How to Make a Complicated Engine in 3ds Max in Such an Easy Way

Hi, this is Cassie from the best cloud renders farm, Fox Renderfarm. This time, I will share with you an article about how to use 3ds Max to make a game environmental scene.!How to Use 3ds Max to Make a Game Environmental Scene!How to Use 3ds Max to Make a Game Environmental Scene!How to Use 3ds Max to Make a Game Environmental Scene!How to Use 3ds Max to Make a Game Environmental Scene!How to Use 3ds Max to Make a Game Environmental Scene!How to Use 3ds Max to Make a Game Environmental Scene Observe and analyze the original painting and asset allocationThis is a case of the PBR process, specifically used 3ds Max to complete the low-poly model, ZBrush to complete the high-poly model sculpting, V-Ray rendering during the high-poly model, Substance Painter, Photoshop to complete the texture production, and finally using UE4 rendering.In order to ensure that everyone can match the model proportions after the division of labour. In the early stage, the rough model was constructed based on the original painting and used as a reference for proportion. We divide the modeling work into three parts according to the overall situation, including house, props and environment construction.!How to Use 3ds Max to Make a Game Environmental Scene Making of Mid-poly modelHouse: As the main body of the scene, the time-consuming experience is naturally the most. I divide the house into three parts: roof, wall and floor.Props: The props of the scene include a three-faced Buddha, stone lamps, wood carvings in the house, etc. There are not too many types of props, but they basically require ZBrush carving and production.Environment: The main part in charge is the stone steps at the door, the green plants at the door, the mountain behind the house, the spider webs in the house, etc. My requirement is to find the available materials according to my needs.The production process of the mid-poly model is to continuously refine on the basis of the rough model, adding more details, and try to use the loop line as the main wiring in the wiring, mainly to facilitate the card line in the later high mold stage. When making a mid-poly model, you must not forget the relationship between a single part and the whole, and the ratio is constantly adjusted and optimized. Because I made the house model separately, I need to compare before I refine it, otherwise, it will be a big disaster for the proportion in the later stage.!How to Use 3ds Max to Make a Game Environmental SceneThe high-poly model production process is relatively smooth, and everyone is doing their own work step by step. Because the proportions are the most basic before, it is relatively easy to adjust the scene.!How to Use 3ds Max to Make a Game Environmental SceneHouse sculpting Because the whole house is made up of boxes, the mid-poly model is relatively simple. Its highlight is the high-poly model sculpting. To restore the original flavor of the ancient architecture, there are more places to carve. Because the style of the overall scene is rather dilapidated, my idea of sculpting is to try to ensure the hardness of the wooden structure and make it old with more surface details. Due to lack of experience, the sculpting was relatively slow at the beginning, and some patterns could not be restored. The method used for sculpting many details may not be correct. After many attempts, a lot of time was wasted; in the end, I found a way to use grayscale images, which saved a lot of time. First find a suitable grayscale image, which is conducive to mask generation in ZBrush.!How to Use 3ds Max to Make a Game Environmental Scene!How to Use 3ds Max to Make a Game Environmental SceneProp sculpting I also need to hand in homework in the high-poly model stage! Because the scene models are all high-poly models during rendering, and in order to ensure the rendering effect, it was decided to copy and place the recurring models of flowers and plants. Use VRAY to render directly in 3ds Max. But I didn't expect it to be that simple. The two pictures were rendered on two computers for more than four hours.!How to Use 3ds Max to Make a Game Environmental Scene!How to Use 3ds Max to Make a Game Environmental Scene Making of low-poly modelFor those early stages, the topology production of a low-poly model is actually more like a test of operating specifications and file sorting, which is mainly obtained by using the previous mid-model addition and subtraction lines. The human headstone lamp and statue in the scene used Topogun. Low-poly model topology is simple but patient work. There are two ideas,1. Simply use editing and adjustment tools, and patiently realize the silhouette and structure. 