Spline cage modeling is a process that requires the use of 2d shapes, or splines, in order to build a cage that can later be surfaced. This tutorial will show you how to use splines in order to create a shark. Spline modeling take a while to get use to, but is a very valuable skill to have when using organic modeling. 1. Obtain some reference photos Start by getting some reference photos of your shark. You can usually find some good one online, the key is to find an exact side profile, and if you can, a front profile, of the shark. From looking at my reference image, I created a plane in the left view about the size of the shark. Then I added the image to the plane as a texture. This is going to be used as a reference for obtaining the outline of the shark. 2. Outline the shark using line. Go to the create panel and choose shapes > splines > line. From the left view, trace the outline of your shark, trying to use as little clicks as possible. Don’t worry if it’s not perfect, you can fix that next. Close the spline by clicking on ...

Searching for quality 3D tutorials can be hard to do sometimes. Especially if you have already learned modeling techniques and you wish to learn more in detail other aspects of the 3D software. That's why I have compiled a list of a few tutorials around the web I think would be excellent to read if it's your goal to further expand your knowledge of 3D software. These include spline modeling techniques, quick tricks for fast modeling, simulation using reactor and other various techniques.

1.The ocean floor Start by creating a plane 300 x 300, 30 length and width segments Put a noise modifier on the plane, this will add the irregularities to the ground. Scale 40. Change the Z strength to 8.0. You can add a sand texture to the ground to add more realism. Right click on the ground plane and choose freeze selection. This will prevent you from accidentally moving the plane. 2. Camera is a must Place a camera in your scene to a desirable view. I chose this angle to place my camera. You want to get a view that doesn’t allow you to see the outer edges, don’t worry about the far edges, we will next add a fog effect to the scene so that they wont be visible. 3. Setting fog If you don’t have any objects to place in your underwater scene, just create a teapot and a couple of boxes so that you can properly test the fog effect. Set up three objects so that one is close to the camera, the next one is further away, and last one is the farthest away. Hit 8 to bring up the Environment and Effects dialog box. Under atmosphere select add and ...

Radiosity is different than most rendering solutions is that radiosity requires additional an additional processing step in addition to the normal render. This process creates a hidden meshing solution on all geometry in the scene to store what is known as a radiosity solution. Once your scene is processed, following frames during render time do not require the solution to be reprocessed. Any time a change is made however, the solution must be redone. To use radiosity in your scene, you first need to add a photometric light. It is important to know the size of your scene and also relative brightness of the light you choose. I chose a free area light for this particular scene and placed near the top of the ceiling. Radiosity works well for indoor scenes, light tracer, a different rendering solution, tends to work better for outdoor environments. Once you have set up your lighting, its time to set up your solution. Under Rendering > Advanced Lighting > Radiosity is where you set up the radiosity render settings. There are many options to tweak under these settings. Let’s go through them all to help better explain how to use them to better. Initial Quality defaults to 85%, ...

Chances are you have seen the cool effects of ray tracing. You may have even had your computer crash due to overuse of this advanced technique. But what exactly is going on when a ray trace solution is occurring? There is no doubt that ray tracing is a rendering technique used in 3d software that creates photorealistic images. The reason ray tracing creates such realistic images is because it literally calculates every ray of light and follows each and every one of them until they hit the camera. That means for each pixel, there is a calculation going on, tracing, the ray, hence the name, ray trace. What is a ray? In 3d terms, a ray is a line that travels through 3 dimensions and collects data to be rendered. As this ray travels though space, it bounces off various objects, collecting more data as it reaches its end goal, the camera. It mimics how real light behaves as it hits our eyes. You can think of our eyes as the camera, and light as the rays. Because the amount of rays in any given scene is quite numerous, the ray tracing calculation is reversed to that of real light. Only ...

This tutorial explains how to create a fire texture to be applied to particles in order to create a realistic fire effect. If you are trying to create a fire effect in 3ds Max, please visit Realistic Fire Effect tutorial after creating your fire material. If you have a good understanding of particles, you probably won’t need to go through the other tutorial. Start by creating a new Standard material. Under Shader Basic Parameters, choose Blinn. Choose an orange color for Ambient/Diffuse Color. I chose an RBG of Red: 255 Green: 120 Blue: 0 Hue: 20 Sat: 255 Value: 255 Check the self illumination box and select a slighter brighter orange color. I chose Red: 255 Green: 174 Blue: 0 Hue: 29 Sat: 255 Value: 255 So far your material should look like this. Under maps, choose diffuse color. Pick Particle Age and hit ok. For Color #1 choose a red color, and for Age #1 type in 20%. For Color #2 choose an orange color and Age# 2 type in 50% Color # pick white and Age# 3 make 100% Go back up to the parent level by clicking on the go to parent button. Make sure the diffuse amount for the diffuse map is 100. Click on the self illumination map and choose Smoke. Under Smoke Parameters ...

If you have ever used 3d Studio Max you know that using the software can be challenging. Many problems can arise that interfere with efficiently using the software. Getting used to the graphical user interface, lighting, texturing and rendering all pose their challenges. Even the experienced users can find themselves stuck trying to remember 3d Studio Max’s comprehensive interface or waiting hours for a render. Because of these problems, efficiency can suffer and many users can find themselves taking three or four more steps than needed. Luckily there are ways to become more efficient using 3d Studio Max. 1. Learn hotkeys This may seem like an obvious, but using hotkeys are the quickest way to efficiency in 3ds Max. You should learn the hotkeys for anything you consistently do in 3ds Max. The best way to learn a hotkey is to literally stop what you are doing, and actually learn the hotkey. Write it down and keep a cheat sheet near your workstation. Eventually using hotkeys will become second nature to you. For example of the top of my head I know that ALT W will maximize your view port, T, L, F, and P will toggle to top, left, front ...

This tutorial will walk you thru creating realistic fire using 3ds Max’s particle system. With the right particle generation, texture, and material, you can produce some fairly realistic effects. If you have not done so, first create your fire material by following the material tutorial, because you will later apply this material to your particles. Step 1 Setting up Particles Start by creating a blizzard particle system and place it in your scene so its pointing upwards. To do this go to Create > Particles > Blizzard. Rotate the particle emitter 180 degrees so its pointing up. Under the modify panel, change the emitter size to 45 x 45. The viewport display show how the particles will be represented in the viewport, not how the particles will be rendered. The percentage of particles displays a certain percentage in the viewport but the amount of particles rendered will always be 100%. Step 2 Particle Generation Under Particle Generation choose a user rate of 3. This controls how many particles are to be created per frame. Under Particle Motion choose a speed of 1.97, a variation of .276, tumble 0 and tumble rate 0. Under Particle Timing make your Emit start a negative number. You can make ...