Welcome to the 2nd session of creating a space ship in 3dsmax 2010. In this session we will go over mirroring, welding and other various detailing elements including the thruster system and decals. This tutorial should be used as a guide to create and design your own space ship.

I hope you enjoy this session.

Author: Ryan W. Knope

Ryan W. Knope is a freelance 3D / 2D Artist / Consultant with 13 years experience in the 3D and 2D industry. His main artistic love lies with interior and exterior rendering although he takes on just about every type of graphics work. Recently he has directed and created most of the artwork for the game "Lacuna Expanse".

Ryan is also the architectural / interior voice for 3D Artist Magazine’s Question and Answer Panel. He lives with his wife Krista, in sunny Denver, Colorado.

Tutorial Details

• Programs: Autodesk 3dsmax 2010
• Difficulty: Medium (Prior Knowledge of 3dsmax interface and tools is a plus.)

Supplied Data

• .MAX Zip: spaceship-session2.zip (Only to be used for educational purposes)

Step 1: Where We Left Off

At the end of the last session we had loosely modeled both sides of the ship, then started refining one side, while leaving the other side basic. We also added detailing with the "Greeble Plugin" on one side. The engine bay was left open in back for placement of a thruster system later on.

Step 2: Fine Tuning Vertices

To start with, we need to go over the active side of the model (The side we will use) and make sure that the base is what we want it to be. The last thing you want to do is to have to go back and edit a ton of vertices on both sides of the ship independently to fix problematic inaccuracies making the ship sides different in design.

Check over the model and make sure vents, inlets, and all other items are modeled the way you want. Try to remove any pinching by moving vertices so that faces do not cross.

Also soften any edges you wish to, via the chamfer tool in edit poly, vertex or face modes. This can be done at any point, but is easier when only doing half of the model.

Step 3: Slice Plane – Cutting In Half

Here we have to find the center point and cut the model in half. We will do this using "Slice Plane" under edit poly with "Element Mode" activated. Make sure that you have the "Angle Snap Toggle" activated, because you may need to rotate the slice plane. This will ensure that the cut is perfectly vertical.

Once the slice plane is located perfectly center click the "Slice" button.

Step 4 – Deleting The Other Half

Select the un-needed half with "Polygon" Selection mode activated. This part can be tricky and you may have to zoom in very close to the model to make sure that you have all of that sides faces selected. Once fully selected, press delete.

Double check to make sure you have a clean mid section and delete any random faces that might be sticking out.

Step 5 – Mirroring

Now that we have cut our model in half we need to mirror the model and match them together so that we can weld the center vertices in the next step.

Select the model and SHIFT + Move and create a copy. Now mirror the copy along the, axis in the front viewport. Move the mirrored copy to match / touch the other side, zoom in and get it as closely matched as possible.

Step 6 – Welding Vertices

Now that we have the centers matched, we can attach and weld the 2 models together to create 1 mesh / element.

Hide all objects except the 2 sides we are working on. Select side 1 and under edit poly hit the "Attach Dialogue Box" button. This will bring up a list of objects to attach. Pick Side 2. Now the 2 sides are the same model, but different elements.

Next, with vertice selection mode activated, scroll down and hit the "Weld Dialogue Button". This will bring up the weld vertices entry box, as shown below. Since I built this model to scale, or close to it, 3 inches is a very small distance. If you built your model out of scale, you will need to change your threshold accordingly.

You should see the number of vertices change as matching doubles become 1. Test render the newly welded model to make sure you didn’t over or under weld.

Step 7 – Editing And Adding Base Items

Now that we have 2 sides that match, you can extrude and detach panel faces and apply the greeble plugin to them. Do this using the same methods we used in session 1. You can also use "Soft Selection" to edit the shape of the ship in a more organic manner. It is best to do this by selecting both parallel faces (Same face on both sides).

Below you can see the result of detaching and adding more details with Greeble and creating side windows.

Step 8 – Thruster Overview

Below you can see the thruster both assembled and disassembled. Each piece was started as a basic object from the create panel. Then I used "Edit Poly" to change the shaping accordingly.

The wires were created from renderable splines. The front turbine area was created in the same manner, then using edit poly I enlarged the front area. You could then instance the turbine nodes manually or use the array or spacing tools.

I won’t delve into the creation of this too much. The methods employed should be a lot more self explanatory once seeing the exploded view below.

Step 9 – Adding Decals – The Overview

There are a few different methods for adding decals or graphics to the ship. You could unwrap and texture the entire body of the ship, which I will not cover as it is tedious and does not need to be done with this type of model. You could add a ship name or number with the text tool. Finally you could extract a set of faces and apply a material that includes a diffuse and opacity map. This I will cover.

Below, you can see the product of adding the decals.

Step 10 – Adding Decals – Creating The Faces

To create the decal geometry, go into edit poly "Face" mode and select the faces that you want the decal on. In this case it is the back wing. SHIFT + Move this face out just ever so slightly, you will now see the "Clone Part Of Mesh" dialogue. Make sure you pick "Clone To Object" unless you want to use a "Multi / Sub Object Material".

Now that the decal object is created, we need to create the material for it.

Step 11 – Adding Decals – Materials And Maps

For the decals I will be using an "Arch + Design" material. This material should include diffuse (Color) and Cutout (Opacity) maps. Notice the difference in the maps. With opacity maps, Black = 0% visibility.

Step 12 – Adding Decals – UVW Maps

Now you need to add a UVW map for each of the decal objects, otherwise the material will not show up in the proper location. Select one of the decal objects, hit the down arrow at the modify panel and select "UVW Mapping" from the modifier list. Use Planar Mapping.

You may need to change the alignment axis as shown below.

You will most likely also need to rotate the "Gizmo". To do this click where is says "Gizmo", under UVW Mapping and use the rotate tool to fit it properly to the object.

Changing the length and width will most likely need to be done as well.

Step 13 – Hatch Detailing – Detaching

This step is pretty simple. Under polygon selection in "Edit Poly" select the hatch faces, and hit the "Detach" button. This will separate this area from the rest of the model, creating a new object.

This new object will later have a different material.

If you do not want to separate the object for material purposes then you can also use a different material ID and use a "Multi / Sub Object Material".

Step 14 – Hatch Detailing – Extrude

I wanted to add just a bit of depth to the hatch detailing. I did this by extruding a short distance. After extruding I added the darker brushed metal material that we created in the last session..

Step 15 – Vent Details

For the vents I simply added boxes matching the curve of the vent. I did this for both front and back vents. Then I added an "Arch + Design" Material that was a complete default setting other than changing to diffuse color to black.

Step 16 – Conclusion

Over the past 2 sessions we have went from a box to a detailed space ship. The many items covered can be applied to a multitude of different objects. When going through any tutorial, try to think of where tools and topics could have been applied in the past models that you have created, along with the models you plan to create in the future.

On an object such as this I could go on detailing for days and days. Remember that depending on the time line and project pipe line, this process will not work for every project. In-Game models will require a very different method.

I hope you enjoyed this session along with learning a little. Thanks for reading.

-Ryan W. Knope

Related posts:

1. Creating A Space Ship In 3DS Max
2. Creating A Detailed Master Plan Rendering – Part 3 – 3D Studio Max and Photoshop
3. Creating A Detailed Master Plan Rendering – Part 4 – 3dsmax and Photoshop

Here we will be begin to cover the modeling of a space ship in Autodesk 3ds Max. This is part 1 of a 2 part series. In this installment box modeling, soft selection, plugins and the use of modifiers will be covered. A general understanding of 3ds Max is needed for this tutorial. Topics covered in this tutorial can be applied to modeling a wide array of objects.

In this tutorial, I start by modeling both sides of the ship. About half way through, I stop modeling the other side of the ship, because we will mirror the other side, making it match perfectly.

Author: Ryan W. Knope

Ryan W. Knope is a freelance 3D / 2D Artist / Consultant with 13 years experience in the 3D and 2D industry. His main artistic love lies with interior and exterior rendering although he takes on just about every type of graphics work. Ryan is also the architectural / interior voice for 3D Artist Magazine’s Question and Answer Panel. He lives with his wife Krista, in sunny Denver, Colorado.

Tutorial Details

• Programs: Autodesk 3dsmax 2010
• Difficulty: Medium (Prior Knowledge of 3dsmax interface and tools is a plus.)

Supplied Data

• .MAX Zip: spaceship-session1.zip (Only to be used for educational purposes)

Step 1: Starting As A Box

Start by creating a box. Add as many segments as you feel you need to create the base detail and shaping. I have added several segments for each side. It is also wise to work in scale. Make sure you have the units set to what you prefer (Standard or Metric). When creating the initial box, please keep in mind the size of ship that you wish you create. This boxes size will make up the bulk of this space ship.

Step 2: Deforming The Nose

Apply "Edit Poly" to the segmented box. You can find it under the "Modifiers Tab". Activate the "Vertice" selection mode and turn on "Soft Selection". Soft selection will create a blended range of deformation as you scale the vertices. To change the blend amount, change the falloff value. You can also experiment with "Pinch" and "Bubble".

I selected and scaled down only the front vertices, setting the falloff as shown below.

Step 3: Nose Shaping

In this step I have pulled the nose out further without soft selection. I have also selected side edges and moved them inwards and downwards. Start by activating the "Edge Selection Mode" and move the edges to the desired location. You have to be careful not to pinch the model. I did not use soft selection in this step. You can use soft selection is you prefer a more organic looking ship.

Step 4 – The Basic Cockpit / Helm

For creating the basic shape of the cockpit I went back to "Vertice Selection Mode" and made sure to check "Ignore Back facing". This allows you to make a selection in the top viewport without selecting the ships bottom vertices. Pull the vertices to the desired height, angle and location.

Without ignore back facing on, you will either have to deselect the ship’s bottom vertices or you will be deforming the bottom of the ship as well.

Step 5 – Beveling The Nose Inlet

Select the inner snout faces and activate the "Bevel Tool". I have only beveled them slightly.

Step 6 – Pulling Back The Nose Inlet

Bevel the nose inlet a few more times. Then pull the nose inlet backwards with the move tool, creating some depth for the inlet.

At this point you should be familiar with Soft Selection, moving vertices / faces, using the Bevel Tool and the Scale Tool for shaping the model.

Step 7 – Beveling The Snout Edges

In this step, I simply beveled the remaining front faces of the snout. Creating details like this helps accentuate highlights and shadows along with reflections.

Step 8 – Cockpit Edges 1

In this step I have moved vertices to shape the "hatch or cockpit" area a bit better. After you are satisfied with the location of the vertices go to edge selection mode and select the edges as shown below.