2. Use the automatic topology tool, and then manually adjust the wiring slightly. Low-mode production wiring requirements are more stringent, the wiring is as simple as possible, in line with the wiring principle, but without losing the structure.!How to Use 3ds Max to Make a Game Environmental SceneThere are not many difficulties encountered in the low-poly model topology stage. The difficulty lies in the development of UV and texture distribution. After the entire low-poly model is finished, it is time to show the UV. Before the UV is displayed, the smooth group needs to be distinguished, and then the UV is exploded according to the smooth group, and then find the place that needs to be disconnected again and cut it. A good seam problem, because if the seams are too obvious or too broken, there will be many flaws in the post-production of the texture. After all, you haven't collaborated on the production of scenes before, so they are relatively unfamiliar with the unification of checkerboards and the allocation of texture resources.Finally, I used 1m³/256 pixels as the standard to make textures, and the house was divided into more than 30 textures. When I first divided the shader, I was divided into a circle; secondly, although there is an automatic placement to adjust the size of the checkerboard to just right, it is still necessary to check carefully. UV is a normal job; it is easy because it is moderately good. A minor error occurred, so that rework was needed to adjust the UV later.!How to Use 3ds Max to Make a Game Environmental SceneThe next step is to bake the normals and other textures. I need to match the high-poly and low-poly models in 3ds Max. The edge silhouettes must be carefully matched and overlapped. Then the high and low-poly models of the same part are named and matched, and then the normals are baked in SP. I use Substance Painter to name the baking method for baking. In order to get a better normal map, I will bake an average normal and a vertical normal, and then retain the inner part of the vertical normal and the edge part of the average normal in PS. Although I have been careful in the early stage, some of the baked normals will still have problems. Most of them are due to the wrapper problem, but some need to be manually changed. The modification needs to export the UV selection in 3ds Max, and then go to Select the area in PS to modify the normal of the problem.For the distinction between different materials, I still use the method of making ID maps. For the part of the model of different materials, I use different colored shaders to distinguish MaterialsAs a next-generation realistic style work, the material is actually good. However, some special experiences can be summed up in scene cooperation. For example, the material of some props can actually be packaged into a shader and used directly on another prop of the same material. In addition, in order to ensure the harmony and unity of the final results, communication among the team is extremely important, and you must not do it alone. When making materials, our plan is to do the volume first and then the details. After all, after the volume comes out, adding details will make the effect easier. First of all, I first separate out a few materials and create a few large layer groups to make selections. One point worth noting here is the occlusion and dirt relationship between objects. When the material is almost the same, I will sharpen the top edge to make the details more obvious, that is, create a new layer and add a sharpening filter, and change the overlay method to pass through.!How to Use 3ds Max to Make a Game Environmental Scene!How to Use 3ds Max to Make a Game Environmental Scene!How to Use 3ds Max to Make a Game Environmental Scene!How to Use 3ds Max to Make a Game Environmental Scene!How to Use 3ds Max to Make a Game Environmental Scene RenderingFirst of all, the file organization must be done well, otherwise, it will be messy when rendering the textures and the work cannot be carried out. Qualified file organization can make the rendering work twice the result with half the effort, and it will be more convenient if you want to replace the textures later.!How to Use 3ds Max to Make a Game Environmental Scene!How to Use 3ds Max to Make a Game Environmental Scene

Hey guys, we are students from a 3D Design school. It’s such a pleasure to share our creative process to make the cartoon restaurant in 3ds Max. We are a team with 6 members, and many of us are quite new to 3D art, so we hesitated a bit on the concept art we chose. At last, we chose this scene which is quite narrative, and the cartoon characters in it add quite a lot of spooky feeling to the scene with the fine lighting.Below are how we made it from scratch and some difficulties and experiences we wanna share with you. The content is also organized by the best 3ds Max render farm, Fox Renderfarm. Concept art & assets allocationThe key to a successful render is to properly analyze the concept art. Since we are a team of six, we need to figure out what models, UVs and materials can be widely used in order to organize assets effectively and efficiently later on. The other thing