#Tips And Techniques
55 messages in this thread
Planet Studio? You have to be kidding……… One appeared in my mailbox today
and for 8 pages of seemingless useless junk, they want $16.66 an issue? Oh wait
….$9.99 if I act now. I have recieved better newsletter layouts from user
groups.
My suggestion….. pick up one of Steve and Greg's books, and use the rest of
your money to get a subscription to a real magazine. Or wait… it looks like
there's a new book that Steve is putting together, just buy both books.
Here's 10 of the million tips that every novice 3DS user should have: (MOst
tutorials and reference guides don't tell you these)
1.) Always keep your work modular. You can easily reuse pieces for other
projects.
2.) Always logically name your various items. Alot of people fail to do this
and end up wasting most of their time searching for that file they know they
have somewhere.
3.) Never let an evening go by where your machines are sitting idle. Set up
things so that you can render every minute you're not modelling. Even if it's
just a test sequence of something, it'll increase your productivity to use all
idle machine time.
4.) Always keep a set of Overhead Projector Pens by your monitor. For complex
keyframing, there's nothing quite like drawing a line directly on the monitor.
The pens won't affect the monitor, and the ink cleans up quickly with water or
windex.
5.) Stay aware of how various aspects of your scenes affect rendering time.
Make it a point to experiment with and have knowledge of how various aspects of
a scene will affect the calculation time. It's amazing how many people have no
idea why there scene is taking days to render.
6.) Whenever possible, use multi-lightsources. 3 work extremely well. Yellow,
White and pale blue will help objects look more realistic. If you have to use
one, make sure you vary the RGB components.
7.) Keep your system clean, regularly compress drives and weed through misc
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test renders and old project files. Backup everything. It only takes one nasty
HD glitch or power surch to wipe out all of that great work you had.
8.) Dirty up everything in your scene. Nothing in the real world is
perfect………
9.) Always try to keep a notebook handy to maintain various notes on your work.
A large number of people spend hours/days trying to recreate soemthing that
they did once. Unless you have a photographic memory, it pays to write things
down. It also helps to keep you aware of where most of your time is spent.
10.) Stay on this forum …. There is no place else like it on earth. Not only
can you get virtually any question answered. But you'll learn and grow in many
ways while simply reading the banter that the forum members throw around. It's
like having your very own technical team standing beside you.
Here endeth the lesson……………. <BG :-)>
Paul
Hey, Paul, great set of tips and advice!
Thanks for taking the time…
-Alan
Thanks. I feel strongly that any newsletter, especially one dedicated to 3DS
should have useful tips, that'll help all levels of users move forward. About 4
years ago, I was visiting a friend's shop and they had phenomenal ways of doing
things. Just working with them for a couple of days improved my productivity 3
fold. What ever happened to Greg's newsletter? It seemed like that was headed
in the right direction, but I haven't heard anything about it in a while.
Paul
Paul,
good man! I agree with a lot of your tips and use many of them already to good
effect.
Very good msg; one of the most useful in a long time (along w/ Gary's
Ambient/Diffuse/Specular msg). Thanks
>> I have recieved better newsletter layouts from user groups. <<
Ouch. <g> Hopefully it'll fill out some.
Hi Wade,
PMJI, but do you have a copy of Gary's msg about Ambient/Diffuse etc?
If so, could you forward it to me please – I'd hate to miss out
on something so valuable!!
Thanks,
Andy Roberts
BITS Corp.
Here ya go……
Hi all,
While I was at Siggraph, a number of folks came up to me and told me that, in
their experience, the 3DS renderer looked a little "plasticy" and "flat" to
them. After I showed them the demo reel, however, they were shocked at how so
much of the new work doesn't have that look.
Instead of just sending them away with a "you go figure it out", I spent some
time with them trying to discover what they might be doing with their materials
and lighting that would give their work a flat or plasticy look. Lo and
behold, we figured out one extremely important Medit issue that apparently is
not being understood well enough.
The common factor between these folks' work was that, when they made materials,
they locked the Ambient to the Diffuse color so that they were both the same.
