This is an archive of CompuServe forum messages from 1985 to 1995, as saved in transcripts by John Foust.
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There's been talk about perhaps including the parameter "RENDERER" within the material definition. Any more thoughts on that Gary? – Phil
Sentinal Driver Install
Message #6546
Apparently the instructions for Installing the Rainbow lock software driver are a bit difficult to locate in the Beta material. To make things a bit easier, here's a quick run down: ================================= 3D Studio MAX requires the presence of a hardware lock from Rainbow which has been supplied to you…
Welcome to MAX
Message #6543
Welcome to the MAX development forum! If you are reading this then you have the proper clearance to down load builds and access the latest development examples. New builds of MAX are available nearly every Monday. The availability of development tools will be announced on this forum when they become…
I don't know, with all of our travelling maybe thaqt's a correct ID . – Phil
>>Thank you for your reply. I saw MAX at Eyeball, NYC last week and understand it's due for release in a couple of months? Most glad you saw it! The official Autodesk statement for MAX's release is that it's scheduled for this "winter". >>Pre release software is available pending further…
Hello Gilbert, I am the Developer Relations Manager for Autodesk Multimedia and am responsible for the program (which is currently under revision to accommodate 3D Studio MAX development). >>I am looking for information on the specifics of the Multimedia partners program and the Autodesk representative handling it. The program is…
Are you using flat mirrored materials? If so, remember that the the first face found in the mesh to have a flat mirror material defines the plane and normal of the reflection. Every other face will be refering back to its position and give you incorrect results. To resolve it,…
As kevin said, use the 3D Editor's Surface\Normals\Flip commands or use the Optimize Plug-In's interactive method. You're est et is to actually model correctly for mesh output in AutoCAD – one golden rule prevails: Every face of the same mesh needs to share 2 vertices with ever adjacent face. If…
Common question. You were right in your first approach, but there's a 3DS.SET file parameter you need to set. Edit your 3DS.SET file so that "LOFTBANKING" is off. Now your triangle will loft correctly. Put a simple cylinder in its midst (with the same segments as the helix had stepsfor…
Try Fontographer – it'll change TTF to PFB (and vice verca) very easily. – Phil
Glad I could help. – Phil
The "trick" is that the 0-100 default range of the bevel deformation grid is in UNITS, while it is easy to mistake it for a percentage. So, you have to examine your text shape's size and judge what would be a proper bevel , remembering that Bevel offsets its effect…
By solid modelling I assume you mean R13 ACIS entities correct? These are encrypted within the DXF format and not capable of being read without a liscence agreement. Thus 3DSOUT is your only method. If you're exporting AME/Designer/AutoSurf models, then you have to create a mesh representation prior to DXF…
In short, you will have much more control with DXF export and import. 3DSOUT is required to export ACIS/Region models and light, cmaera, & material setups. For the complete answer, check out chapter 11 of "Inside 3DS R4" – Phil
3D acceleration cards are just becoming available on the PC market. The Glint based boards are indeed fast and fairly cost effective when compared to Open-GL equivalents. The video options are sure to change rapidly, and the clearest choice will be able to be made when MAX ships. You're right…
1. Yes, MAX has a real time preview mode that is fully shaded. It was shown at Siggraph @ 1024x768x15-bit color with *extremely* goods performance and real time modeling options with real time feedback in all viewports. 2. Can not comment at this time. 3. Can not comment at this…
Development for MAX will require Visual C++ ver 2.2 – Phil
>> MAX developers are either already working or will be gearing up in a month or 2, from what I heard at Siggraph… They'll be gearing up in a BIG way ! – Phil
I positive that no one will ever write the "TALENT" plug-in ! – Phil
Now Jonas can just say "granted" intsead of "got it" when wishes come in > – Phil
Your best bet is to render to a true color file (e.g. TGA) and then print the file from another program (perhaps PhotoShop or RenderPrint). Printing directly to a printer without saving the image is of very little value, hense the lack of drivers for doing so. – Phil
We're showing MAX with NT3.51's Win95 shell since that's what NT will look like when MAX ships this winter. Believe me, you want what NT offers you. – Phil
#Siggraph/MAX/WOW!!
