# testing? minimal testing in 3dsmax 2012 w/ vray 2 # the steps below assume you know how to do basic # caveats? please save backup copies of your work. # to use a scene created for vray for 3dsmax in # give me credit, and share any modifications you make! thanks! # Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. # Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License So, with a little bit of googling, a little bit of trial and error, plenty of caffeine, and a little kitten trying to eat my rats nest of computer cables, I present my solution: I want to be able to purchase models that already have shaders and textures so I could get on to the fun stuff! ACTION! It’s amazing to me how many archvis models are available for Vray for 3DS Max, but practically none for Vray for Maya. I’ve been finding myself doing pre-visualization for some film and commercial projects I’m developing.

We created a sprite system for the snow with some Mel scripting, a 3d snowflake, and compositing plugin that would read a particle file. I prefer Maya for many reasons, but mostly it’s because I learned it while working at Industrial Light and Magic on Lawrence Kasdan’s Dreamcatcher. Enter the world of lighting and texturing… I had designed a chair in a product design class out of a single sheet of 4’x8′ plywood, but I wanted to see it before I built it. I did a lot of cad work with Autocad and Intergraph, but 3D Studio Max was the first software I lit with. I wanted to be an architect when I was younger and used 3D Studio Max in the late 90’s.

We used it on Tron:Legacy at Digital Domain and it was amazing. I’ve been playing around with Chaos Software’s Vray in Autodesk Maya lately and I really like it. Hopefully this will help others since I couldn’t find a solution for this problem myself. I tend to try and automate my work life as much as possible, and this is a glimpse of what that is like. This post is a bit more technical, and I’ll be scattering a few more in amongst my travel blog.

Maya vray materials