BIG MISTAKE. When you do that, you're depending 100% on the lighting to create
the range between the diffuse and ambient components. And no matter how well
you light the scene, that range just won't be large enough to provide the
dynamics necessary to make an image look "deep".
There are two techniques that you should always use to set your ambient
component.
1) Make the ambient a much darker version of the diffuse. Use the same Hue
and Saturation… just a different Luma.
2) Make the ambient a complimentary color of the diffuse. This is the
Maxfield Parrish effect, and it can be used in many beautiful ways.
So please, people… Go into your material libraries, follow the above two
rules, and bring some more depth to your work!
– G
PS: Don't ask why most of the materials in the shipping 3ds.mli have locked
ambient/diffuse. I could kick myself for that. (sorry)
I reeeaaaallly like #4 (overhead projector pens). I'm going to get me some
tommorrow.
John Tissavary (LUNA cie, inc)
Glad you liked it. While you're at it, grab a pack of velcro tabs. They're
about $0.96 a pack. Attach four small squares on the side of your monitor and
put the other pieces on your four pens. That way you can keep the pens attached
to the monitor for quick clutching when they're needed. It'll keep them handy
without cluddering up your desk top. Typical pen packs have red, green, blue
and black. Great for tracking multiple items through frames.
Paul
BTW I noticed the inc after your name. 🙂
Man, you're just a bottomless well of neato tricks, aren't you =-) ? I'm off
to the hardware store… I'll bet next time you visit you're going to ask why
my fingers are so ink stained <g>.
Yeah, Luna is incorporated – I'm VERY happy about that. It was a good decision
for us for various reasons (I'm sure you know all about them <g>), and I'm just
in the process of learning some of the tax nuances involved in California
corporations. Now back to the fun stuff: animation!
John Tissavary (LUNA cie, inc)
John,
Good talking to you tonight. Make sure you keep me informed on all of those new
developments …… you're going to have alot of fun.
Paul
Yes, it was a very informative chat for me. I'll certainly be in touch as
things develop =-)
John Tissavary (LUNA cie, inc)
Historical trivia here: You know you've met a diehard Amiga-oid when you see a
monitor with four velcro spots on the corners… because of the interlaced
display, some companies sold tinted shields for the monitor to help reduce the
seizure-inducing beat of high-contrast interlace. This was before the
invention of the deinterlacing hardware that made high-res Amimga-ing
tolerable. Of course, if someone is hesitant about drawing on their monitor,
they could always use velcro to attach a clear piece of plexiglas.
Neat stuff…….. I remember working on a monitor on campus one time that had
a horrible interlaced display. I'd work for hours and then have to lay on the
ground outside for a while until my eyes refocussed, and my headache went away.
<BG>
The joys of computers……..
Paul
PMJI,
>> if someone is hesitant about drawing on their monitor, they could always
use velcro to attach a clear piece of plexiglas. <<
Not only have I drawn on my monitor with my lil' ol' sanford fine points, but
I've scotch taped plastic metric rulers, and french curves too….Don't ask!
<BG>
Murph
Make sure you get the "dry erase" markers, the kind that come with the
cloth eraser. They're much easier to clean than the water soluble kind (I know,
I've tried both).
David
Thanks, Dave. I'll look for those. If I remeber correctly, those are the ones
that come with the white plastic message boards, right?
John Tissavary (LUNA cie, inc)
I think so. "Expo dry erase" markers are the ones I use. They can be VERY
useful when keyframing.
Acetate overlays work well also w/ the added benefit of being able to lay it on
top of sketched work, tracing it and then taping it onto your monitor. The
"Scannerless" Scanner.
Wade: Nice one! I've been doing that for a couple of years now. It works
great. I also use a modification of Paul's marker pen idea. For a "higher
resolution" marking I use small pieces of Scotch Magic Tape 810 in the general
location, then use a sharp pencil to make cross hairs on the tape stuck on the
monitor.
