Wolfman Art - 3DS Max

SOURCE: https://elementza.com/how-to-understand-topology-in-3d-modeling/

Vertex color in ID section to generate an ID map (polypaint applied to meshes in ZBrush)

SOURCE: https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/3ds-max-forum/uv-unwrap-editor-not-showing-uv-s/m-p/7324375#M144060

make sure the entire object is fixed through xView before exporting no materials make sure it is "polygons"

Make sure it is set to "polygons"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=693IWvAlAnc Obejcts on a flat surface

Shell - A shell is a collection of triangles that are connected to each other. Basically, it represents the outer wall of your 3D model. 

How to check for UV maps in models?

to check for inverted normals, go to View > xView > Face Orientation

https://www.maxforums.org/forum/thread/render_texture_target_map_slot/1

SOURCE: https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/3ds-max-shading-lighting-and/physical-material-what-is-scatter-color/td-p/9621083 "Scatter color is the color of the internal SSS matter seen through the depth, a tint, so you can bias whatever kind of general surface color and such you got going. You can hit up the documentation and see examples. Just treat it as a bias on internal scatter color, provided you have depth enough as those are bound together. I would resolve to Arnold Standard Material and the Randomwalk 2 mode, it is superior in quality and detail, not so much if you use 3rd party engines"

Understanding Controllers I wanted to receive help on controllers. I have been having a hard time understanding how controllers work in regards to the animation process in Max. I have watched a ton of tutorials but none of them seem to really go too far in depth about how the movement of the controllers affects the movement of the parts of an object such as this one. I wanted to use this example of an eyeball on this worm monster as an example. I want this eyelid to move up and down perfectly on the eyeball. For the process of creating controllers for the two eyelids and the eyeball on this character: Some tutorials suggest by starting out by creating a circle spline (assuming this controller is used for the eyeball animation) and a rectangle spline (assuming this controller is used for the eyelid animation. Above, you see I have two rectangle splines matching the two eyelids for the monster). However, I do not have the solution in figuring out how to connect the con

Visit Wolfman Art I wanted to ask a question that has to do with the fundamentals of figuring out how the "Automatically Flatten UVS" modifier after rendering to texture presents your UV info accurately, but if you then select your Unwrap UVW modifier, you are getting just a corner of this very large UV info. I am trying to wrap my head around why that is. If my Render to Texture settings had something to do with this, below is a screenshot of those settings for you to take a look. The other two screenshots show the UV info as a result of the two modifiers: 1) when applying the "Automatically Flatten UVS" modifier with Render to Texture and 2) applying the UVW unwrap modifier afterwards. 1) "Automatically Flatten UVS" - UV Editor (after Render to Texture) 2) "UVW Unwrap" - UV Editor (stacked on top of "Automatically flatten UVS") this seemed important to me based on my struggles in getting ID Maps in Substance. Someone pointed out th

I usually use wireframe parameters whenever I want to animate an object and I need controllers controller will be created using spline obejcts. these spline objects will be right-clicked and I will select a transform to command the object I drag my cursor over SOURCE: https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/3ds-max/learn-explore/caas/CloudHelp/cloudhelp/2015/ENU/3DSMax/files/GUID-B084D14B-2925-4EA6-890F-4F2564BB9D9A-htm.html

MaxScript is at the bottom left corner of interface right-click to open up listener window

keyframe editor is the default keyframe editor in Max when using curve editor or dope sheet, we might ahve a problem going back to mini curve editor. To return, undock the curve editor/dope sheet and close the window so it reverts back to mini curve editor.

right-click on keyframe editor bar to create a key

Shift+Click+Drag material across in Compact material editor will create a copy of the material clicking and draggin layer on to the left side will detach it from being in the nested layer CTRL+click UI icons on top toolbar will create a copy of the UI icon

Allows you to work with motion that is expressed as curves Animation menu > Motion Editors > Track View - Curve Editor SOURCE: https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/3ds-max/learn-explore/caas/CloudHelp/cloudhelp/2019/ENU/3DSMax-Animation/files/GUID-6D249F03-8E05-4671-859F-5F61FF1A8A8D-htm.html

Uses track view to display animation keys SOURCE: https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/3ds-max/learn-explore/caas/CloudHelp/cloudhelp/2015/ENU/3DSMax/files/GUID-AFAD34E3-2851-43F4-A7DA-6F3286F83606-htm.html