that needs special attention is the definition of all the material.Making is scene is not like creating some small gadgets, the objects that can be publicly used is the priority. Only by paying more attention to the whole picture other than details at the beginning can we allocate the tasks well to maintain our final result and efficiency of creation. So the big picture can be divided into 4 groups: hard surface, house and the floor, characters, wooden gadgets and food. We allocate our jobs accordingly. But hold on, if everyone just bluntly does their job immediately, a lot of trouble will be caused. We strongly recommend that one of the team members do the blocking first to give the whole team a clear sense of the structure and proportion. Though there is a uniform unit, you will still find it difficult to composite and match each part without blocking. So blocking is a necessary part to make everyone on the same page. BlockingThe key to starting blocking is to find the right middle point of the picture which will hold up the whole picture and help locate other parts accordingly. After that, we can generate a box to speculate other parts’ locations. Take care of the proportion, since the right proportion in this part will save a lot of time later on.So we recommend that ask someone who is more sensitive to proportion to take charge of the blocking process. Multiple checks and revisions are required after it is done. Then you can save a 3ds Max file and send it to other members to let them play their roles.!How to Make a Next-gen Cartoon Restaurant Scene in 3ds MaxThe purpose of making blocking is to assure the right proportion. No matter what you create, try to turn it into a basic polygon because it’s way easy to adjust the proportion of a simple polygon. Later adjustment of the objects won’t affect the proportion once you have it right in this part which saves a lot of time and effort. Making mid-polyIn this part, we need to make the basic outline, even splines on the right amount of surfaces, so as to easily sculpt high-poly. Take your time and be careful about the right position of the points in this part. The splines are better to be looped so that it will be easier to aline in the high-poly process. And always keep in mind the proportion between single objects with the whole picture. The proportion needs constant refinement and progress. You can take the blocking file to make mid-polys referring to the concept art.You can never strengthen the concept of managing assets too much in scene creation. The names and directories have to be unified. The right habit has a lot of benefits to the whole creative process.Naming files: Messy files will bring you a lot of trouble. Everyone should name the textures and maps accordingly with the texture files for a convenient rendering process. And texture replacement will be easier, especially on large scene files, or your team leader may kill you. Small tip: you can use the name acronyms of team members when naming files if there are a lot of team members. Making high-polyRefining details is what you need to do in the high-poly process for a better final result. This process is time- and effort-consuming, so don’t panic, be precise and be patient. Another detail is that we won’t use high-poly directly for baking. So in this process, you need to consider which parts cannot to made as texture in the later baking process. It’s important to think ahead.!How to Make a Next-gen Cartoon Restaurant Scene in 3ds Max!How to Make a Next-gen Cartoon Restaurant Scene in 3ds MaxBesides the hard surfaces, the cute cartoon monsters are also made in Zbrush. We lay much emphasis on the unity of all the models, from their completeness to the sculpturing style. Thus, we had a lot of discussions in this process to keep them uniform. The leader should keep an on every members’ progress.!How to Make a Next-gen Cartoon Restaurant Scene in 3ds Max!How to Make a Next-gen Cartoon Restaurant Scene in 3ds MaxI used a 3D sphere to create the cartoon character. The outline of the monster is smooth, so I decided to sculpt it directly. I used Move to draw the basic outline and used clay pen to do the pose. If there is heavy distortion, I will use grids to arrange the lines. In the beginning, it’s better to make as few polys as possible to maintain the structure first. Then you can refine the details. For beginners, if you can add a sphere, do it. Because making a one-object model is too difficult for beginners. If you can stretch the structure in just one move, do it. Be bold, don’t drag it back and forth which can’t deliver you any good result, just wipe it and do it again. And always keep in mind to refer to the concept art. Additionally, separate the parts according to different textures for easier texturing.Don’t stick to one software if there is some part you are just able to get the anticipated result. You can switch between 3ds Max and ZBrush.!How to Make a Next-gen Cartoon