Step 9 – Chamfering The Edges

I wanted to add some detailed edges to the cockpit / hatch areas. In this step I have ‘Chamfered" the edges twice. Now we have faces that we can extrude or bevel.

Step 10 – Adding Hatch Glass Definition

Here, in the polygon selection mode I selected certain faces and used the "Bevel" tool to extrude and chamfer them at the same time. Then at the front of the hatch I pulled the top faces backwards.

The bevel tool essentially take care of 2 steps in one, saving time.

Step 11 – Creating Vents

These vents or inlets were created using the same tools that we have already covered. The faces were extruded, then the top vertices were moved to create a certain slope in all directions. The front and back faces were then beveled.

You may have to move the inside face inwards a bit to create the effect you want.

Step 12 – Sculpting The Rear

In this step I have sculpted the rear of the ship a bit. First I selected the 3/4 rear vertices with "ignore back facing" OFF. Then I scaled them down making a bevel effect. The rear of the ship was scaled up and rotated. You can edit the vertices to create any type of ship rear.

You can also use the cut tool under "Edit Poly" to create new faces if you so desire.

Step 13 – Detaching The Hatch Glass

This step is pretty simple. Under polygon selection in "Edit Poly" select the hatch faces, and hit the "Detach" button. This will separate this area from the rest of the model, creating a new object.

This new object will later have a different material.

If you do not want to separate the object for material purposes then you can also use a different material ID and use a "Multi / Sub Object Material".

Step 14 – Adding Side Windows

I decided to add some windows on the sides. This again was done by using the "Bevel" tool. Then I detached the windows just as we previously did with the hatch.

Step 15 – Turbosmooth

At this point I wanted to test out adding the "Turbosmooth" modifier to check how a more organic feel would look. It is up to you whether or not to use it. If you prefer a more blocky space ship then you may not want to add this modifier.

If you do add this modifier be careful setting the number of iterations. Many times I have been asked "How come 3ds Max freezes or crashes when I set the Iterations to 10?" This is because of the mesh density created.

I prefer to stick to 1 or 2 iterations
.

Step 16 – Editing The Base Cage

With Turbosmooth applied, you can edit the "Base Cage" while viewing the smoothed result. This makes sculpting organic shapes much easier. You can see the cage below in orange.

Go back to "Edit Poly", edge selection mode and check "Show Cage". Now you can move, rotate or scale the edges as you see fit.

Have fun moving the cage and experimenting with different shaping.

Step 17 – Comparing Smoothed and Un smoothed

In this step I set the render engine to Mental Ray and added a MR Sun and MR Sky. The Exposure Control was set to MR Photographic Exposure Control with the "Outdoor Daylight, Clear Sky" option set. You can read more on setting this up Here. It is covered in Step 10 of that article.

Then I applied an "Arch + Design" material to the main ship. Under templates I picked Brushed Metal. I did the same for the glass objects, but picked the glass (Thin Geometry) preset.

Both rendered options can be seen below. Now we can decide if we want to go with the smoothing or without.

Step 18 – Adding More Base Detail

Now that I have seen both smoothed and un smoothed, I have decided to use the version without turbosmooth. In this step I plan on adding more base surface detail. I am chamfering edges, editing vertices and extruding faces.

One goal is to Generally create a more pleasing model by softening the edges manually (Chamfering).

I have also detached certain faces that were extruded inwards. Then I applied a copy of the brushed metal material to them and made the base color darker (Diffuse Color)

Step 19 – Using The Greeble Plugin For Details

Greeble is a plugin for 3ds Max that creates boxy structure quickly and easily. It proves very useful for adding mechanical wall type details. This plugin has saved me days of time while working on a game titled "Lacuna Expanse".

You can download and read about Greeble HERE.

Install the plugin and then reopen 3ds Max. Select the faces that you have detached. (The ones that have the darker brushed metal material.) Now go to the modifier panel and select Greeble from the list. You should automatically see the geometry change. Play with the distances and amounts to get the right look.

You can view the options I chose below, along with the end result.

Step 20 – Conclusion

So far in this tutorial we have created the base of the ship and began some detailing. Many tools were discussed and used. All of the tools can be used to create a wide array of objects, please keep that in mind as you try new things.

In the next session we will go over the majority of detailing items, materializing the model and then finally rendering it in Mental Ray.

Related posts:

1. Creating A Space Ship In 3DS Max (Session 2)
2. Creating A Detailed Master Plan Rendering – Part 4 – 3dsmax and Photoshop
3. Creating A Detailed Master Plan Rendering – Part 2 – 3DS Max and Photoshop

Welcome to “Furniture Design Rendering”. In this tutorial we will cover the concepts of putting together a rendering that a furniture manufacturer and outlet would prefer. This tutorial is more of an overview of the entire process, rather than a complete modeling guide in 3d. Throughout the last year I have been working with a furniture company in Sweden, providing quick renderings at very cheap prices. This could be called you’re guide to breaking into that niche of the industry a little more easily.

Author: Ryan W. Knope

Ryan W. Knope is a freelance 3D / 2D Artist / Consultant with 13 years experience in the 3D and 2D industry. His main artistic love lies with interior and exterior rendering although he takes on just about every type of graphics work. Ryan is also the architectural / interior voice for 3D Artist Magazine’s Question and Answer Panel. He lives with his wife Krista, in sunny Denver, Colorado.

Tutorial Details

• Programs: Autodesk 3dsmax 2010, Adobe Photoshop CS4
• Difficulty: Beginner To Medium (Discussion Concepts May Be More Advanced.)

Step 1: Understanding The Concept

These types of renderings often need to be completed quickly and cheaply. Understanding the idea or feeling behind the concept will save a ton of time. The rendering above was created for a Swedish client of mine. He wanted a rendering that would appeal to his Scandinavian client base. In this case, a bright, elegant and simple scene setting that promotes luxury.

With this in mind, simple is often better. I tend to only create the essentials in 3D and complete everything else in Adobe Photoshop. You can see the mix of 2D and 3D elements in the image below. The Blue shows elements totally completed in Photoshop. The Red Shows the elements created in 3dsmax. Touch ups over the entire rendered image is also important.

Step 2: Deciding On A Color Scheme Early

When producing quick renderings, I like to get a scheme from the client at the start along with some samples of exteriors that fits his or her fancy. Then I pick a background image, in this case the mountain and ocean, then get approval to build off of the color scheme tied to that.

For example, the wood decking ties into the color of the mountains, the pool ties in the water / sky color in the background and the gray pavers along the bounds of the deck compliment the black sofa base, providing a nice accent.

Step 3: Testing The Camera Angle

First create your main base object. This is often the floor or patio. I created the wood decking by drawing a spline, applying an edit poly modifier and extruding it to the desired height.

Next I try to match my camera angle quickly, then take a screen shot and see if the background matches well enough. Most of the time I just match the angle by eye without importing the background into 3dsmax. Paste your screen shot into Photoshop and place your background behind. With the magic wand tool, select and delete the non occupied area.

You should only have to set the tolerance to 1, since your background in max should be one solid color.

Step 4 – Creating The Patio Walls

These elements were started as renderable splines with 4 sides and an angle of 45 degrees. This angle will turn it straight instead of diagonal / diamond.

Then I applied an edit poly modifier and edited the vertices. The outer wall was split horizontally with “slice plane”. Box UVW mapping was applied after along with a concrete stone material. This material is not nearly as important as the top paver stone material and the other more prevalent maps.

Step 5 – Creating The Wood Deck Material

The wood decking material is extremely important. This is the closest material to the camera and ties in most of the image. With this in mind, care has to be taken to make this material the most realistic and pleasing to the eye.

Keep in mind that the orientation of the decking can be used as a guide to the eyes if the grain and boards are running toward the furniture.

I start with the default Arch + Design material. I then edit the reflectivity and glossiness. You can view the different image maps and settings of the material below.

Place a planking image in your diffuse map and test the render for color and contrast. Then I place the same map in for the bump, test render and then adjust the contrast in photoshop and save it as a new image.

For displacement I open the diffuse image map in photoshop. Create a new layer and fill it with white. Adjust the white layer opacity so that the wood is just barely visible. Next draw a black line with the brush tool on a new layer, press ALT and drag a copy of the line between each of the planks. Repeat this until all of the centers are filled. Save this image map and apply it to the displacement slot.

I set my displacement to 1.5, but you will have to test this in accordance to the displacement render settings.

Step 6 – Modifying The Global Displacement Settings

The global displacement settings in the render dialogue control the overall amount of displacement along with detail adjustment settings. Look below for an explanation of each setting. Change the settings and test render the wood decking to see how it changes.

Step 7 – Adding The Furniture

For this blocky modern style of furniture you can often start with a “Chamfer Box” or “Box”.

For the sofa base I used a box with Edit Poly, and extruded faces as necessary. Once I had the general structure built and measured properly I went ahead and chamfered / beveled the edges in “Face” mode.

The pillows were created by using a multi-segmented chamfer box with a large bevel. I then used soft selection in the Edit Poly modifier to create a more smoothly curved surface. Renderable splines were used for the pin line ridges at the edge. The feet are simply renderable splines with 4 sides and the angle set to 45 degrees.

Step 8 – The Furniture Angle

With the focus of this rendering being the furniture, the angle of the subject definitely matters. Generally speaking, the furniture should be angled to show inside and outside edges. It is basically the same concept as car photography.

The importance of this is showing the depth of the furniture. It is difficult to tell what an item looks like if it is shot straight on. So, either angle the shot or angle the furniture, even if it wouldn’t be placed in such a fashion in real life.

Step 9 – Aligning The Feet With The Deck

Skip this step if you are not going to use displacement.

There is a slight issue with using material displacement for flooring… you cannot visually see how far it is displacing, which means it can be difficult to line up objects that lay flat on the floor.The only way that I am aware of solving this is with zooming into the floor in the perspective view. Angle it so that you see the space between the floor and the feet of the sofa and test render, each time moving it closer, until it is just touching.

This process has been quite time consuming in a few of my projects.

Once you have one object aligned, you simply need to move the rest to the same plane or height.

To bypass this you could apply displacement as a modifier, but you will then have to create a floor object that has a extremely high amount of segments, which will slow the viewport’s down quite a bit and make the entire process of working with the scene slower. I try to stick with material displacement when I can.

Step 10 – Setting Up The Sun – Softening Shadows

As with all of my tutorials, I used Mental Ray.

