Find Script By String

Recursive search in selected directory for string inside .ms scripts and finally double click on item in list of matches result to load the script for editing.
[ScriptSpot post] [Download link]

Sphere Array

There one funny script from me. You know what to do with it, right :)

Line Per Vertex

Line Per Vertex is a maxscript by Garp to creates lines out of an object's vertices.

Read more or Download.

Bounding Sphere

All we know about Bounding Box in 3ds Max, but what about Bounding Sphere? Yep, there no mapped function for that purpose and the problem is interesting and discussed by game developers in GameDev, also by scripters in ScriptSpot. And as you guess, ScriptSpot's thread interested me. I know so always there exist "shortcut", so now after being free from my duty, I sat down to think for a short, clean and optimized code. You can see my short simple version out there or right here:

obj = selection[1] -- select EPoly or add EPoly_mod
allVerts = for i in 1 to obj.numVerts collect polyop.getVert obj i
vDist = for i in allVerts collect distance i obj.center
sort vDist
-- Optional step:
-- if obj is not EPoly and you wish to restore it then remove EPloly_mod
bs_radius = vDist[vDist.count] -- BSphere Radius
bs_pos = obj.center -- BSphere Center

That's all. Now you can test it on some object and also may try make a sphere in the view port:

s = sphere pos:bs_pos radius:bs_radius xray:on

Fading undo with Morpher

Fading undo with Morpher modifier by Sergey Pogosyan.

Description: Photoshop has excellent command Fade, with help of this command you can alter the amount of last applied filter. Similar functionality gives you Morper modifier in 3dsmax.

Read all tips-n-tricks article here.

Rope modeling

Portuguese tutorial by Yakorj.

Sprite Buffer

Such a Maya feature to compare rendered images. Result displayed into VFB. Which means that you have ZoomIn/ZoomOut control (which is useful in comparing bitmaps) and also access to all VFB's controls like: Save, Copy, Clone, RGBA, ... etc.

Little inconvenience as I indicated is that must clear the sprite buffer if you change the size of the renderer, this is the reason to highlight the script as a beta, but it's ready for use as is. I wrote it just to help Marco Brunetta and I don't plan to extend or update this script, but you feel free to modify and further developed it.

Here are some ideas in this respect which may try:

[-] to have the freedom to add frames of different size in the same buffer, make sprite buffer independent from rendered frame size and/or add UI controls to set fixed buffer size.
[-] change horizontal to vertical order arrangement or...
[-] replace it with matrix/table arrangement like a MaterialEditor by 3x3, 6x4, etc.
[-] if you made thumbnails (to say for your meshes), they could be stored in one file.
[-] also separate UVW maps could be stored in one bitmap file.
[-] compose array of sequences for animated UVW maps.
[-] write vitrual animated preview (without the disk storage), but this also will need to write player to watch the preview.
[-] and so on ...

Download the script here

Must say that I wrote the script specifically for ScriptSpot.com so here a link to the publication.

Scripted countdown counter

Scripted countdown counter using text shape and swap animation. Described method here is easier, not the best one. I was add enough comments in the source code, read them and evaluate (run) script part-by-part to see and understand it better.

Get it here

Cut a hole in an object without Boolean

Boolean is too old ops in Max, comes to help mesh modeling. In addition to creating problems in the geometry of the objects, Boolean create errors in textured objects. So it is good to avoid it whenever possible. And Editable Polys has a good arsenal of options. Here I'll focus only on one example - cuting a hole in an object without Boolean. Trick is simply to use Bridge poly-ops :) This is very simple example, you can see Bridge options by pressing square button to the right of the main button.

Fixing Boolean

Some tips by Bracer Jack how to fix your models after Boolean operations.

Fake Caustics

This tutorial is done with 3DStudio Max 3.0 but can be done with any rendering-software which got the features you need for fake-caustics (that’s: colored shadows and falloff transparency).

Laser Beam

Very basic tutorial on how to create a realistic laser using Directional light.

Integrating 3D objects in 2D images

Simple how-to tutorial about the power of Matte/Shadow material.

Animatable sky backgrounds

This is a quick tutorial on how to make sky backgrounds using Noise map.

Multi/Sub-Object instancing trick

if you are still not familiar with this trick, then it will be useful.
Read it at 3DS Max Rendering blog.

Gamma correct

Tutorial by Martin Breidt

"What is gamma? Why do we have it? When should I perform gamma correction? And what happens if I just ignore it?"

The article is very general and is applicable to all CGI applications. Only in the second part, it contains information specific to 3ds Max.

Donload PDF here

NOTE: What i think, heh, shortly to say: correctGamma = undefined
Yes, will be good to say as Martin correctGamma = 2.2 , but think more about the standards. :)

Reactor Cloth and Wind

Another "curtain" simulation tutorial by Aziz (RepublicOfCode.com) but with helpful notes.

Reactor Wheel

Simple basic tutorial by Aziz (RepublicOfCode.com) about Reactor Wheel simulation.

Using Reactor Motor

by Aziz (RepublicOfCode.com)

How to create a simulation of a fan with the help of the Reactor Motor, Point Constraint, CSolver, and the Rigid Body Collection.

Ozone 4.0 PLE

After Ozone 4 beta expired and this led to disappointment and negative feedback, E-on took a new step ad and now offer Personal Learninig Edition (PLE) for personal, non-commercial use only. Renders will watermarked but if true - E-on say: "the PLE never expires".

Official news here

Scripted Box Animation

I made this script by user request in ScriptSpot.com forum
You can read the code in ScriptSpot forum or download the code here.

The final result:

Procedural maps

The original title of this tutorial is "3D Planet Render", but focuses primarily on the use of Procedural maps techniques. Keep in mind, Procedural maps require more calculation than bitmaps, which means more time for rendering, so for that is good to bake 'em to texture to save a time. This is not a reason to avoid 'em. Always good to know how to do materials in Max without using bitmaps, also without the use of 2D software like Photoshop.

PFlow swarms of bugs

In this tutorial, Arxwn show how to make Crowd like simulation using ParticleFlow.

Making an ants crowd

Posted by MaxFanatic's admin

Short desc.:
"Crowd" is an excellent tool that has come with Character Studion in 3dsmax. Today we will make a simple crowd animation where some ants are wandering while following a surface.

Wiring and Ink tricks

Wire Render

An easy way to make wire render is to apply "Edit Poly" modifier to your object and in Edge subObject level select all (Ctrl+A) edges, and press "Create Shape" button. Finnaly select created shape and set wirecolor to black, turn on "Enable In Renderer" and play with Thickness size.

The cool here is:

1. - you have full control over outline size


2. - better antialiasing


3. - fast rendering time


4. - you can delete unwanted edges

Ink style

There is some 2D trick for Ink style using any kind of 2d graphic editor like Photoshop who can convert bitmaps to GIF file format. All what you need to do is to disable Dither (0%) and reduce colurs. See pictures below.




Of course for better result render diffuse and wire in separate passes.

Modeling tip and tricks

Some basic modeling tip and tricks by Per128

Gold Material

In this tutorial you will learn how to make realistic Gold Material in 3ds max using simple technique with 4 easy steps.

Happy holidays!

Happy holidays!