SOURCE: https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/3ds-max/learn-explore/caas/CloudHelp/cloudhelp/2019/ENU/3DSMax-Rendering/files/GUID-DDD1FDA0-AB02-44F5-BA93-44F0641961D4-htm.html

degtorad  converts angle units from degrees to radians. radtodeg   converts angle units from radians to degrees. What are radians? a unit of angle, equal to an angle at the center of a circle whose arc is equal in length to the radius. SOURCE: https://languages.oup.com/

Internally, rotations are handled in radians because it's easier to just plug the values directly into a formula without having to figure out what type of value its used. Degrees are used because from the perspective of a UI data input its easier to understand 360° rotations in a visual form with the rotation gizmo. At some point you have to connect UI values to internal values such a rotation controller, here you can use degToRad <number> or radToDeg <number> to convert between the two, you can use these commands in scripted controllers, wire parameters or scripts. Image Source: https://www.yourdictionary.com/radian SOURCE: https://www.reddit.com/r/3dsmax/comments/3nsemj/degrees_to_radians/

In setting up a controller for an object in a scene. In this case an animated eyeball: 1) set up your nested layer with the parent spline (controller1) and child spline (controller2) 2) child spline (controller) will parent the animated object; animated object must not be in the nested layer; otherwise it will transform the same way the  3) right-click child spline and select "wire parameters" ; select for your child spline (controller2) to move in z position and then, select for your object to rotate either x, y, or z rotation 4)  connecting controller to object and inserting "degtorad" next to the (xyz) positions/rotations as you can see, the degtorad is applied

Layer Hierarchies or "nested layers" are layers that are parents with layers underneath that are children, responding to how the parent moves in the scene

FBX - proprietary file format  used to export models into Substance SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FBX#:~:text=FBX%20%28Filmbox%29%20is%20a%20proprietary%20file%20format%20%28.fbx%29,to%20provide%20interoperability%20between%20digital%20content%20creation%20applications.

The Position XYZ controller splits the X, Y, and Z components into three separate tracks, similar to the Euler XYZ Rotation controller. This provides separate control of the three tracks when referenced from Expression controllers. SOURCE: https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/3ds-max/learn-explore/caas/CloudHelp/cloudhelp/2017/ENU/3DSMax/files/GUID-E5ABD329-B857-4FC6-B9C4-C163DF985985-htm.html

From either graph editor (dope or track) you can assign controllers to an object by right-clicking on the left side of pop-up dialogue box and selecting "Assign controller" by right-clicking on "rotation" listed under one of the objects in my scene, I select "assign controller"

almost every parameter in Max can be animated Compound and single parameter are the two most widely used controllers SOURCE: https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/3ds-max/learn-explore/caas/CloudHelp/cloudhelp/2017/ENU/3DSMax/files/GUID-E5ABD329-B857-4FC6-B9C4-C163DF985985-htm.html

PBS is normally for shading concepts and PBR is normally for rendering and lighting. However, both terms deal with the process of representing realistic assets SOURCE : file:///C:/Users/William%20Wolfman/Downloads/PBR%20Guide%202018%20version.pdf

simulating bumps, marks, and dents on a flat surface SOURCE: https://community.secondlife.com/knowledgebase/english/materials-normal-and-specular-mapping-r1352/

Surface texture that define's object's main color SOURCE: https://wiki.splashdamage.com/index.php/Diffuse_Maps

Specular mapping is a method used to define the shape of shiny or reflective areas on a surface.  For example, if a textured surface represents a wooden box with metal parts, a specular map can be applied to define only  the metallic portions of the texture as shiny. SOURCE: https://community.secondlife.com/knowledgebase/english/materials-normal-and-specular-mapping-r1352/

Visit Wolfman Art I have applied the bones to this worm monster (As seen in the 3DS Max viewport) and have applied a Skin modifier to the worm. I am surmising that the skin modifier will be used to tell the worm to follow wherever the bones are moving in 3D space. I select "add" under Bones in Skin modifier's rollout  (Image 1),  and I select the bone that I wish for skin modifier to work with from the Select Bones pop-up  (Image 2) , I select the my Skel_deform layer that contains the bone that will be used to animate a section of the worm's body. Note: keyframes are already applied to the bone that I am trying to move the worm's body with. 1. 2.