Restaurant Scene in 3ds Max!How to Make a Next-gen Cartoon Restaurant Scene in 3ds Max Making low-poly Making low-poly is the most important and also the most complicated process. It requires not only patience and carefulness but also the capability to arrange splines. To match the high-polys properly, we need to use TopoGun.The advantage to keeping the uncollapsed hard surface high-poly is that low-poly can be made easily. Delete the subsurface and reduce faces, then you can make a perfect low-poly.!How to Make a Next-gen Cartoon Restaurant Scene in 3ds Max!How to Make a Next-gen Cartoon Restaurant Scene in 3ds MaxThe composited low-polyHere is a quick tool to make low-poly: ZRemesh. But if you have high requirements, TopoGun is still the better choice. Making UVsAfter the low-poly process, making UVs comes next. You need to separate the smooth group before making UVs, then find the broken part to cut it. The seams need to be well pampered. If the seams are too obvious or too scattered, many flaws will appear after texturing.Here are 3 key points. First off, keep the precision uniform. All the objects need to be measured with the grids. Every team member generates a 1*1*1 box to make a chessboard to measure the reference object. Then everyone can measure the objects with the chessboard.!How to Make a Next-gen Cartoon Restaurant Scene in 3ds MaxWe separate every component and put them on the chessboard to see the planning of texture to lay the UVs. It didn’t take long to make deconstruct, but laying it took a long time.!How to Make a Next-gen Cartoon Restaurant Scene in 3ds Max!How to Make a Next-gen Cartoon Restaurant Scene in 3ds Max!How to Make a Next-gen Cartoon Restaurant Scene in 3ds Max!How to Make a Next-gen Cartoon Restaurant Scene in 3ds Max!How to Make a Next-gen Cartoon Restaurant Scene in 3ds MaxThe integrated low-poly with UVs BakingTo elevate the efficiency and effects of baking, we chose Marmoset Toolbag to do the baking. The brushing tool to check the normal lines is quite handy. However, the matching between high-poly and low-poly determines the final result of the baking.!How to Make a Next-gen Cartoon Restaurant Scene in 3ds Max Making MaterialsWhen making materials, we need to decide the texture first. Once the texture and shading are correct, all the details will make sense. Firstly, I made some materials and created some layers groups to make the chosen area. Then make the bright and dark parts and scratches. Here you need to be careful of the relations of the scratches between each object, cause you will easily forget about the whole object when you indulge in the small parts too much. Team members need to communicate constantly in the process. After finishing the material, sharpen all the objects on the top layers. To make all the details clearer, you can create a new layer with a sharpening filter, and convert the blending to overlay. And add a generator to the whole project -- light, which will make the visualization more uniform. The visual style is very cartoon, and we didn’t make the style too shabby to keep it clean and simple.!How to Make a Next-gen Cartoon Restaurant Scene in 3ds Max!How to Make a Next-gen Cartoon Restaurant Scene in 3ds Max!How to Make a Next-gen Cartoon Restaurant Scene in 3ds Max!How to Make a Next-gen Cartoon Restaurant Scene in 3ds Max!How to Make a Next-gen Cartoon Restaurant Scene in 3ds Max!How to Make a Next-gen Cartoon Restaurant Scene in 3ds Max!How to Make a Next-gen Cartoon Restaurant Scene in 3ds Max RenderingWe did rendering in Marmoset, which is quite good at interior lighting design. At first, we didn’t know how to set the lighting, and it turned out to be a very creepy small shop. After some advice and trials, we finally got it right.The layers of lighting are quite important, the outside parallel light seemed to be the main light but actually auxiliary lights. As a result, the interior floodlights and spotlights are the main lightings. The strong contrast of the strength and hues can help the audience find the focus.Lighting is essential to present the sense of space, with the transmission from cold and warm, and multiply lights in one area should be varied in their strengths. The core is the variation of lightings in the corners.The third point is the understanding of the lighting strength. No exposure doesn’t mean all black. Using the details in the dark parts to manifest the light details is a very useful technique. Be careful when using the volumetric fog, the lighting system in Marmoset cannot be compared to that in UE. Using volumetric fog is a good way, but you should really keep an eye on it.!How to Make a Next-gen Cartoon Restaurant Scene in 3ds Max!How to Make a Next-gen Cartoon Restaurant Scene in 3ds Max SummaryAbove are the workflows we used. This experience is quite precious to us which makes us more united and lets us know each other more. Wish our sharing can help you and your team a bit in scenes production.

