New blog post on using custom colored and/or kelvin controlled sunlight in your 3ds Max/ mental ray scenes.



Link:
http://mrmaterials.com/jeffs-blog/1...d-sunlight.html

HDR Light Studio v1.5 is now released and I posted a little more info about it on my latest blog entry at mrmaterials.com.

I wanted to pass along a few blogs that 3ds Max users will find useful. Some of these are relatively new so there's may not be a ton of info at the moment. However, I know the owners of the blogs produce quality stuff so you may want to bookmark these:

Hristo Velev (emphasis = VFX): http://velevfx.com/

Peter Guthrie (emphasis = Vray): http://www.peterguthrie.net/blog/

Ramy Hanna (quite a few mental ray tips, but the blog isn't mental ray only stuff): http://3dsmaxrendering.blogspot.com/

Frances Gainer Davey (new blog, various topics): http://surrealstructures.com/blog/

Jennifer O'Connor (emphasis = mental ray): http://www.4da-inc.com/blog/

I've updated my .mat collection to include two of my car paint materials, a modified carbon-fiber material, and a glossy metal that I used on the wheels of the Camaro renders in my gallery.

Example renders using some of these materials:

Composite car paint - TangerineDream (click to enlarge)


Primer car paint - Black Primer (click to enlarge)


Updated Carbon-Fiber material:
http://jeffpatton.net/Temp/Carbon_fiber.mov (Right-Click, save file to view it)

DOH, I suppose it would be helpful to post another link to the .mat file wouldn't it!
http://jeffpatton.net/Blog-images/J...r-materials.zip

Also, if you ever have the need to animate a car, plane, helicopter, etc.. I highly recommend you take a look at the Craft Animations tools. Jason Addy and myself were allowed to review the Craft Director Tools product line for Vizdepot.com. I can honestly say their tools make animating cameras and vehicles a pleasure, and they have some excellent customer support.
Link: http://www.craftanimations.com/

NOTE: Had to edit a link here and doing so brought this older post back to the top. This blog post was originally created in Sept. 2007

The Vizdepot has started their latest contest where you can win some great prizes, it doesn't cost anything to enter, and they provide you with the base mesh to begin with.

You can find a full description of the contest & prize listings here:
http://vizdepot.com/forums/articles...rticle&artid=92

So be sure to check it out and enter your submission for a chance to win some cool swag!

Wanted to pass along a couple of useful links. First up, Todd Daniele has added a new section onto his personal website wherein he sell's 3d models. Here's a link to his website where you can check out his models: http://www.todddaniele.com/3Dmodels/

Secondly, I thought this "Bounce and Fill Lights with AO" tutorial by Mike Bracken was rather cool and wanted to pass the link along for those that may have missed it.
Link: http://mikebracken.cgsociety.org/blog/