but the main site I visit is the EERE. Click here to visit the European section of the website. This data is often collected by weather stations at most major cities, where an airport is situated. This data is generally recorded on an hourly basis, and saved as a text file, which then be imported into 3ds Max Design. The main benefit of this data is it based off real world values, and not generic, cloudy or bright, as some other systems use. In short this ensures the data you are using is accurate and reliable.
5. And finally…. Are you using Distributed Bucket Rendering (DBR) in Mental Ray for 3ds Max? If not, then you should. This feature is a huge time saver when rendering large images, or doing test renders on single frames. However, If you have an 8 core machine then you may notice that DBR is only utilizing half the cpus. To get around this issue, you can trick MR into using them all, by adding the computer twice.
The simple process is:
- Connect to your slave using the Machine’s name.
- Connect to the same slave using the IP address.
- Ensure your firewall will allow access to 3ds Max.
Press render, and hey presto, mental ray will use all the cores and you get an image in about half the time! A full detailed explanation of general setup can be found within the 3ds Max Design help files.
All the best and Happy Max’ing.
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