Go to Create > Systems > Daylight. Drag out your system, then go to the modify panel. Select “MR Sun” and “MR SKY” from the drop down menu’s. Next go to setup and adjust the time to match the angle of light you prefer.

If your are creating an outdoor scene then you should set the “Exposure Control” to ” MR Photographic Exposure Control” and change the preset to “Outdoor Daylight Clear Sky”.

Now, with the sun system selected, go to the modify panel and under “Sun Basic Parameters” you will see an option labeled “Softness”. To have softer sun shadows you can adjust this as needed. The higher you raise this value, the more you should raise the sample value. With more samples you will achieve a smoother gradient of shadow. Unfortunately this will also raise render times.

Step 11 – Render Settings

In a scene that has a lot of glossy reflections I tend to use a minimum sample rate of 4 Min to 16 Max. If your scene has more than a million polygons, I would also turn on BSP2. Make sure Finalgather is checked.

If you have a scene that is half indoors with interior lights and half outdoors, then you will want to turn on Global Illumination most likely. Most furniture manufacturers and distributors want to use the renderings for the web, printed catalogs and boards. With this wide range in mind, I always render my still images at 5000 pixels wide or more.

Now it is time to render your image. Save it as a .png.

Step 12 – Post Production 1

Backdrop: Place the backdrop image behind the rendered layer. Place it in a pleasing position that makes sense for the camera view.

Pool Water: Finding a quality image of pool water is the first step. Next drag the image into working Photoshop file. Make a selection (Magic Wand) of the flat blue area as seen above. Zoom in and make sure that you have it entirely selected. Go back to the new water image layer and press CTRL SHIFT I to invert the selection and press delete. Now you can cycle through the blending modes and find a mode that works. I used “Multiply”. You may need to overlay a few layers to get the effect you desire.

Adding the backdrop reflection into the pool is next. Duplicate the backdrop layer. Place it above the water layer. Using the “Move” tool, with “Show Transform Controls” active, grab the top handle and drag it down flipping the orientation vertically. Lower the opacity and cycle through the blending modes. You can use “Multiply” or “Normal” with a low opacity (There are other options as well). You can either erase the unneeded areas with the eraser tool or CTRL click the layer thumbnail in layer properties and press CTRL SHIFT I and delete as we just did before.

You should have a result similar to the image below.

Step 13 – Post Production 2

Softening Effect: Adding a softening effect is very easy and adds a lot of character / mood. Create a new layer at the top of the set. Go to Select > Color Range, a window will pop up, now change “Select” to “Highlights”. Press OK. Now go to Select > Modify > Feather, this will bring up a window. I usually use a feather radius of about 30 pixels when working on a large image size. Make sure you have the new layer selected and fill the selection with white. The layer opacity will need to be adjusted. A value of about 20% – 30% should work.

Painting: With a quick production render such as this, painting can be super valuable to your time schedule and the final product. Sometimes reflections show up that you really don’t want in the rendering. For example, the wood decking back behind the furniture takes on a bluish / gray hue. It would take longer in 3D to resolve this issue than just painting a brown overlay in Photoshop (Seen Below). Accentuated shadows are another item that I often paint in. This helps give the rendering a bit more depth and creates slight boundary’s between objects. The edges of a pool are a great place to use this technique.

Dodging And Burning: I use the dodge and burn tools a lot. Often furniture manufacturers want very brightly lit scenes. Sometimes it is just easier to dodge areas of the image rather than adjusting the lighting and re-rendering over and over. I attempt at getting the lighting close enough and then take care of the rest in Photoshop. Burning can be used to accentuate the shadows and add depth. Sometimes this works better than painting in heavier shadows.

Step 14 – Conclusion

In this tutorial we went over many tools and tricks to creating quicker furniture renderings. These tips and tools can be applied to most applications and genres of visualization. While the furniture rendering niche is not extremely lucrative like other genres of visualization, these tips will make the process move along faster, thus making them more monetarily pleasing.

The most important things to remember is to try to create a harmonious scene that portrays the furniture well to the end buyer.

If you have any questions or comments about this tutorial please feel free to email me.

Related posts:

1. Designing Text & Signage In 3D (Autodesk 3dsmax 2010 and Earlier)
2. Creating a Detailed Master Plan Rendering in 3dsmax and Photoshop
3. Creating A Detailed Master Plan Rendering – Part 4 – 3dsmax and Photoshop

In this tutorial we will cover creating detailed signage with the text, edit poly and other various tools in 3dsmax 2010. Most elements of this tutorial can be transferred to the earlier versions of this software. I will be using Mental Ray as my renderer.

Author: Ryan W. Knope

Ryan W. Knope is a freelance 3D / 2D Artist / Consultant with 13 years experience in the 3D and 2D industry. His main artistic love lies with interior and exterior rendering, although he takes on just about every type of graphics work. Ryan is also the architectural / interior voice for 3D Artist Magazine’s Question and Answer Panel. He lives with his wife Krista, in sunny Denver, Colorado.

Tutorial Details

• Programs: Autodesk 3dsmax 2010
• Difficulty: Easy (Prior Knowledge Of Software Interface Is A Plus.)

Step 1: Using The Text Tool

To start with, open 3dsmax and go to the Text Tool. I usually type in my text before picking the font. This will allow you to cycle through the fonts while seeing how it will appear.

For the sake of complexity, I will pick a detailed font, which we will break into a bunch of objects / materials.

Step 2: Edit Spline And Extracting Curves

Once you have your font picked, you can make a copy. To make a copy, SHIFT and move the object. Select “Copy”. Hide your copy for possible later use. Select your text and apply an “Edit Spline” modifier. Activate “Spline Selection Method” and select the bottom layer of the splines, then click “Detach”.

You will want to repeat this step for each material / object that you choose to make. You can decide to dissect the text all the way or only part of the way.

Think of each set of splines as a layer of wood or metal that you will later give depth.

Step 3: Extruding Your Shapes

Select your lower set of splines, hide the others. Go to the modify panel and apply an “Edit Poly Modifier”. This will turn your shapes into geometry. Activate the “polygon Selection Method” and hit the Extrude dialogue box button. Now you can set the extrusion height and press ok.

This step needs to be repeated for each material type / shape set.

Step 4 – Finished Sign Text Model

Now you should have something similar to the image below in your perspective viewport. All of the objects are broken apart and ready to start materializing. I colored each object to help visualize the different materials and layers of the sign.

You can either add a bevel in edit poly at any time for each object set or add it in with the material in a later step. I will only add a bevel as a material effect.

Step 5 – The Wood Material

For the wood material I started with an Arch & Design material and edited the values shown below. These values need to be tested as they may not work as well for your scene or texture map. Once created, select the objects that you wish to apply them to and hit the apply button. (Boxed In Blue)

Step 6 – The Bronze Material

For the bronze material I started with an Arch & Design material and edited the values shown below. These values need to be tested as they may not work as well for your scene or texture map. Once created, select the objects that you wish to apply them to and hit the apply button. (Boxed In Blue)

Step 7 – The Dark Metal Material

The dark metal material was created by using the same values as the bronze material, minus 2 changes. Add a metal material to the bump and diffuse slots.

You can copy the bronze material by dragging it to another slot. Now change the name and add your maps.

Step 8 – Wood Back Boards

The wood back board / bracing was created by using boxes with dimensions resembling 2×4’s, and the wood material was applied.

Step 9 – Hanging Chains

The hanging chains were created by using a circle spline and setting it to renderable. Then I added an “Edit Spline” modifier and elongated the link. Next I instanced the link up and rotated each a bit. Once I had 4 different links going up I instanced the set so I didn’t have to continue copying.

Step 10 – Lighting

The lighting rig that you chose totally depends on your taste and your scene. I am lighting this model by itself. I added MR Sun and MR Sky. I also added a few target spotlights. The spotlights are set to a high intensity value, because of the exposure control I am about to set. My spotlights are set to 3,000 with a very low “Hotspot” and a high “Falloff”. I also set my decay type to “Inverse Square” and adjusted the distance to almost hit the sign.

Step 11 – Exposure Control

To open the exposure control options press “8″. Under exposure control make sure that “MR Photographic Exposure Control” is selected. You may have to change it from automatic or linear. Next, select the “Outdoor Daylight, Clear Sky” preset.

Step 12 – Render Settings

For the render settings I used a mostly basic setup. I used finalgather along with global illumination (GI). The reason that I used GI, is because I had spotlights set up. I was hoping for soft shadows, which did not seem to pan out very well. Doing tests with this and assessing the gain is very important and can save you a huge amount of time when rendering… especially with animations, if you multiply seconds by ntsc.

My samples per pixel were set to 4/16. This helps take away graininess and make for a much sharper image. It will also drastically raise render times. Make sure again to assess the gain, as sometimes if you up the setting… if won’t look any different. This is uncommon before 4/16… raising it from there takes a bit more of an eye.

Step 13 – Reflecting On The Tutorial

Hopefully you have learned a few elements that you did not know before reading. Often little things will spark a realization with combining tools together to make a greater object or animation. Keep your mind open and think about the art of 3D as more of an infinite mix of elements to come to the same goal. One tool does not apply to everything. Have fun my friends.

Related posts:

1. Furniture Design Rendering (Autodesk 3dsmax 2010 and Earlier)
2. Create Realistic 3D Picture Frames in 3DS Max and Mental Ray
3. Candle And Votive Holder In 3D

Welcome to the "Candle And Votive Holder" tutorial. In this tutorial we will be covering how to create the decorative glass along with the wax and flame. I am using Autodesk 3dsmax 2010 while writing this tutorial, although you should be able to follow along with earlier versions as well.

Author: Ryan W. Knope

Ryan W. Knope is a freelance 3D / 2D Artist / Consultant with 13 years experience in the 3D and 2D industry. His main artistic love lies with interior and exterior rendering although he takes on just about every type of graphics work. Ryan is also the architectural / interior voice for 3D Artist Magazine’s Question and Answer Panel. He lives with his wife Krista, in sunny Denver, Colorado.

Tutorial Details

• Programs: Autodesk 3dsmax 2010
• Difficulty: Easy (Prior Knowledge Of Software Interface Is A Plus.)

Step 1: Creating The Votive Base

The first step is to create the base of the candle. Go to the create menu > Extended Primitives and select "Chamfer Box". Drag out the box and then go to the modify panel and edit your settings. The most important options here are the Fillet and the Segments.

Step 2: Creating A Copy Of The Base

Activate the move tool and SHIFT drag the base object up. When you release the mouse button the clone dialogue box pops up. Pick "Copy".