This tutorial brings about the scene production process of "Classroom", and the tutorial was organized by the best online render farm, Fox Renderfarm. The content will introduce in detail the process from resource allocation to model making, then drawing textures, and finally rendering. The software used includes 3ds Max 2018, Zbrush, Substance Painter, Marmoset Toolbag3, etc.!How to Create a Classroom Scene With 3ds Max and Zbrush Production Process1. Resource AllocationBecause of the large number of models in the scene, It is necessary to analyze the scene first, disassemble it into separate resources, and then allocate them to each member for production, and finally build and integrate them. This will greatly increase efficiency.The specific division of labor is as follows,!How to Create a Classroom Scene With 3ds Max and Zbrush!How to Create a Classroom Scene With 3ds Max and Zbrush!How to Create a Classroom Scene With 3ds Max and Zbrush!How to Create a Classroom Scene With 3ds Max and Zbrush2. ModelingBefore making the medium model, we must first build a simple model to determine the approximate size and location of each object. The focus of this step is the accuracy of the overall proportion and position, so there is no need to spend too much time on the model.!How to Create a Classroom Scene With 3ds Max and ZbrushIn order to better grasp the position and size, you can find the perspective angle of the original painting by adjusting the position and field of view. At this time, create a camera and press c to call up the camera for easy matching.After the simple model is built, the next steps can be made according to the assigned tasks. The production process of the three representative models will be introduced below. I hope everyone will like it.3. Asset productionThere are a lot of assets in it, so here are a few to discuss the production process.Case 1: BroomMid-poly modelingThe manufacturing process of the mid-poly model is relatively simple, using a cylinder and a sphere to complete, making the broom simple and large.!How to Create a Classroom Scene With 3ds Max and ZbrushIn the process of making, pay attention to the overall wiring distribution of the model to be even, so that it can be engraved in zb later. High-poly model modelingAfter the mid-poly model is completed, the modeling of the high-poly is carried out. First, analyze the shape of the broom. The broom in life is generally not very regular and will have a messy posture, so the details of the broom wire will be relatively large.So when sculpting, I used the move brush to make a simple adjustment to the large irregular direction, and used the standard brush to simply make a rough sculpting.!How to Create a Classroom Scene With 3ds Max and ZbrushThe next step is to sculpt meticulously. At this time, I used the ClayBuildup and Standard brushes to depict the details. In some areas with larger cut surfaces, I also used the ClayPolish brush to make the edges cleaner.!How to Create a Classroom Scene With 3ds Max and ZbrushFinally, use the CurveStrapSnap brush to pull out the rope on the broom, and then adjust the shape to make it more suitable for the shape of the broom wire, so that the entire high-poly modeling is completed. Low-poly model topologyBecause the shape of this broom is relatively simple, it is also relatively easy when the topology is low mode. However, due to the large changes in the appearance of the high-poly model, the mid-poly model cannot be used for production, so I re-topped a low-poly model in TopoGun3.!How to Create a Classroom Scene With 3ds Max and Zbrush UV unfoldingBecause it is a single object, it is easier to expand the UV, and the model is symmetrical, which makes it more convenient to make textures. There are other models in the blank part of the UV in the picture below, which are not so big to avoid misleading, and the UV still maintains a high utilization rate.!How to Create a Classroom Scene With 3ds Max and Zbrush Texture makingFirst of all, each texture was baked in SP.!How to Create a Classroom Scene With 3ds Max and ZbrushNext, I used a shader similar to hair as the inherent color and texture.!How to Create a Classroom Scene With 3ds Max and ZbrushThen added a layer of color change and a layer of dirt on it to achieve the effect of distressing.!How to Create a Classroom Scene With 3ds Max and ZbrushThe part of the broom wire is basically completed, so I selected the line on the broom and gave it a unique color separately.!How to Create a Classroom Scene With 3ds Max and ZbrushThree fill layers are used here to give different colors, and only the intrinsic color and height channels are turned on. The next thing to do is the part of the broom handle. I first gave a wood shader a natural color.Then made some slight color changes on it.Finally, some cracks and dirt were added to enrich the effect.!How to Create a Classroom Scene With 3ds Max and ZbrushIn this way, the materials of the three structures of the broom are finished. The render is as follows.!How to Create a Classroom Scene With 3ds Max and ZbrushCase 2: SchoolbagMid-poly modelingThe modeling is mainly based on the grasp of the proportion, and the main shape and size of the low-poly model are made through the reference of the original painting.!How to Create a Classroom Scene With 3ds Max and Zbrush High-poly modelingFor the production of the high-poly model, I used ZBrush to carve some parts to make it more