I was wondering when someone would bring up that one, Wade. It's something I've
been doing since I started on Macs in 1986. Not many scanners around in those
days…
And I still do it for quick "proportion-checks" if I've got a model in front of
me.
-Alan
Actually I ripped the idea off from a seminar at my first MacWorld conference
somewhere way back <g> in the mid 80's. Back when the Mac II was wowing every
one w/ it's blazing speed.<g>
How in heaven's name did my last message to you get addressed to DonL?? *whew*,
I finally got over 3 hours of sleep last night and I feel a little better.
Gonna have to watch myself a little closer, here! Sorry about that, Wade and
Don!
-Alan
No problem. I didn't even realize.
I like it cause I've worked w/ some monitors that had a textured screen to
reduce glare and you couldn't mark directly on it. Downside is you have to line
up your line of sight, sometimes w/ one eye closed; but it's fast & easy.
Scotch Magic Tape 810 eh? Hmmmm…. Maybe I'll try that instead of the Duct
Tape I've been using <g>
Still have to do some eyeballing, Wade but at least the Scotch tape is
translucent and you can write on it with a sharp pencil. I also fold the tape
under at one end to have a quick pull tab to easily remove.
I did put a <g> after that Duct tape comment, didn't I? Duct tape would do a
number on your screen.
That's another good tip. I've been using dummy cubes as reference points for
keyframing, but it's so annoyingly time consuming.
Your tip sounds like a good one for certain types of modeling.
John Tissavary (LUNA cie, inc)
Like Alan said, it's good for quick & dirty and one sheet can last forever.
It's that line of sight thing that's a pain; you'll see what I mean if you try
it.
I used it for a logo anim when I didn't have the font I needed. I scaled up the
logo w/ a copier, traced the co. name onto the acetate & then traced from the
acetate into 2D Shaper. Wonder if Judy Weller could do this for her problem?
Sounds like the medal is way too detailed. Judy, you reading this?
My problem is getting solved for my medal using it both as a texture map and as
a bump map and that is getting the resolution I need. Yes I am reading the
messages – even if I don't post. 🙂
Judy
Glad it's working out for ya.
I reeeaaaallly like #4 (overhead projector pens). I'm going to get me some
tommorrow.
John Tissavary (LUNA cie, inc)
Hello Paul –
Great tips!!!
I hope you don't mind – I used your tips in our Aug. Newsletter. Of course you
received credit. If you want I'll mail you one if you give me an address.
Mark
Mark,
I'm glad they were useful to you, but I hate to see my name in print. <No G>
On the "VERY" rare instance that I actually author something, my wife and I
come up with an alias. If it's already done. No big deal….. if it isn't, how
about keeping the tips but crediting them to Philis Deane?
Paul
Hello Paul
Sorry 🙂 about using the tips before checking with you. I am able to change the
credits.
Mark
Mark,
No big deal….. it really doesn't matter that much. I just shy away from
having my name attached to things. Deep down inside, I'm a shy reclusive
person. Don't go through any trouble one way or the other.
Paul
P.S. – Didn't you like Philis Deane?
<< …I just shy away from having my name attached to things. >>
Interesting… Is Paul Lind your real name? <g>
Thanks for the great collection of tips! I didn't know how disorganized I was!
-TC
Perfect tips it echoed the things I learned from my work at Adesk.
On this one:
>> 9.) Always try to keep a notebook handy to maintain various notes on your
work. <<
Folks might consider purchasing a cheap 386 (or retired from rendering) next to
your workstation. Nothing beats 'digital' notes (too bad you can't do it from
within 3ds ;-). Not only that, if you network the box and can get it to run
AniPro, it's great for creating and tweaking texture maps.
J-me
Jamie,
Absolutely! I have an older 486 that I keep my notes on, simply because I can
then quickly reference them by keywords.
I thought about mentioning using a computer instead of a notebook, but I didn't
want to get attacked for being elitist. <BG> I hadn't thought about running
AAPro on it, but now that you mention it, it could definately help. Time to dig
out those disks.
Paul
Paul,
I think #4 is just great! I bought some overhead pens last night and I have
been writting on my monitor all day.