Step 3: Editing The Base For The Next Section

Next go to the modify menu and apply an "Edit Poly" modifier to the object. Now we are going to edit the vertices of the object so that we can create the hole in the next step. Activate the "Vertices" selection mode and pull the inside vertices closer to the edge as seen below. It is easiest to pull the vertices out while in top view.

Make sure that you are moving both the top and bottom vertices.

Step 4 – Creating The Hole

While in Edit Poly, activate the "Face" selection mode, scroll down to "Extrude" and hit the dialogue button next to it. This will bring up the Extrude Polygons dialogue box. You want to extrude this face down so that it touches the bottom. It will be easier to tell when it is in the right spot if you have the left or front view zoomed in.

Next, delete the face you extruded down by pressing delete. Now you can rotate your perspective viewport to show the bottom of the object and delete the bottom inner face.

Step 5 – Copy The Glass Pieces Up

This part is quick and easy. Select your object with the hole and copy it up to your desired height. Do not use Instance.

Step 6 – Attaching The Pieces Together

Select your bottom object and go to "modify" to access the edit poly modifier. Scroll down and click the button next to "Attach". This brings up the attach dialogue box. Select the 1st object listed, then SHIFT click the last one. Then hit the attach button..

Step 7 – Using Soft Selection

Now that we have all of the objects joined as one we can go to the vertex level and use soft selection. This tool is very useful when you have to create a nice blending curve out of you detailed mesh, which would take a significant amount of time by hand. You can see below that I chose to select the middle vertices and adjust my soft selection falloff to affect almost to the top and bottom. Now use the scale to (R) to scale up or down.

Step 8 – Creating The Glass Material

To start with I used the Arch + Design "Physical Glass" preset. Then I changed the diffuse to 1.0 and the refraction color to a very light orange or peach. Apply this to your objects.

Step 9 – Creating The Wax Object

Create a chamfer box as seen at the bottom left. Apply an Edit Poly modifier and edit the object at the vertex level. You can see the progression of how I modeled it below. Keep in mind that while modeling it, you want to make sure that it matches the inside edges of the glass.

Step 10 – Quick Wax Material

This is by no means a photorealistic wax material. Normally a realistic wax material would have Sub Surface Scattering or SSS. This is a much simpler material that works in this situation. I started with a default Arch + Design material and edited the options shown below.

Step 11 – Placing The Wick

The wick can be created by drawing a spline. You can access the line tool by going to Create > Shapes > Line. Make sure to check your spline in each viewport. You can edit the shape by going to the modify panel and editing the points. Apply a white material.

Step 12 – Creating The Flame Object

For the flame object I used a plane. You can create the plane by going to Create > Standard Primitives > Plane. You may have to rotate the object depending on the texture map you are going to use in the next step.

Step 13 – The Flame Material

Go back to the material editor and start with a new Arch + Design material. Turn down your reflectivity and glossiness to 0.0. Add a "Glow Lume Map" to the diffuse slot. Turn up your brightness and add the flame texture map using the "M" button to the right of the color.

Now, as long as your flame image map background is black, you can add it to the "Cutout" slot. If it is not then you will need to make the background black in photoshop. The Cutout slot reads images from light to dark, just like the bump map slot. Light being visible and dark being transparent.

You may have to adjust your glow lume brightness settings after we adjust the Exposure Control.

Step 14 – Floor And Back Wall

This step is quite easy. You can use a plane or a box for the floor and back wall. Apply whatever material you desire for these objects.

Just remember, if the environment is more detailed, your reflections will be as well..

Step 15 – Setting Up Spotlights

Drag out your target spotlight as shown below. Now you can adjust your light settings. I always set my Hotspot beam to a very low value and my falloff very high. This creates a softer light. Also set your decay type to inverse square and at a distance where the level will hit accordingly. The multiplier Intensity shown below is quite high. This is because of the exposure control settings that we will cover in the next step.

Step 16 – Render Settings And Exposure Control

For the render setup, I used default Mental Ray settings for the most part. Change your samples per pixel. I used 4 to 16 and made sure that I had finalgather turned on in the indirect illumination tab. Setting a higher samples per pixel will raise render times but it will also gain in quality significantly.

Next go to "Exposure Control / Environment". For your environment map use "MR Physical Sky". Now set your exposure control to "MR Photographic Exposure Control". I used the default settings. Now you are all set to test render. You can use the "Render Preview" under exposure control or render it larger through the main render tab.

Step 17 – Conclusion

Through the past 16 steps we have went over creating your objects, setting up lights, configuring your render and environment settings and finally rendering the scene. While the material properties are not physically accurate, they work in most cases. Physically accurate materials and tiny detailing can take up ones whole day via test rendering and changing settings and repeating. A good place to check out material settings on quality free materials is www.mrmaterials.com

Joining and downloading materials from there is easy and fast. Studying them and how they are created can be priceless! Best of luck on your 3D ventures. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Related posts:

1. Designing Text & Signage In 3D (Autodesk 3dsmax 2010 and Earlier)
2. Create Realistic 3D Picture Frames in 3DS Max and Mental Ray
3. Creating A Space Ship In 3DS Max

Welcome to this educational session of 3D Design. In this session we will create a realistic set of Picture Frames / Wall Art in Autodesk 3dsmax 2010 and Mental Ray. Most of the educational aspects of this tutorial can be transferred to other 3D applications easily.

Author: Ryan W. Knope

Ryan W. Knope is a freelance 3D / 2D Artist / Consultant with 13 years experience in the 3D and 2D industry. His main artistic love lies with interior and exterior rendering although he takes on just about every type of graphics work. Ryan is also the architectural / interior voice for 3D Artist Magazine’s Question and Answer Panel. He lives with his wife Krista, in sunny Denver, Colorado.

Tutorial Details

• Programs: Autodesk 3dsmax 2010
• Difficulty: Easy (Prior Knowledge of Software Interface is a plus.)
• Main 3dsmax File: Paintings-tutorial-max.zip

Step 1: Deciding The Type Of Frame You Need

Deciding what type of frame and picture you need is the first step. You should pick a style that matches your environment or the room interior design. It is all about matching styles throughout, everything should compliment each other. Use your artistic eye to make the decision. It will do you well to study frame styles for at least a few minutes by typing picture frames into Google.

Step 2: Dissecting The Frame

I have picked a semi ornate classical frame for this tutorial. Below you can see the finished render along with the dissected version of the frame. The 4 objects below make up the completed frame, minus the picture and the matte.

Step 3: Starting With A Chamfer Box

Create a chamfer box with a 3 segment fillet. Below on the left you can see what we are creating. On the right you can see the step we have taken currently.

Step 4 – Scale Down The Front Face Just A Bit

Select your chamfer box and add an edit poly modifier. Go to "Face Mode" and select your front face. Scale this face down slightly.

Step 5 – Using The Bevel Tool

Scroll down through edit poly and find the "Bevel" button. Click the button and the dialogue box shown below will pop up. This brings the face in while scaling it down slightly. The outer rim of the frame is now complete

Step 6 – Creating The Inner Rim

You could create this object the same way as the main piece, although this is essentially the same object, just tweaked a bit. Instead, to make this object fit our needs we will edit the vertices with edit poly. When cloning the 1st object make sure not to use "Instance", use copy instead.

Step 7 – Pin Line Ridges

The pin line ridges are quite easy to create. I simply used renderable splines to add this detail. On the left you can see the 3 splines in blue and their placement in the middle. You can find my spline setting below as well.

Go to Create > Shapes > Rectangle and drag out the spline to match your placement. Then turn on "Enable In Renderer" and "Enable In Viewport."

The wood parts of your frame are now complete.

Step 8 – Creating The Matte

For starters, create a renderable spline (Rectangular) that matches your open window edge. Make sure to use 4 sided and an angle of .45. You should have something similar to what is below.

Step 9 – Scale In The Matte – Thickness

Scale your matte object in so that it is not as thick as what was originally created.

Step 10 – Chamfering Your Matte

Apply an edit poly modifier to your matte object. Under Edit Poly, go to "Edge Mode. Select all of the front inside edges and click the chamfer edge button. You can see the values that I used below. This creates the angle cut that mattes often have. Now you can move it into location, fitting it inside the frame just before it hits the backer.

Step 11 – Your Picture Object

Create a plane and place it inside the matte object as seen below. Now our modeling is finished and we can begin the texturing process.

Step 12 – Adding Materials

I am using Mental Ray as my rendering engine, so with that in mind, I will be using Arch + Design materials throughout the rest of the tutorial. Press M to bring up the material editor.

In the first material, add your painting image map to the diffuse slot. If you are using an Arch + Design material, make sure you turn the Reflectivity and Glossiness all the way down. Apply this to your painting / picture object.

Select your matte object and create a new material without any reflectivity or glossiness. Change the diffuse color to white or whatever color you prefer.

Select all of your wood frame objects. Next, under the modify panel drop down locate UVW Map and apply it to the selected set. Set it to box and click "Fit to object". Create a new Arch + Design material and use the setting shows below, add your wood image map into the "Diffuse" slot and apply the material.you should now have a fully textured picture frame.

With the materials you could even go a step further. If your painting is to an an original, you could add bump to signify levels of paint. If your wood is to be a bit rougher and less smooth, bump will also aid in that.

Step 13 – Render Settings

I will not go into render settings during this tutorial. You can check out details on setting up a MR Sun and SKY lighting and rendering set up HERE. I may create a tutorial soon of different quick lighting rigs. Only time will tell.

Step 14 – Reflection

You can create just about any frame with this method. If you look into edit poly a bit more, you could create very ornate wall art. I hope this tutorial has helped you get down the basics of creating a simple but pretty picture frame. The full 2010 3dsmax file has been supplied. So if you run into any trouble, it will definitely help to dissect it.

Related posts:

1. Candle And Votive Holder In 3D
2. Designing Text & Signage In 3D (Autodesk 3dsmax 2010 and Earlier)
3. Creating A Space Ship In 3DS Max (Session 2)

In this tutorial we will go about the process of setting up a "Walk Through" or "Fly Through" animation in Autodesk 3dsmax. This Tutorial can be followed by users of other applications as well, since most of the functions can be transferred. The concept I am about to teach is pretty universal.

For those that are a bit more advanced I will spill the beans early… animate your camera along a path.

This tutorial is not meant to be a modeling guide for creating your environment. It is meant to teach you how to set up your animation after modeling the environment. Simple… maybe… maybe not… let’s take a look.

Author: Ryan W. Knope

Ryan W. Knope is a freelance 3D / 2D Artist / Consultant with 13 years experience in the 3D and 2D industry. His main artistic love lies with interior and exterior rendering although he takes on just about every type of graphics work. Ryan is also the architectural / interior voice for 3D Artist Magazine’s Question and Answer Panel. He lives with his wife Krista, in sunny Denver, Colorado.

