3DS Max Questions (from a noob)
Hey guys,
I'm a Maya user who is trying to learn 3DS Max. I apologize if this isn't the right place to post this, but I couldn't find the correct place. If there is a more appropriate area for these kinds of questions please direct me and I'll happily move my questions there. I'm new here, and I'm looking forward to growing with the community.
Okay, so I'm following some tutorials from various sources such as Digital Tutors. I'm currently making game weapon assets in 3DS Max, following the tutorial.
Question:
1. Why on earth is the shadow all glitchy looking?? I can't figure it out. I tried different viewport settings. I've never touched any lights. The scene is lit with default lighting. This is the kind of stuff that really bugs me. lol. The last image with the brown piece of geo is from the tutorial. The shading SHOULD look like that. I thought maybe it was a reversed normals problem, but from what I checked it appears as though the normals are all fine.
If it's okay, I'd like to use this thread as a place to ask continued questions that pop up for 3DS Max, as I move along my journey.
Thanks for the help everyone, I look forward to getting to know you guys!
Dan
I'm a Maya user who is trying to learn 3DS Max. I apologize if this isn't the right place to post this, but I couldn't find the correct place. If there is a more appropriate area for these kinds of questions please direct me and I'll happily move my questions there. I'm new here, and I'm looking forward to growing with the community.
Okay, so I'm following some tutorials from various sources such as Digital Tutors. I'm currently making game weapon assets in 3DS Max, following the tutorial.
Question:
1. Why on earth is the shadow all glitchy looking?? I can't figure it out. I tried different viewport settings. I've never touched any lights. The scene is lit with default lighting. This is the kind of stuff that really bugs me. lol. The last image with the brown piece of geo is from the tutorial. The shading SHOULD look like that. I thought maybe it was a reversed normals problem, but from what I checked it appears as though the normals are all fine.
If it's okay, I'd like to use this thread as a place to ask continued questions that pop up for 3DS Max, as I move along my journey.
Thanks for the help everyone, I look forward to getting to know you guys!
Dan
Replies
Your smoothing groups will also affect model shading (the equivalent to Maya's hard/soft edges).
I don't have max on this machine or I'd verify the exact place, but I do know it's along that route. I've had to change that myself in the past.
Bartalon, I clicked on the viewport area where you can change the view mode (realistic, etc) and I don't see a "smooth" option. I posted a picture of what I do see. As far as smoothing groups, I don't know much about them. I can tell you this sculpt is multiple pieces of geometry, though I don't think that's the problem.
Butt,
I was hoping that would work. It was set to two lights, so I tried changing it to one. Much to my dismay it only made the shadow more harsh. I posted a picture of the default settings before I touched anything. Then I posted a version of when I changed it from 2 lights to 1.
Hmm.. o.O
I tried shaded. Still nothing. I don't get why it's doing this.
Click on the + at the top left corner of your viewport then under Visual Style & Appearance set your lighting to 1 Light, as seen below:
If you still get odd shading issues, it's because of improperly configured smoothing groups which I assume will be covered at some point in your Digital Tutors videos.
Thanks for the images and help man. I'll make those changes. Ironically smoothing groups are the next section. I'll be moving onto those shortly.
I appreciate the help, I'll check in later when I've learned about smooth groups.
Thanks again guys!
Onto my latest question:
What's the best way to import 3Ds Max low poly models into Zbrush? Is there a way to make zbrush recognize the Smoothing groups so you can sub divide without screwing up the model? The tutorial that I'm following shows a plugin that is really old for a really old version of ZBrush-- it was some kind of .OBJ smoothing groups importer.
I researched this the best I could, and I found this elsewhere on polycount:
So I followed steps 1 and 2 with no problem. But I am baffled by GoZ.
Is there a GoZ button in 3Ds Max that I'm missing? Is there a way I can use GoZ from inside Zbrush to import a file into Zbrush?
Here was my work around for my problem, that I'm not really sure was a good thing to do, or a good work flow:
1. Because I couldn't get the smoothing groups to work in Zbrush, I imported the model (I'm making an Axe, and I imported just the blade) as an .obj.
2. I tried playing with the crease function, but didn't quite get the holds I needed, so I opted to use the "crease all" function, I sub divided it enough times where when I pressed "uncrease all" and sub divided once it held its shape.
3. The possible problem... This brought a piece of geo that was 100-250 polys to around 26,000 polys, at sub division 4. I noticed that there were feint imprints of the individual faces imprinted in the mesh (because the geo held it's exact shape from the lowest div level count. I smoothed out these feint lines where I could. Is it bad to start sculpting from here? Is there a better way to import a low poly hard-surfaced object into Zbrush??
Sorry for all of the questions guys, I appreciate your time and assistance!