like leather. In fact, the production of the high-poly model is relatively simple. For most of the details, I prefer to make it with Substance Painter. The advantage of making in Substance Painter is that it is convenient and quick. There are many ways to make models that are not limited to just one.!How to Create a Classroom Scene With 3ds Max and Zbrush Material productionIn order to save UV, before importing Substance Painter, I chose to put together a few small objects to make. Here I mainly explain the production of leather schoolbags.First, you can make small screws with normal thread to make the high model rich, and then give the background color to make damage.!How to Create a Classroom Scene With 3ds Max and ZbrushSecondly, the details are further perfected. The leather itself is not particularly smooth, so the unevenness of the leather should be made.!How to Create a Classroom Scene With 3ds Max and ZbrushFinally, in order to better integrate with the scene, it is necessary to make the schoolbag dirty and dust more obvious, which will be more abrupt when viewed alone, but for the overall scene, the details of a single object can be appropriately made more obvious, so that it will not be particularly flat in the scene. !How to Create a Classroom Scene With 3ds Max and ZbrushCase 3: Desks and ChairsIn addition to the atmosphere, the walls and floors of the scene, all kinds of objects in the classroom also need to conform to the atmosphere. Take the desks and chairs that occupy the most space for example. The main difficulty in making is how to integrate the color of the texture into the atmosphere. Since the model of this object is simple to make, I won’t repeat it here. The specific operation process of the map is as follows (due to the similar process, only the table is used for display),First, we create a filling layer, and create a natural color based on the color and material of the table and chair in the original painting.Add a fixed shaderFill the metal part with gray that is similar to the metal color of the original image and then adjust the metal degree and roughness. Add dark and bright stains;Create a fill layer, right-click to create a filled black mask, add a fill, and select the dirty trace below.The effect after adding dirty marks is as follows,!How to Create a Classroom Scene With 3ds Max and ZbrushAdd wood grain strength and metal roughness.Create a fill layer, right-click to create a filled black mask, add a fill, and select the dirty trace below.Add different basic colors to the filling layer to create a staggered effect of wood grain colors, and select penetration for the blending mode.On the metal side, you can choose to add dirt again or directly make the final effect. The effect after this step is completed is as follows:!How to Create a Classroom Scene With 3ds Max and ZbrushFinally, add a layer of shabby dirt that matches the atmosphere of the classroom.Create a fill layer, right-click to create a filled black mask, add a generator, and select the generator below.Parameter selection (wood grain)Add sharpening to the metal, create an empty layer, right-click to add sharpening, and the sharpening intensity is 0.5.Then add dirt, create a fill layer, right-click to create a filled black mask, add a generator, and select the generator below.Parameter selection (metal)The final effect after adding is shown in the figure:!How to Create a Classroom Scene With 3ds Max and Zbrush RenderingThe software used in this rendering is the eight monkey engine, which has a good display of the effect of the light map. Before importing the file, you need to unify the HDR environment used by the sky option in the eight monkeys with the environment used by the sp software to make the material. The environment used this time is panorama.!How to Create a Classroom Scene With 3ds Max and ZbrushAfter importing the model, paste the corresponding texture map. In order to make the subsequent lighting effect better, we reduce the intensity of the ambient light and use a pure color for the background.!How to Create a Classroom Scene With 3ds Max and ZbrushThe next step is lighting. Three lights were used this time, which were illuminated into the house from three different angles.!How to Create a Classroom Scene With 3ds Max and ZbrushThe simulated indoor light on the right side uses a yellowish warm light source. Through the adjustment of the illumination direction and angle, the indoor objects can be projected to conform to the environment atmosphere. Under the light shape option, adjust the shadow parameters to make the outline clear and the details more detailed.!How to Create a Classroom Scene With 3ds Max and ZbrushThe parallel light used on the left is irradiated from the window. It uses a light source with a cooler tone, which is in contrast with the light source on the right. This time we slightly increase the shape parameter to make the shadow edge slightly blurred.!How to Create a Classroom Scene With 3ds Max and ZbrushFinally, we open the GI, slightly adjust the color curve under the camera option, darken the dark part, and brighten the bright part.!How to Create a Classroom Scene With 3ds Max and ZbrushThen start rendering, and the final effect is as shown in the figure:!How to Create a Classroom Scene With 3ds Max and ZbrushThank you very much for taking the time to read to the end of the article. I hope that the sharing of this tutorial can be helpful to you.