Tutorial Details

• Programs: Autodesk 3dsmax 2010
• Difficulty: Easy (Prior Knowledge of 3dsmax interface is a plus.)

Supplied Data

• Entire Project Zip: Flythrough_maxfile.zip

Step 1: Drawing The First Wall

Start by opening 3dsmax. Draw a spline (Line) as shown below. (You can find this tool by going to Create > Shapes > Line)

Renderable is turned on. The spline has a thickness of 6", has 4 sides and has an angle of 45 degrees. The angle is set to 45 degrees to rotate the profile to be flat instead of diamond shaped.

Step 2: Raising The Wall To Proper Height

Now that the spline has been drawn we need to bring it up to 10′ in height. To do this go to the "modify tab" and add an "edit poly" modifier. Next draw a box that is 10′ in height. This box will act as our measuring guide.

Go back to the "modify tab" and
go to the "vertex" editing level. Pull the top vertices up to your 10′ measure mark. Now you have completed 1 wall.

Step 3: Laying Out The Rest Of Your Walls

In this step we will "instance" the walls to create a maze. You can create it as large or as small as you need to serve your purpose. Select your wall and SHIFT + Move the object to bring up the "Clone Options." Select instance and press OK. We used instance because if we edit 1 wall, it will make the same changes to the rest.

Next we will mirror the wall. You can access the mirror tool by going to TOOLS > MIRROR or by pressing the button at the top of the layout. Mirror the wall along the, axis. You should have a hallway at this point.

Now repeat this step again by mirroring both of the wall objects. on the Y axis. Continue instancing and mirroring until you have a large enough wall layout.

Note: Keep in mind that in any planar viewport, is a horizontal mirror and Y is a vertical mirror.

Step 4 – The Floor

For the flooring you can simply create a plane and line it up to the bottom of the walls.

You can create the plane by accessing the create panel. Change the width and length segments to 1, because we do not need the extra geometry.

Step 5 – Mental Ray And Sun

For this tutorial I am using Mental Ray as my rendering engine and MR Sun and MR Sky as my lighting system. You can use whatever you prefer. I would also add a wall material. I chose a light gray.

You can read in more detail how to set up your sun system with step 11 and 12 of the Master Plan Tutorial.

Step 6 – Drawing Your Path Spline (Camera Path)

Draw a spline (Line) in the middle of the hallways in the directions that you would like your camera to move along. Now move the spline up so it is at about eye height. A height of 5′5" to 6′ should work well

Varying the height of your spline in different locations can make for some interesting camera shots. This can be both good and bad depending on your use.

Step 7 – Smoother Turns

We now need to smooth out the turns a bit… otherwise your camera will look like a soldier doing right and left face drill commands.

Select your spline and go to the "modify" panel. Select the "Vertex Level" and select all of the vertices
(CTRL A). Now scroll down along the modify panel and find "Fillet". Use a 3′8" fillet or whatever you prefer. Your camera path should now be smoother along the turns, making it a bit more realistic.

You should have something similar to what is below.

Step 8 – Creating Your Camera

To create your camera go to Create > Cameras > Target Camera. Click and drag it out at the start of your path spline. Position it close to you spline and raise it up to eye level. I used a 35mm camera lens. You can use whatever you desire, although keep in mind that with a smaller lens, your hallways will appear very long and often the walls will not be straight up and down.

Now you can check your camera by going to your perspective viewport and pressing "C". This will change the view to the camera.

At this point it is also wise to set your time configuration. For example, how long you want the animation to be as well as how many frames per second (FPS). You can find the "Time Configuration" button in the lower right corner of the interface. It has a clock on the button. Keep in mind that much of the time a frame rate of 29.97 or 30 is used.

Step 9 – Assigning A Path Constraint Controller

Select your camera and go to the "Motion Tab" and expand the "Transform Rollout". Select the position line and click the box with the check in it. This will bring up the "Assign Position Controller" dialogue box, select "Path Constraint" and hit OK.

This has now assigned the path constraint controller to your camera.

Step 10 – Adding Your Path

While in the motion tab roll down, click add path and select your spline in the viewport. This will attach the camera to the spline. This also moves the camera along the path from 0% to 100% in regards to your time line.

If you move the time slider while the top and camera views are open you will see that the camera moves along the path, but the target does not.

Step 11 – Deciding Not To Use A Camera Target

One way to make your camera target work for you is not to use one. Your camera will only follow your path, you will not be able to look from left to right.

To use this method, select your camera and move down the motion rollout until you see the "Follow" option, select it. You may need to change your,YZ Axis orientation, test them with the camera viewport open for the proper axis.

Step 12 – Deciding To Use A Camera Target

Using a target camera gives the user much more control, such as looking up, down and all around. Using a target also takes more time, as you have to keyframe your target for the duration of the animation.

As you drag your time slider you will notice that the camera follows the path, but the target does not.

To keyframe your target, turn on "AutoKey". This will automatically set a keyframe if you move an object, in this case, you will be moving the camera target. Move you time slider so that you camera goes around a corner, then move your target into a desired position, repeat this until you have a smooth flow around corners.

You should be doing all of this while using the top and camera views. By the end you should have many keyframe ticks on the time line.

Step 13 – Corner Troubles

If you rendered out a test at this point, you can probably see a problem with turning the corners. The corners are probably too tight if you are using a 28mm lens and up.

To fix this you can do a few things… widen your hallways, which if you are working on a commercial job, you probably cannot.

Second, you can lower the lens size, while this is not a great option, it does work.

Third, you can edit your path so that it hugs the far wall (opposite of the turn), giving you more space. You can see the difference between my path splines below. To edit your path spline, select it and go to the modify tab.

Remember to turn "Auto Key" off before editing your spline. Your path spline will be animated if you do not.

Step 14 – Rendering

Now it is time to render. Press F10 to bring up the render properties window. Mental Ray should already be set up as your renderer.

Set your size,select "Active Segment" under time output, scroll down and find the render output area and select your folder and file name / type. Go to the "Indirect Illumination Tab" and double check and make sure "Finalgather" is turned on. You should be all set to render now.

Step 15 – Conclusion

With this tutorial, you hopefully learned a bunch of tools and topics regarding setting up a fly through animation. I went over a very basic set up, this can get much more complex. To finesse each turn can be very consuming. Patience is the key when setting up the movement.

It would benefit you greatly to check out a bunch of professional fly through animations, taking note of their movement, height and composition.

Related posts:

1. Creating A Detailed Master Plan Rendering – Part 2 – 3DS Max and Photoshop
2. Creating a Detailed Master Plan Rendering in 3dsmax and Photoshop
3. Creating A Detailed Master Plan Rendering – Part 3 – 3D Studio Max and Photoshop

Welcome to the fifth and final session of "Creating A Detailed Master Plan Rendering." In this session we will the following elements:

• Trees (Requires major planning, 3D trees are very high in poly count)
• Bushes And Shrubs (Requires major planning because of the latter)
• Rocks And Other Elements (Requires finding and masking)
• Road Patterns
• Adding Shadows
• Pavement Patterning
• Roof Top Overlays

The focus of this rendering is based mainly off the site hardscape, planting and how it flows rather than the architecture of the buildings.

Author: Ryan W. Knope

Ryan W. Knope is a freelance 3D Artist / Consultant with 13 years experience in the 3D and 2D industry. His main expertise lies with interior and exterior rendering. Ryan is also the architectural / interior voice for 3D Artist Magazine’s Question and Answer Panel. He lives with his wife in sunny Denver, Colorado.

Tutorial Details

• Programs: Autodesk 3dsmax 2010 • Adobe Photoshop CS4
• Difficulty For Session 1: Intermediate to Advanced (Prior Knowledge of Software is a plus.)

Supplied Data

• Sketches and Client Provided Information: .ZIP

Step 1: Brief Statement Of Where We Left Off

In session 4 we finished off the 3D work in 3dsmax and output our render at full size. Some Photoshop work was accomplished, softening, levels and we looked into planning out our tree population. Hopefully you have had some time to build a library of tree’s to use for this session.

Step 2: Roof Top Overlays

The roof tops of our main buildings lack detail. To quickly add some definition and a hint of detailing / texture I usually add a overlay in Photoshop. Google is the first place I look for images to work with. Check for images that have as close to top view as possible.

Mask out the roof top image from google, paste it into your render and transform it to fit your roof top. Repeat this step for each of the main buildings. Select each of your roof top layers in the layer tab and merge them(CTRL E)

What I do next is cycle through the blending type and find a option that works well with the roof. In this case "Difference" and "Overlay" have worked well. Then lower the opacity of the layer and add a slight inner shadow. The layer effect options can be accessed by either double clicking the thumbnail of your layer or by Layer > Layer Style > Inner Shadow. The inner shadow will give the effect of a lip on the building roof.

Step 3: Adding Road Lines

This step is a bit more complex than the prior. The road images that I used were from www.cgtextures.com. It is a huge resource for 3D and 2D artists. I highly recommend getting acquainted with all of the sections.

First I create a long length of road by copying the image over and erasing the bottom and top edge so they blend together nicely. Next, I fit the road image to each straight section, for curved areas of the road you can use the warp tool (Edit > Transform > Warp).

Once you have your road overlays lined up then you need to blend them into each other using the eraser with a soft edge. Next you can merge the road layers and paint out the lines at the intersections, I used the clone stamp for this job, although you can use the brush tool as well.

With your main render highlighted use the magic wand to select the black road mass, select your road overlay layer (In the layer tab) and hit the create mask button. Now your roads should be masked out and conforming to the render. The blending mode for the road layer is kept at normal.

I added a black inner glow and a black overlay (Layer Effect), both layer effects were set to "Overlay" with a transparency of about 60%.

Step 4 – Paver Patterning – Walkways

I decided early on that certain areas (mainly areas with steps) would be easier to texture or pattern in Photoshop. Slanted stairs can be a time consuming item to uvw map in 3dsmax.

This was accomplished by using the same texture image that was used with the 3dsmax paver material (Walk Way material). I pasted the image into the main photoshop render, then I rotated and scaled it to fit the proper sizing. Change the blending mode of the layer to darken and opacity to about %50. (Depending on the texture you originally used you may need to try other blending options.) (You may also need to make the pattern repeat more, if this is the case use the same method as was used with the road texture.)

Now that the layer is at about 50% opacity, mask around the entire portion of your steps, invert your selection (CTRL SHIFT I) and press delete or use a layer mask.