The GoZ option should appear inside Max in the menu bar, at the very end adjacent to Help. If it's not there, then the pipeline has not been installed, which needs to be done using ZBrush.
To install the pipeline in ZBrush, click the GoZ button in the Tool palette and ZBrush will search for any applicable software to link.
If for whatever reason the pipeline has been installed before yet it's not showing up in max, you'll want to force a reinstall by going to Preferences > GoZ > path to 3D Studio Max.
Once the GoZ pipeline is installed, it's a one-click transfer from Max to ZBrush.
Method 1 -
Subdiving in Max with Smoothing Groups Checked is essentially the same as subdividing with creased edges. The difference here is you would do all your subdividing in Max, send that to ZBrush using GoZ, then use Reconstruct Subdiv (Tool > Geometry > Reconstruct Subdiv) to get all of your lower subdivision levels back.
Method 2 -
I'm a Maya guy so I'm not used to (or fond of) the smoothing groups thing. My method involves creasing the edges I want to stay sharp while using Turbosmooth as a preview to make sure my model will look the way I want once it's subdivided. When I'm satisfied with my crease edge placement, I send it to ZBrush with GoZ and subdivide in there--crease information is retained when using GoZ, but not when exporting an OBJ.
If you want to use creasing rather than subdivisions, Max can do that as well. In Edge Selection mode, there is a Crease data box all the way at the bottom under the Edit Edges section. Just crank the value to 1 for any edge you want to remain hard in ZBrush. The only down side to creasing in Max is that there is no visual indication that an edge has been creased (in Maya it turns into a bold edge) so Method 1 might be a better approach.
Using Crease All is equivalent to disabling the Smt (smooth subdivision) button adjacent to the Divide button. Retaining the exact shape of your low poly is generally only used for polypainting straight to your low poly. Trying to polish out this faceting on your high poly is just going to lead to headaches and lumpiness in your model so I would recommend getting your model to look the way you want it to from the beginning before you start adding details.
Using the GoZ pipeline is one of the fastest and easiest methods for transferring a model into ZBrush. Even if you are starting with an OBJ, it might be easier to import it into Max first and set up your smoothing groups/creases, and then use GoZ. Creasing in ZBrush can be tricky to get all the edges you want sometimes and is generally faster in Max/Maya/etc.
P.S. holding Ctrl over any button in ZBrush will bring up a tooltip about what that button does!
You're the BEST!!! Thanks so much for the diligent post!! I'm linking GoZ to 3Ds Max right now! I had no idea that Zbrush had to install the connectivity. I'll be reading through your post thoroughly, and putting it to practice. Lots of good info and tips in there man, I can't thank you enough!
Whenever I start up again I hit a wall. I'm currently having a problem with Zbrush that I can't seen to find the answer to.
I'm making a simple Axe in 3DS max and am doing the highpoly in Zbrush here's my process and my problem.
1. I sculpted the low poly base Axe in multiple pieces in 3DS Max. When I initially used the GoZ function and then divided in ZBrush it would distort the mesh. Then I tried creating poly groups in 3DS Max then using GoZ. No dice. It still divided and messed up the base mesh. I came up with a work around that I thought was sound. I used the "crease" function in 3DS Max to crease any edges that required it. Then I added in a turbo smooth with 3-4 iterations per subtool. I added multiple iterations so that in Zbrush if I were to divide it would divide from the latest iteration, as such, it wouldn't change the mesh much at all because it's already pretty dense.
2. I selected the entire 3DS Max axe, with each of the 4 or so parts, all of which had turbo smooth set to 3-4 iterations, and specific creases and used the GoZ function.
3. I dragged it out in Zbrush, and went into edit mode (T). I then used the "reconstruct subdiv" function 3-4 times until the mesh was back to it's lowest poly state. As such, each part of the axe now had about 4 division levels.
4. Everything SOUNDS fine up until now. Here's the problem. I can't manipulate the mesh -- AT ALL. I'm in edit, I have the move brush selected, and hovering on top of my low poly mesh, but it's not doing anything to it. If I change the scale of the brush the cursor indicator (the circle of the brush) doesn't even show in the first place. Though the size of the brush numerically changes on the top of the screen. No matter the brush I try it won't do anything.
What am I doing wrong? Have I made a silly noob mistake and looked over something simple? Was my process bad? I thought it was a good idea because I could define the way I wanted it to look at slightly higher division levels (where it matters) without zbrush messing it up, and without relying on zbrush's crease feature, which I haven't found gives me as much control as doing it in 3DS Max.
I'm looking forward to your responses,
thanks guys!
Dan
Any ideas why it is that the mesh IS in edit mode, but can't be edited? All I did to the mesh was "reconstruct subdivision" a few times.