Mark Yankee
>> 9.) Always try to keep a notebook handy // an older 486 that I keep my notes
on >>
Wouldn't it be nice if we could embed text notes in a project file. I keep a
.DOC file in the prj directory as a sort of daily log on complicated projects
and regularly save to a new name (or number) keeping the thread so that if you
change a whole scene and it stinks you can always find your way back. Well, its
supposed to work like that! With an average project size of 8-10mb, a dozen or
so take up a lot of space though. I find the 128mb optical disks really handy
and more manageable than the bigger capacities. What do other folks think?
I too used to use an old hack to keep a flic running while tweaking on the main
station but since R3 I operate multi-machine instead of single machine and
switching. Two machines under the desk, one configured optimally for
Autocad/Autosurf (dos) and the other for Windows. 3DS sits happily on either.
When constructing a model, Autocad and 3DS alongside each other is very
effecient and when adjusting a scene, 3DS with Photoshop or AApro. When not
needed, either can go into slave mode.
John Redfern, Redfern Animation – Scotland.
It sounds like you have a really nice setup there.
It would be really nice to embed text into project files. You never know what
Adesk may come up with now that they seem to be taking direct control of what
happens in 3DS. In their current vein of thought, it seems like they could just
hire an independent to write the necessary code and then put it into the
program.
I'm really interested in seeing what Adesk does with 3DS. There seems to be a
tremendous fundamental change in the way 3DS is going to be put together in the
future. This "modular" approach has me very interested. It should allow Adesk
to implement misc. stuff without developing their own development staff
in-house. It should prove to be quite a challenge for them. While shorter
turnaround times make some customers happy, they also can lead to extremely
compressed alpha/beta test periods and make it necessary to continually release
incremental updates.
………………………………………………………… but I
digress …………………………… Hopefully we'll see a method for
embedding text into prj files. 🙂
Paul
Thanks for posting your tips. I am hoping you could elaborate on one of
them…
>>8. Dirty up everything in your scene. Nothing in the real world is
perfect.<<
Are you referring to placing faint texture maps over everything to simulate
wear and dirt? I've heard this was done to "age" the rooms from The 7th Guest
for The 11th Hour. It seems that this has the potential to add quite a lot to
rendering time…
Paul
<<dirty up a scene>>
I think he means things like bitmaps, used sparingly; noise applied to
surfaces; slight imperfections in objects like stairs or bricks not meeting
perfectly; or possibly scantily clad mesh-models…
Paul,
There are many ways to "dirty" things up. For the most part it just centers
around staying concious of the fact that things are not perfect. When you're
designing texture maps, make it a habit to add flaws. Adjust saturation levels,
add noise, etc. There could be an entire thread around effective ways of making
things look less than perfect.
Paul
Paul,
>> There could be an entire thread around effective ways of making things look
less than perfect. <<
Very good point, especially as for instance, it so easy to tile materials. As a
result people who know, make a point of requesting that images not look tiled.
One way of getting around this without having to use large detailed bitmaps is
to take a tile and do several modifications to it and then map them seperately.
Its really quite amazing what variety you can create just using a few good maps
and modifying the parameters in ME. Another tribute to the power inherent in
that module.
-JE
Paul
Excellent summary of good work habits!
TedB
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OUCH!! But, I guess I would have to agree with you. Is one of the "better
newsletters" _The Artifact_ from the Tampa user group? (shameless plug)
Great tips. You should become a contributing editor for some of those
newsletters!
tjl
Glad you agree.
Unfortunately I haven't seen _The Artifact_ but I'll venture a guess that it
surpasses the first issue of Planet Studio. Do you use a decent stock paper?
<BG>
I don't think I'd make much of a contributing editor, maybe if I could write an
article in iambic pentameter or haiku or something else to jazz it up, I could
pull it off. <G>
Maybe a cross between a trash novel and creative keyframing…….. something
to hold the entire family's interest.
Oh well ….. I'd probably be the only person who'd enjoy reading it.
Paul