Make sure to do this step for all the stairs that we did not texture accordingly.

Step 5 – Adding Defining Lines For Each Step / Riser

You may notice in the image above that the steps / risers are not defined very well. You cannot really see each step, which almost always a client will want to see.

This problem can be fixed easily by creating a new layer at the top of the list and using the brush tool at a very small size 1- 3 pixels should work depending on your image size, your color should be black.

Click at one end of a step, press shift and click at the other end. This will create a straight line along those 2 points. On the same layer, repeat this for each step or edge that needs to be defined.

Now lower your layer opacity accordingly.
I also added a slight drop shadow layer effect (Opacity 18%) The result of the process is shown below.

Step 6 – Trees, Starting To Populate The Landscaping

For starters let’s bring a tree in for the zoomed area in the image above. Also open the plan drawing to see where the tree’s need to be placed. Place the 1st tree layer right underneath the softening layer, because we want the trees to soften with the rest of the image.

Make a copy of your tree layer, scale it down and place it just under the larger tree. Now rotate it so the darker side of the smaller tree goes just under the larger… this makes it look like the larger tree is over the smaller tree and gives the essence of depth.

I also tend to change the hue / saturation (CTRL U) with trees that are very close to each other or on top of each other.

NOTE: It is wise to start a entourage library of Trees and Vegetation sorted by view type.

Step 7 – Using A Naming System

When selecting a layer I usually use the "CTRL Click" method (Transform Tool). There are times when this wont work and it is a pain selecting a layer. This happens a lot when you have an overlay layer.

For this reason, before you put in too many trees, set up a naming system that works for you. A lot of people use folders to organize their psd file a bit more. I strongly Advise doing this. I tend to organize the vegetation per location in the rendering.

For example, I create a folder for the vegetation in a certain area, name it from a landmark / area name and also the direction (NW, SE, NE, SW, etc). Then I label each layer for the type of vegetation, size and color. This helps you know the basic info and takes a lot of time out of guess work.

When placing your trees keep in mind the shadows and direction of the sun.

You can see my naming system in the image below along with my layout of trees.

Step 8 – Base Render Cleanup

While I put in the trees for each area I also take the time to clean up the base render if it needs. It is perfect timing because you already have it zoomed and are working in close detail. Also, doing this after you put your trees in make it easier on you, because you may only have to fix half.

Below you can see areas of problem at the left and the fixed areas at the right. I used the clone stamp tool after making careful selections with the polygon lasso tool.

Paying close attention to fixing problem areas can save major face when it comes to your clients.

Step 9 – Accentuating Your Shadows

Now that the trees are in for the Northwest Park region, we can start adding heavier shadows to help with the depth of the image.

Create a new layer in your area tree folder and place it at the top of the list, CRTL click the layer thumbnail of your large tree. This creates a selection of your object. Now press CTRL SHIFT I to invert the selection. Make sure that the new shadow paint layer is selected and use a black brush at a low to medium opacity with soft edges to paint in your desired shadows.

Be careful in painting the shadows. I go tree by tree in the selection process.

Below, you can see where I painted in red. There is also a before and after of this area.

Remember, there are many other areas that you can apply this step to. Shading can be painted in to show slopes or raised grading, corners etc. This is essential to making your rendering look less flat and is for more than just trees.

Step 10 – Adding Vehicles

Often a client will want to have vehicles added to the rendering. I shudder at this because the color of the vehicles are often brighter and attract more attention than the plan itself. With that in mind, the image below shows a few options.

Remember to add a drop shadow matching your sun direction. Keep all of your vehicles on 1 layer. If you need to put a vehicle behind a building or tree, use a layer mask.

While working on adding vehicles think about which region of the world your master plan is in. If your master plan is in China, you probably don’t want to show Hummer’s, Ford’s and Chevy’s.

NOTE: It is wise to start a entourage library of Vehicles sorted by view / world type.

Step 11 – Adding People

Adding people can give a sense of scale to a rendering. It can also bring a sense of style. Below you can see a few different options, each with an explanation. On top of these ideas, you could also add a stroke color or main color if they are to be highlighted more.

Keep all of your people on 1 layer. If you need to put a person behind a tree, use a layer mask.

You can purchase "Top" or "Birds View" people online or build your own library from Google. When placing mass amounts of people, try not to use many duplicates, as they are easily spotted.

While adding people think about which region of the world your master plan is in. The clothing types in some areas are much more prevalent than others. For example, in the UAE clothing is much different than in the USA. Heavy religious countries often have a standard type of clothing that most people wear.

NOTE: It is wise to start a entourage library of People sorted by view / world type.

Step 12 – Rocks, Shrubs And Tall Grasses

In smaller master plans you often have to show much more than trees. I organize these in the same layer folder as the trees and apply a naming system for each type. Place all of the bushes and rocks under all the trees in the layer tab.

I usually copy and blend shrubs to fit a walk way using a soft eraser. At the end I combine the layers so I have 1 main shrub. You can also use the clone stamp tool at this point to make the seams fit a bit better. Then I apply a drop shadow matching the sun. Tall grasses are done in the same manor depending on how spread out they are.

Rocks are pretty easy. Mask them out, place them in and paint in a proper shadow. If you only have a few rocks in your library, then use the transform tool to make them less uniform.

NOTE: It is wise to start a entourage library of Trees and Vegetation sorted by view type.

Step 13 – Conclusion Of Post Production

It is often easy to get lost in the post production of a rendering. This can be both dangerous and beneficial because sometimes it means wasting time on details that a client will never see and in reverse, it can also render almost perfection to the client.

The goal of post production is to save time, energy and resources. Certain things are better done with post. Take some time to study your workflow and apply post production in a way that makes your job easier.

Below you can see how much post production has added to the rendering. It could go even further, although It is at the point where I unfortunately need to move onto another piece of work.

Step 14 – Reflection

Hopefully you have learned a lot of the technical and artistic aspects of creating a master plan rendering. We went over a huge list of versatile tools and concepts that can be applied to various avenues and just about any style of rendering.

Taking on a large master plan shows the need for dedication, it is not a quick bang out process and takes more time than many may think.

Well, this brings us to the end of this huge series. Please let me know your thoughts and comments. Good luck with your ventures!

Making This Tutorial Possible, John Feldman

www.ecocentrix.com

John Feldman has been nice enough to allow me to use not only the wip rendering, but the collateral information that he provided to me as I was contracted for this job. His write up and company profile is below.

Ecocentrix was founded on the fundamental premise that – the quality of the experience and function of landscapes is achieved by understanding inherently "what is" and "what is wanting", and that quality of life is a reflection of the quality of the landscape.

The firm’s work is rooted in investigations of residential estate and resort style living. Our clients are characterized by their culturally rich backgrounds and sophisticated design tastes, ranging from traditional to contemporary, and whose personal lifestyles and histories include a diverse range of travel and worldly explorations.

We artfully interact with nature by thoughtfully manipulating natural and constructed form, recognizing that the art of landscape is in the interaction of human and non-human nature.
Our body of work exemplifies great stylistic range and restraint produced with consistently high quality. Our projects are immediately mood altering, celebrating the sensual and tactile temperament that is the fabric of landscape.

Our design creates the ground for celebrating the cycles of all life, and is the foundation of regional identities enveloping cultural distinctions. It reinforces what is powerful and enhances what is weak. Ecocentrix endeavors to “Enrich Life Through Design”.

Related posts:

1. Creating A Detailed Master Plan Rendering – Part 4 – 3dsmax and Photoshop
2. Creating A Detailed Master Plan Rendering – Part 3 – 3D Studio Max and Photoshop
3. Creating A Detailed Master Plan Rendering – Part 2 – 3DS Max and Photoshop

Welcome to the fourth session of "Creating A Detailed Master Plan Rendering." In this session we will the following elements:

• Creating The Orchard Area.
• Non 0′ Site Grading.
• Non 0′ Steps And Planters.
• Starting Some Post Production

The focus of this rendering is based mainly off the site hardscape, planting and how it flows rather than the architecture of the buildings.

*NOTE* The final image shown below will be changing slightly as this is currently a live project.

Author: Ryan W. Knope

Ryan W. Knope is a freelance 3D Artist / Consultant with 13 years experience in the 3D and 2D industry. His main expertise lies with interior and exterior rendering. Ryan is also the architectural / interior voice for 3D Artist Magazine’s Question and Answer Panel. He lives with his wife in sunny Denver, Colorado.

Tutorial Details

• Programs: Autodesk 3dsmax 2010 • Adobe Photoshop CS4
• Difficulty For Session 1: Intermediate to Advanced (Prior Knowledge of Software is a plus.)

Supplied Data

• Sketches and Client Provided Information: .ZIP

Step 1: Brief Statement Of Where We Left Off

In session 3 we created the buildings, roads, surrounding buildings outside of the site, walk way cover, the water feature canopy and more. In this session we will finish up the site work within 3dsmax and begin doing a bit of post production.

Step 2: Pebble Walk Ways At The Orchard

You can see the areas in outlined in red. These can be created by drawing a spline and adding an edit poly modifier onto it. The material that these objects should receive are small pebbles, which you can see in step 3.

Move the objects down on the Z axis until they line up at just about the grass objects height. They should be at just above the 0′ grade.

You can also see that in the orchard there are several planters. Create these planters to be 6" in height using a renderable spline for the cement retainers and a plane for the grass. With these objects you can instance each planter because they are the same size.

Step 3: Orchard Steps And Benches

You can see in the image below, that the grade steps down to -1′. There will be 2 steps (Use Boxes) at each of the noted locations. There are 2′ high planters with benches attached to the corners at about 1′6" high.

I used a renderable spline for the retainer wall and applied a edit poly modifier to a copy of the same spline for the glass area. (Make sure to turn renderable spline off). The benches were created by drawing a closed spline, adding edit poly and extruding the top faces. A wood material was then applied.

I decided to not add the detailing of these steps in my rendering because the trees and bushes will cover and distract over quite a bit of this area.

Step 4 – Northern 5′ Site Grading Area

At this point there are now 2 sections that have not been filled in. With this step we will add the 5′ grade grass, as seen below. Trace the profile from the background plane with a spline, add an edit poly modifier and uvw map.

In reality the site slopes from a 5′ grade at the building and down to a 0′ grade at the street. This is not something we will not be concerned about due to the massive tree cover.

Create the stone patio with the same method, but extrude it 6" so that it steps up from the grass a bit. You can copy your uvw map from the prior patio stone stack.

Over the next few steps we will work on filling in the last area of steps and planters.

