CompuServe Messages

Making good materials is the key, I think, to great 3DS images. There are, of course, several ways to go about this. I'm sure you've grasped the most basic, just adjusting the red green and blue sliders, the hue luminosity and saturation sliders. But the real sh*t is texture maps. You can use any compatible bitmap you want. I use maps from the CD, but I also make many myself. I use Fractal Painter, which is, without a doubt in my mind, the most powerful paint program available for the PC. I've had it for almost a year, and still don't know half of what it's capable of. Photostyler is a great image processing tool, where you can take scanned images and manipulate them to your heart's content. As far as incorporating texture maps, bump maps, and reflection maps, the best thing to do is go through the **tutorials** (urgh, not again <g>!), then experiment like a madman. You'll definitely get better with experience. If you're a good artist (painter, etc…), then you'll be able to create some fabulous maps. This is where a guy like Robert Stein really excels, in my opinion. Mondo Media, here in SF, has a Fractal Painter goddess, who creates some of the best texture maps I've seen. They really make the models look several million times better than with just ordinary materials. Cheers, John Tissavary (La Luna cie)