Message #184612
Thanks again for the purple haze guitar solo! I think every one at the show enjoyed it. – Phil
>>.or so they say First I heard of it. – Phil
>>Lets just hope the the IPAS pricing doesn't get carried away. Actually I don't think there's that much risk of that happening. MAX is allowing Plug-Ins to register themselves against its hardware lock and is providing methods for them to run in reduced modes (to what ever extent the developer…
Ask those companies for their demo reals and compare. – Phil
>> My fear is that MAX will want Dual 120 Pentiums and GLINT chips. I just showed MAX to our developers this morning on a P90 with a nonaccelerated card using a PCI bus and the performance impressed the entire room (even those that had seen the Siggraph presentations). It…
While there are several card options don't overlook the BUS – you want it as wide as possible (i.e. PCI). – Phil
>>Don't count lightwave out yet. Lightwave has most of the plug-ins that 3DS is now including with MAX plus the XOAS tools and Elastic Reality's (hIIP) plug-in that with be bundled the full version of it's product. Sorry, but that's like saying a Yugo has all the features of a…
You could use the shareware PXP from Mark Meier to do this (KBDTRF.ZIP). Another option is to use the Keyframer and adjust its scale key to be what ever value you wish. This works, but scaling on frame 0 can cause problems with some KXPs (the PXP changes the actual…
>> Apologies, would 'Autodesk Representative' be a more accurate description? WIZOP, SYSOP, SL, FA, have me all confused. :-} If you want to get technical, my title at Autodesk is "Multimedia Developer Relations Manager" but here on the forum I'm jsut some one that lurks and helps out . -…
Ralph nailed it – use Deform/Fit. – Phil
DXFOUT and 3DSOUT will give you *very* different results from the same AutoCAD geometry. Read Chapter 11 of Inside 3D Studio for the whole, detailed story. For maximum control I recommend using DXF. If you have to export ACIS then use 3DSOUT. – Phil
>> Phil is an architect, a writer (Inside 3D Studio) and a SYSOP here in the forum. Just a clarification. I'm not a sysop – those people are a LOT more prevelant on the forum than I could ever be . – Phil
>> The R4C1 patch corrected the r13.dxf incompatibility, right? Yes, R4C1 now reads all the entities within the DXF format that it used, in the manner it always has. (no new R13 entities though – you still need R13's 3DSOUT for those). >>Was there any modification to how ACAD/3DSOUT generated…
First, turn of Caps Lock – you're yelling! Next.R13's DXF file is readable by 3DS R4C1 and later. Alternatevily you could download DXF3DS.EXE form the forum which will convert to 3DS as a stand alone utility.(neither reads ACIS however). Next, Your exports sound like you're making a VERY dense mesh.…
>>nice tutorial, Brent! Geez, you'd think that he had acctually taught or something . – Phil
OK, now what's an "extent marker" ? That's a term not present in standard AutoCAD and thus the DXF format (to my knowledge). These extent markers may simply not be recognized in the DXF format and the 2D Shaper may be getting a bit "confused". Next, what do you mean…
Were the layers ON when you did the dxf export? Have you tried areating the same DXF files by exporting from AutoCAD? (it could be an Acad Lite problem because I import multiple layered DXFs all the time without a hitch). – Phil
I still like "More Better Studio" . – Phil
>>We had nothing to do with AAS. >> – J I think you're time was better spent else where . – Phil
Once you've assigned an Opacity map the entire material is 100% transparent with the Opacity map telling it where it is opaque. So, in order to have an opaque area on the material the map must be pure white – if it's any less than white it will be that…
Is the transparent morph target hidden? What do you mean by the "peak" of the morph? Also, set the morph key's continuity to 0 (in Key Info) to avoid any overshoot that may be occuring. – Phil
Look for POWER.EXE in your startup files – that's probably the culprit. As for starting slowly, what's your graphics card? Is it by any chance an ATI? – Phil
Either select by element, or move a vertex so you can see which faces get pulled with it and cancle out of the command. – Phil
You can assign selections of faces a unique smoothing group number and recall them at any time. While this works well for storing the selection set, it's important to remove the smoothing group before final rendering (unless they happen to be smoothed as well of course). – Phil
>> any thoughts about making one of the hemis wink in animation. The easiest way to do that is to resort to planar mapping and assign it a FLC texture of an iris and an eyelid coming done over it. It also works to pan/roll the eye back and forth.…
You might also want to LOFT the sphere/dome to get lofted mapping coordinates. It's the best way I know of acheiving mapping that works for things like golf balls, trees, and globes. – Phil
Any resolution that is 3:2 will work fine for 35mm slides. After that, the larger the image = the sharper the slide. You can go as low as 900×600 with good results or 3072×2048 for nearly perfect slides. – Phil
>>SIGGRAPH should be great, are you going to be strapped to your demo chair again? I wouldn't miss being in the booth this year – it's going to be a pretty exciting place. As for day long presentations , I have a more sane schedule this Siggraph. Are you going…
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