Step 5 – Starting The Last Area Of Grading

This is one of the trickier grading areas. You can see the top view and perspective view below. I have the heights and grades noted. I usually start with the low and top grades first.

Once they are in (Shown as pebbles) then I proceed to the planters in successive order bottom to top. The planters were created using a renderable spline with a edit poly modifier and the verts pulled to the desired height. The grass is simply a spline with a edit poly modifier and uvw map.

This helps block in the stair way. Create 1 riser as a box with edit poly to skew it. Instance them up. Create a mid landing if you desire. The sides of your riser objects will be hidden by the planters, so absolute precision is not a must. Apply a cement Material.

The bench was copied and edited from the one we created in a earlier session. It sits at 1′6".

Step 6 – Adding The Floor Striping, Stone Pavers And Bench

The cement striping was created using renderable splines that are placed just above grade.

Copy the bench that you made in the prior session and use edit poly to match what is below.

Create a box to fill in the area by the bench, copy the uvw map from another paver object and paste it into the stack, then apply your paver material.

Step 7 – Break Wall And Planter

The planter in this area is a standard planter. You can copy and edit the sizing to match the plan. It should be 9" tall and be aligned with the pavers as seen below.

There is a 2′ 2" divider wall that was made from a renderable spline with edit poly and a cement material applied.

You can also put a cap on any walls or planters to add more detail. Most caps are 2" – 3" in height and have a accent material.

Step 8 – Test Render

You can see a test render of both updated areas. Hopefully your render matches something close at this point. .

Step 9 – Building Entrance Way

Copy the walk way cover and rotate it slightly so that it enters the entrance way on just a bit of an angle. If you are choosing the same camera angle as I am using for my main shot then you don’t actually have to create a hole for the entrance, as you will not see it.

At this point you can copy a set of stairs and place it over at the entrance. These do not have to be very detailed because they are covered mainly by the walk way cover.

Step 10 – Adding The Park Entrance Building

This building I actually picked out of a library at the Google 3D Warehouse. This building was not as important to my client and I was able to find something that fit the design of the "Dry Garden" that it leads to.

Whenever I find a stock building to use, I always make edits to the materials. The models from Google 3D Warehouse are "Sketchup" models and often require quite a bit of cleanup. The models always come in with standard materials applied and sometimes you have to fix a lot of the geometry. I would stay away from this library unless you are using Sketchup or are in a time crunch where quality can suffer a bit. I was lucky enough to find a quality model within 10 minutes that worked and was clean.

The building you chose from Google 3D Warehouse will most likely have a "Multi/Sub Object Material" applied. You will need to find where each material is applied and change them to Arch & Design and add your shines / reflections, textures accordingly. You can use presets and materials that you already created for most of the building.

I used our prior white, wood, brushed metal and glass materials. Match up the sizing and placement according to the stone walkway at the 0′ grade.

Step 11 – Dry Garden Pebbles And Deck

For starters with this step I created a box matching the sketches location and size. Make this box 2" thick and raise it up about 6" above grade level. Apply a UVW Map and the same material that we used for the benches. Make sure to adjust your UVW Map.

The "Dry Pond" was created by drawing a spline and adding a edit poly modifier.

To smooth out your spline a little more you can use the "Fillet" tool under edit spline. Select all of the splines vertices and drag the slider up to smooth. The same pebble material was used as before.

This is all we will do for this area. The rest will be done in post production.

Step 12 – Check Render Settings And Render

Now we have all of the site filled out and ready for post production work. With that in mind it is time to check out the production render settings and render at a large size. I rendered this project at 3500 pixels wide.

Make sure you render at your final output size before starting post production, or scale up your smaller render in photoshop. Otherwise you may get halfway through your post production and have to redo it all.

You can see the main settings that I used below. I only edited properties of these 2 tabs.

In the "Renderer Tab": Raising the sample rate will make for a much sharper rendering. You will find that with raising it you raise the quality and the time it takes to render your image. I changed Raytrace Acceleration to BSP2. BSP2 can be very beneficial to render processing when you are dealing with a scene of 1 million poly’s or more.

In the "Indirect Illumination Tab": Enable Finalgather.

Set your render size and press the render button. Take a coffee break. Once your render is complete press the "Save Image" button shown below.

Step 13 – Overview Of The Post Production

Before starting the post production it is best to identify and make a list of all the elements that you need to add. This can save tons of time in the long run. This photoshop file will become quite large either way, but planning could save you from maxing out your computer.

Items to be added:
• Trees (Requires major planning, 3D trees are very high in poly count)
• Bushes And Shrubs (Requires major planning because of the latter)
• Rocks And Other Elements (Requires finding and masking)
• Softening Effect
• Road Patterns
• Adding Shadows
• Pavement Patterning
• Roof Top Overlays
• Adjusting The Contrast / Brightness / Levels

I usually adjust the contrast and brightness first, then add the softening effect. This gives me a sense of progress because the next step is to start placing the trees. The planting can be very time consuming and aggravating.

Below you can see my raw render directly out of 3dsmax.

Step 14 – Levels And Softening

Open your rendered image in Adobe Photoshop. When adjusting levels I always duplicate my base layer and try "Auto Levels" first. You can find "Auto Levels" by going to Image > Adjustments > Levels. Often it will work and make the step easy. If it does not work to your satisfaction then you may need to adjust it manually.

To create the softening effect I first make a selection of the highlights in the render. To do this go to Select > Color Range. You will see a dialogue box pop up. From the top drop down menu select "Highlights". This will select all of the brightest areas of the render. Create a new layer and fill the selection with white then adjust the layer opacity to about %30 or whatever looks good to you. The goal is to soften the buildings outside of the site, taking away a bit of the sharpness and detail.

You can erase the highlights that occur inside the site.

Step 15 – Tree Population Options

Deciding how you plan to tackle the tree issue is the next thing to cover. There are a few options.

Rendering The Trees In Your Main 3dsmax Scene (3D)
This would ideally be the best option because shadows would be remarkable and it would definitely give a greater sense of realism. This is only really a realistic option for very small plans or sites. A site of this size would require either using proxies (Which I will not cover in this tutorial) or a super computer beyond today’s standard.

Several Renderings With Trees Placed In 3dsmax (Several Scenes) (3D)
This option would work very well but would be very time consuming. On my machine I tend to only be able to place about 12 trees in my scene at a time. Each tree of mine is about 1 million polygons. While possible and the product would be great, this is not a great option either unless you have time to create 15 max files and 15 region renders.

Pre-Rendering Trees In 3dsmax And Placing Them In Photoshop (2D)
This option is the most feasible and often the quickest method to achieve the desired result. This means your tree management in Photoshop needs to be very well planned and your file size will become huge, but it is still the fastest and most reliable method.

Step 16 – Creating Your Tree Library

I have a huge pre existing tree library in both 3D and 2D. You can either find free 3D trees on the website’s listed below, or search google for tree tops that you can mask out.

• www.turbosquid.com
• www.flatpyramid.com
• www.3d02.com
• www.3dexport.com
• www.exchange3d.com

If you chose to use 3D trees and pre-render them make sure that you use the same sun system / exposure control settings / camera view. It is important to match the view and lighting of your main scene. When rendering the trees out save the images as .png with an alpha channel.

I suggest finding as many vegetation objects at this stage as possible and start building your library. This is extremely important in completing projects like this in a timely manor.

This ends the second installment of this Master Plan Tutorial. You can direct questions to info@ryanknope.com.

In The Next Installment

The next installment of this tutorial set will be coming shortly. Here is what you have to look forward to:

• Trees (Requires major planning, 3D trees are very high in poly count)
• Bushes And Shrubs (Requires major planning because of the latter)
• Rocks And Other Elements (Requires finding and masking)
• Road Patterns
• Adding Shadows
• Pavement Patterning
• Roof Top Overlays

View the previous tutorials:

• “Creating A Detailed Master Plan Rendering – Part 1“
• “Creating A Detailed Master Plan Rendering – Part 2“
• “Creating A Detailed Master Plan Rendering – Part 3“

Or, view the next tutorial: “Coming Soon!“

Making This Tutorial Possible, John Feldman

www.ecocentrix.com

John Feldman has been nice enough to allow me to use not only the wip rendering, but the collateral information that he provided to me as I was contracted for this job. His write up and company profile is below.

Ecocentrix was founded on the fundamental premise that – the quality of the experience and function of landscapes is achieved by understanding inherently "what is" and "what is wanting", and that quality of life is a reflection of the quality of the landscape.

The firm’s work is rooted in investigations of residential estate and resort style living. Our clients are characterized by their culturally rich backgrounds and sophisticated design tastes, ranging from traditional to contemporary, and whose personal lifestyles and histories include a diverse range of travel and worldly explorations.

We artfully interact with nature by thoughtfully manipulating natural and constructed form, recognizing that the art of landscape is in the interaction of human and non-human nature.
Our body of work exemplifies great stylistic range and restraint produced with consistently high quality. Our projects are immediately mood altering, celebrating the sensual and tactile temperament that is the fabric of landscape.

Our design creates the ground for celebrating the cycles of all life, and is the foundation of regional identities enveloping cultural distinctions. It reinforces what is powerful and enhances what is weak. Ecocentrix endeavors to “Enrich Life Through Design”.

Related posts:

1. Creating A Detailed Master Plan Rendering – Part 2 – 3DS Max and Photoshop
2. Creating a Detailed Master Plan Rendering in 3dsmax and Photoshop
3. Creating A Detailed Master Plan Rendering – Part 3 – 3D Studio Max and Photoshop

Welcome to the third session of "Creating A Detailed Master Plan Rendering." In this session we will the following elements:

• Creating Roads.
• Buildings Surrounding The Site.
• The Driveway.
• 1 Building Design.
• Walk Way Covers.
• Water Feature Canopy.
• South Patios.

The focus of this rendering is based mainly off the site hardscape, planting and how it flows rather than the architecture of the buildings.

*NOTE* The final image shown below will be changing slightly as this is currently a live project.

Author: Ryan W. Knope

Ryan W. Knope is a freelance 3D Artist / Consultant with 13 years experience in the 3D and 2D industry. His main expertise lies with interior and exterior rendering. Ryan is also the architectural / interior voice for 3D Artist Magazine’s Question and Answer Panel. He lives with his wife in sunny Denver, Colorado.

Tutorial Details

• Programs: Autodesk 3dsmax 2010 • Adobe Photoshop CS4
• Difficulty For Session 3: Intermediate to Advanced (Prior Knowledge of Software is a plus.)

