Powerplant Study

This is one of my most complex models to date. The tanks were modelled in Sketchup, imported into Max in 3ds format. The materials (where shown) were applied to sub-object groups which I defined by hand. The pipes were built around the tanks in sketch up, and imported separately.

Materials are all mental ray, as is the lighting system (when a sky is visible). I used the architectural materials in mental ray, experimenting with brushed, satin, polished (etc.) metals. For less important parts I utilized the MR wood and porcelain templates, and modified them until they gave me the image I wanted.

One very important thing to remember is to set up many cameras, instead of moving a single one around, its just a lot more practical.
Speaking of practical, I used the Mental Ray "render region" and "render selected" to great extent in this project.

In order to develop the image some more, I referenced industrial design objects using google images, and sketched them in sketchup. These were then merged into the same Max scene. It was therefore important to keep an eye on scale. To do this I kept a 2d "person plane" visible when modelling in sketchup.

Again, I couldn't help using my orthogonal clay render technique...but I added a twist. I left the pipe material as a MR Metal, which to me really makes the complexity and design stand out.

Racer

(Click For High-Res Version)

Another go at editable polys. Here I worked off a cube, using a mirror down the middle so I only needed to model half of the racer....so surely there should be the same number of exhaust fins on one side as the other...right?

*Lighting setup - the MR usual.
*UVW's need a touch of re-mapping.
*Postwork done in photoshop.

Large Scale Greeble

Cityscape build and lighting set up described below (scene was also used for blog banner):









To create the cityscape I created a ground plane a few kilometers squared, with a high mesh density. I then applied the greeble script until I had the look I desired. In all cases I used an MR lighting set up, except for the below images. For these views I reassigned a standard material to the city and added a simple skylight with Light Tracer enabled and rendered using the default Scanline Renderer.


Here I show the difference between perspective and othogonal cameras:


I feel an orthogonal camera could show more complex designs more clearly when dealing with large structures, similar to a floor plan.

Speakers

Having started messing with editable polys, I decided to model the first thing I saw: the speakers on my desk. This was my first attempt at non-abstract modelling, turned out well! Materials are MR, all of them custom except for the grill texture, which was downloaded here.

A Small Collection of Images

A quick creation in Terragen. I reckon that if I could really get the hang of Terragen, I could get some very nice results. However I find the finer details quite complex, and the render times far too slow for the quality of image:


Another use of my favourite modifier: the mesh bomb. Used on the Utah teapot. Depth of field is a single pass mental ray effect, and for lighting I used a simple daylight assembly. I also left an animation with the DOF rendering overnight, which I will post soon along with some krakatoa particle rendering videos:
The original model was created in sketchup. It was then exported in .3ds format into 3DS Max. As I knew I wanted to have the camera close to the ground I wanted to avoid using bump or displacement maps, so I modelled the grating. I set the depth of field using camera.target distance:
This was my first attempt at polygonal modelling. I the gear as a hollow tube. Various faces were then Extruded, Bevelled, Chamfered, Offset etc. until I had my desired result. The gear was then instanced, and arranged as shown. The material is a very simply custom MR Material, utilising diffuse reflectivity. DOF was applied directly in mental ray as opposed to using a multi-pass effect:
This is a simple scene using a sphere, plane, and box. I have used a MR daylight system (including environmental map) and the red material is the default car paint material. For the water I used the blend edges in special properties of the mental ray material editor, this creates subtle water tension on the sphere for a more realistic result. DOF once again applied in a single pass:

An Attempt At C4D

Always wanting to branch out a bit, I decided to give C4D a go...here are my less then spectacular results:


The first is the default biped object with a bomb modifier applied and animated. The same is used on the other two, but instead applied to an icosahedron. An environment and global illumination, including ambient occlusion was also set up for the last image.

Water Tricks

In this image an ocean shader was used. However in the following a simple plane was used, and the caustics are generated by a simple caustics map in the relevant slot in an omni:



Which is better? I think it depends. The render time was unbelievably fast on the second one, as all the effects are faux. It is also more stylised, however the lighting is not true to the geometry. May attempt an animation to test realism.
Another similar image:

Edit: Found this free open source caustic map generator for animations!

Lighting Study

Using the date time and location setting the Daylight System Assembly head, I rendered 100 frames of the transition of light across these surfaces. Pretty neat! If anyone was intereseted the date was set to summer, and the location was Miami Beach.