Supplied Data

• Sketches and Client Provided Information: .ZIP

Step 1: Brief Statement Of Where We Left Off

In session 2 we added main grass areas, walkways, raised areas, building placeholders, the water feature and a bit more. Your rendering should currently look something similar to the image below. Now we will start to fill in the areas around the site.

Step 2: Starting The Roads

For the roads I decided to create a massive black plane object that spans the whole camera view. Hide all of your objects except the grasses at 0′ Grade.This plane needs to be moved just under your lowest grass. Now you should have a screen like the one below. Make sure that all of your objects are showing through the black. It is easy to miss a piece or 2 with so many items.

To define the streets we will kill 2 birds with 1 stone in the next step, creating the buildings outside the site.

Step 3: Defining The Streets And Building Masses

Now you need to create a box (or you can use a plane as well). When creating this object we need to think forward because we will be using the "Greeble" plugin to modify this object in the next step. So, we would like to have as few segments as possible while still matching the road contour the best that we can. I found that 9 and 2 worked (Shown Below). Having less segments is ideal because greeble will raise and edit each face or quad into building like masses. If there are too many segments you will wind up with very tiny buildings, which would be quite unrealistic.

Next an "Edit Poly" modifier needs to be added. Edit the object on the "Vertex Level" to match the image in the bottom right. Make sure to pull it out far enough so that the object does not stop mid way through the camera angle.

This process has to be completed for each respective area. If you scroll to the main image you can see the 4 areas that need attention.

Step 4 – Install Greeble And Raise The Roof

Head over to http://max.klanky.com. Download, unzip and place the greeble.dlm file into your "Plugins" folder. Installation is that simple. Now restart 3dsmax and re-open your working file.

Now comes the fun part. Select the top object that you just created and select "Greeble" under the modifier tab. In the image below you can see the settings and result of the greeble modifier. The "Panels" area controls the main set of extrusions (Large Ones). You will want to set the heights to a pretty large value while keeping the min and max a bit apart. I also used "Taper" because I plan on dragging my object down below 0" grade, therefore creating the alleyways between the buildings.

The widgets are very useful for creating the massing’s of rooftop elements, such as air conditioner units, top rooms and more. By raising the density level you will place more objects on the building tops. Change your "seed" value to randomly change the way your setting are applied.

*Note: My greeble object will look different than yours, it all depends on segment placement and sizing.

Step 5 – Deleting Your Unwanted Geometry

As you can see above, we have unwanted geometry on the sides and bottom. This could have been avoided using a plane from the start, although this is a good step to learn either way.

To edit the buildings object go to Modify > Edit Poly. Use the polygon selection mode and highlight all of the top faces. (The buildings you want to keep.) Now that all the top buildings are selected press CTRL I. This inverts the selection and now you should have all of your unwanted faces selected. Press delete. Now you can un hide everything and move the buildings down along the Z axis to create your desired alley ways.

Apply a Arch&Design light gray material to the set of buildings. While creating the material use the default reflection properties and add rounded corners, which can be found under "Special Effects"..

Step 6 – Editing The Greeble Building Massings

You should have all the outer buildings in your scene. If you are unhappy with some of the structures you can select and edit your object using the edit poly modifier that is already in the stack.

You can see the progress of my building set below. Notice how alleys and streets are now defined. The render is starting to fill out and take shape.

Step 7 – The Driveway Area

The large black plane that we created earlier will also act as the driveway. In this step we have to create the items around it. We will create the sidewalk, grass and walls.

To start the sidewalk draw an arc to match the curvature of the plan (In Red). You can find the arc under the shapes creation tab. Make the spline renderable and match the width from the plan. Scale the object down in the z axis so that the object is not so high. Apply an edit poly modifier and pull out the winged edges as seen below. Apply a UVW Map onto the object and a concrete type material.

The grass area in the center can be created by using a cylinder in the geometry creation tab. Match the sizing to the plan. Apply an edit poly modifier and pull the top and bottom vertices to match what is shown below. Add a UVW map and apply the same grass material that was used in prior steps.

The low and high walls shown below are quite simple. The high walls are boxes. The low wall is a renderable spline. Add a UVW map and apply the same wall material that was used in prior steps.

Move the objects in this step to coincide with the level of the grass, street, etc.

Step 8 – Starting A Building

Over the next few steps we will create the long building that stands at the water feature. Below you can see a close up render and close up wireframe. Take a look below at the wireframe and render and try to think about how I put this building together.

Step 9 – Placing The Floors Windows And Columns

Start by creating a box that spans the entire building length. Instance the object at a height distance of 10′ in between. This will act as your floors and roof.

Next create the size walls. These are boxes as well. The columns are boxes that should have the same width as the side walls. Notice how the bottom level comes out slightly.

For the windows place a plane towards the end of the column, giving space for a balcony. Do not cover up the last section on the right.

For the right section create a box covering the 3 top floors. Create 3 more boxes representing where you want the windows cut. Make sure that the cut boxes go all the way through the wall object. Select "Compound Objects" from the drop down menu. Pick "ProBoolean" from the list. Make sure "Subtraction" is checked and start picking the small cut boxes. You will not have your holes.

*Note: Using boolean operations on simple objects can work out quite nicely, although more complex shapes and objects will get messy. Use it carefully.

Step 10 – Detailing The Roof

The roof has a white edge border that is created from a renderable spline. Make sure it comes out just past the building bounds, as this will cap off the building. The roof itself it a plane with a noisy dark gray material.

The boxing elements on the roof are mostly chamfer boxes. You can see this set further explained with image 10-2.

Step 11 – Window Mullions And Railings

Create the window mullions by placing a renderable spline around the contour of the window. Make it a gray / stainless materia, you can also pick the brushed metal preset supplied with the Arch & Design Material.

In 11-1 you can see that there are 2 larger renderable splines at the top and bottom (12 sided). The inset Panel Frame is a renderable rectangle spline(12 sided). The inset is simply a box.

In 11-1 a box is used as the base and the rest of the piping is made from renderable 12 sided splines. The lower railings are creating in the same way. Very simple construction since this will be so far away from the view.

Step 12 – Rest Of The Buildings

Each of the buildings are pretty similar on this project. Give it a try and create the rest of the rectangular buildings. All of the same tools apply and don’t be afraid to play with some design sense. Add more glass if you want, maybe a few more or a few less railings. Also, test out using Greeble for some of the roofs. Have fun!

Step 13 – Walk Way Covers

In certain areas going from building to building there are walkway covers. The design is simple but effective as it will only be seen from far away.

This structure is completely built from renderable splines. The vertical supports are 4 sided (45 degree Angle) splines that are stretched just slightly. The Arc supports are build the same way. The horizontal top supports are renderable splines with 12 sides (Angle does not matter). The glass is created from copying one of the arc supports and lowering the thickness drastically. Then you can stretch it out a bit, apply an edit poly modifier and pull the vertices to their desired length.

Apply an Arch & Design Material to the Structure and pick "Brushed Metal" under the templates drop down. You can also add "round corners" under special effects. This helps to accentuate the edges a bit with a shine from a distance.

Select you glass object and do the same, except pick the "Glass (Solid Geometry)" preset. We picked solid geometry glass because the object has 2 sides of faces.

We only created these 2 sections of walk ways because the larger buildings cover up the rest of them. To finish the structure and cross patterns of it, simply copy and edit the existing model.

Step 14 – Water Feature Canopy

Start by creating a side view spline of the supports. Add an edit poly modifier, extrude the face about 2" and then add a cap modifier. Now you can either space them with a box as the measuring tool, or you can use the Spacing Tool which is even easier.

To use the spacing tool, draw a spline the length of the water feature. Select your support object. Go to Tools > Align > Spacing Tool. You will see a dialogue box pop up. Click "Pick Path" and pick your spline, now raise the count to whatever you desire, then click apply. Move your set of supports in position.

For the canopy glass draw a spline as seen below (Pale Yellow). Make it a 4 sided renderable spline with an angle of 45 degrees. Stretch it out and add a edit poly modifier and move the vertices to the bounds of the first and last support. These objects use the same materials as in the previous step.

Step 15 – South Patios

The south patios are quick and easy. I placed 6" high boxes as the patio objects and applied a cement material. Move the patio boxes along the z axis to line up with the grass.

Step 16 – Render And Assess

Now it is time to render your progress and check how it compares. It is also time for me to sign off and see you next session. Remember, nothing helps more than reading tutorials like this and testing everything out in different situations.

This ends the second installment of this Master Plan Tutorial. You can direct questions to info@ryanknope.com.

In The Next Installment

The next installment of this tutorial set will be coming shortly. Here is what you have to look forward to:

• Creating The Orchard Area.
• Non 0′ Site Grading.
• Non 0′ Steps And Planters.
• Starting Some Post Production

View the previous tutorials:

• “Creating A Detailed Master Plan Rendering – Part 1“
• “Creating A Detailed Master Plan Rendering – Part 2“

Or, view the next tutorials: “Creating A Detailed Master Plan Rendering – Part 4”

Or, view the next tutorial: “Creating A Detailed Master Plan Rendering – Part 5 – COMING SOON!“

Making This Tutorial Possible, John Feldman

www.ecocentrix.com

John Feldman has been nice enough to allow me to use not only the wip rendering, but the collateral information that he provided to me as I was contracted for this job. His write up and company profile is below.

Ecocentrix was founded on the fundamental premise that – the quality of the experience and function of landscapes is achieved by understanding inherently "what is" and "what is wanting", and that quality of life is a reflection of the quality of the landscape.

The firm’s work is rooted in investigations of residential estate and resort style living. Our clients are characterized by their culturally rich backgrounds and sophisticated design tastes, ranging from traditional to contemporary, and whose personal lifestyles and histories include a diverse range of travel and worldly explorations.

We artfully interact with nature by thoughtfully manipulating natural and constructed form, recognizing that the art of landscape is in the interaction of human and non-human nature.
Our body of work exemplifies great stylistic range and restraint produced with consistently high quality. Our projects are immediately mood altering, celebrating the sensual and tactile temperament that is the fabric of landscape.

Our design creates the ground for celebrating the cycles of all life, and is the foundation of regional identities enveloping cultural distinctions. It reinforces what is powerful and enhances what is weak. Ecocentrix endeavors to “Enrich Life Through Design”.

Related posts:

1. Creating A Detailed Master Plan Rendering – Part 2 – 3DS Max and Photoshop
2. Creating A Detailed Master Plan Rendering – Part 4 – 3dsmax and Photoshop
3. Creating a Detailed Master Plan Rendering in 3dsmax and Photoshop