Textures

Good sites for textures..

http://www.amazingtextures.com/textures/
http://www.freetextures.org/
http://mayang.com/textures/
http://www.cgtextures.com/index.php

You have to register for these, but they're worth the 1 minute trouble..

soulburnscripts

Here is a collection of 53 scripts that does wonderful things.

My favorites:

1. The bitmap collector... It gathers all your bitmaps into 1 folder. (max has a similar one - the resource collector, but not as powerful)

2. The Spline Painter - you can paint splines on objects


http://www.neilblevins.com/soulburnscripts/soulburnscripts.htm

Building Generator

You gotta try this! Its free and generates buildings for city. Awesome.

http://www.vray.info/news/article.asp?ID=389

Download:

www.tysonibele.com/Main/BuildingGenerator/buildingGen.htm

Anaglyph Previewer

check out the Anaglyph Previewer.. Now if I can get my hands on some red/blue glasses..

http://www.scriptspot.com/3ds-max/anaglyph-previewer

Stereoscopic 3D

Stereoscopic 3D is supposed to be the wave of the future. A lot of movies are in the works to convert from 2D to 3D. The process starts with rotoscoping the different layers, then recreating the objects in a 3d program like Maya or Max to get the ZDepth information. Then these passes are then fed into a compositing software such as After Effects or Toxic and then rendered as Red / Blue offsets for the glasses..

http://www.wired.com/underwire/2009/08/video-how-imax-wizards-convert-harry-potter-to-3-d/

http://the3drevolution.blogspot.com/

Intructional Videos

Some very good instructional videos..

http://animationtutors.blogspot.com

Greeble

This plugin will help you make those Star Wars spaceship details.

http://max.klanky.com/



What I did with Greeble..
















Check out the gallery to see what's been done:

http://www.greeblelicious.com/

Max Plugins

This site has been around for a while. Pretty useful tools..

http://www.maxplugins.de/

Vue - Natural Scene Generator

This software looks pretty convincing. Check out the demo...

http://www.e-onsoftware.com/products/vue/vue_7_infinite/

Compositing Tutorial

A friendly tutorial on how to render things in Max for compositing...

http://www.seraph3d.com/composite_main.htm

Great Visual Effects Studios withBreakdowns

Here are links to leading Visual Effects studios with breakdowns of their work:

http://www.digitaldomain.com/

http://www.moving-picture.com/index.php/vfx-breakdowns.html

http://www.rsp.com.au/portfolio/australia.htm

http://www.framestore-cfc.com/

http://www.edenfx.com/


If you have IDM, you can download these videos and have a library full of knowledge!

DMI Car Models

A really good site for getting car models. Since the formats are .lwo (Lightwave), you can use Blender to convert to OBJ and back into Max or Maya.

http://dmi.chez-alice.fr/models1.html

Game Trailors

A really neat trailer..

http://www.swtor.com/media/trailers/deceived-cinematic-trailer

and another 3D studio that is amazing. Check out the Transformers one..

http://www.blur.com/

MPC VFX Breakdown

Some breakdowns of some complex CG work..

X-Men:
http://vodpod.com/watch/1586884-x-men-the-last-stand-vfx-breakdown

Poseidon:
http://snarkerati.com/movie-news/poseidon-vfx-breakdown/

Watchmen:
http://www.traileraddict.com/trailer/watchmen/vfx-breakdown

GAMMA

When rendering on different machines with 3DS Max, often you get different results with the lights and darks. This Wiki page can help with a few settings on setting the gamma.

http://mymentalray.com/wiki/index.php/Gamma

Terragen

One of the greatest natural scene makers out there. There is a free version you can download. Check out the website for the galleries..

http://www.planetside.co.uk/

Ted Boardman

Ted Boardman has written many tips and tricks for Max and Viz. Here is a site full of them. A must read for anyone using Max..

http://www.cgarchitect.com/upclose/TB/default.asp

Mental Ray Heroes..

I mention these guys a lot in my lectures, so I'l l provide the links here. These guys have undoubtedly saved me from the the toughest projects thanks to the information they share. My heroes..

Master Zap:

http://mentalraytips.blogspot.com/

Jeff Patton:

http://jeffpatton.net/

vfxbreakdown

This is a really good site for those who like behind the scenes clip of visual effects.

http://vfxbreakdown.org/

ZBrush Gallery

Here is a site that shows some pretty neat ZBrush art. In case you didn't know, ZBrush is a 3d sculpting program..

http://www.zbrushcentral.com/zbc/featured2col.php

Rayfire Tool

Here is a tool where you can fragment objects and explode things. Really cool tool if you're into blowing things up.

http://www.mirvadim.com/

Sample video from the website..

Snake Script

Also inspired by the tentacles script, I decided to write a "snake" script. I created a bunch of spheres and animated it over a chosen geometry.

For those who are interested in writing one yourself, the formula:

arrS[i].pos =[ (arrS[i].radius/2 + stepc) , ((sin (i+stepC)) * sNsway),0]

arrS = array of spheres
stepC = circumference of sphere
sNsway = how much your snake moves left to right

If you want to know how to make the script detect the ground, and set your snake's height, there is a sample in Max Script Help. Search "Move Objects to a Surface."

Animation Movie List

Some movies I have to watch before I die..

http://digitaldreamdoor.nutsie.com/pages/movie-pages/movie_animation.html

Testing out that Tentacle script

A few days ago I posted a tentacles script from scriptspot. I decided to play with it. Pretty handy tool. I know it will be handy some day.

PFtrack

Ever wonder how they make animals talk? This is a program that does the trick. It does object tracking.

http://www.thepixelfarm.co.uk/products/products.aspx?PID=3

Kinder Choco Sticks

Here is a commercial done with Realflow. I think it's amazing..

http://www.postdreamer.com/video/305_kinder

Making Tentacles

Here is a video demo of a cool script written by Moutafis Nick. It does tentacles.

http://www.vimeo.com/3189363/


You can find the script from this site:

http://www.scriptspot.com/3ds-max/tentacles

FumeFX for Mental Ray

Our beloved FumeFX now does Mental Ray! Also go to their gallery section. They have some cool fire and smoke effects.

http://www.afterworks.com/FumeFX.asp?ID=13

Trail and Milky Way Render Effects

Many people like to do that "comet in space" effect. Here is a link to 2 excellent tools to help. There are render effects for 3DS Max. The site is in Russian. The Trail effect produces streaks from particles. The Milky Way puts stars in the background.


http://lastjedioutpost.ru/Plug-ins.htm

Bjork - All is Full of Love

Check this old music video out. It was done in Softimage by Glassworks.

Realflow Demo

Realflow demo. There's some cool water stuff here..

http://www.realflow.com/img/videos/showreel_2008_sound.html

Autodesk 3ds Max 2010

I can't wait to get my touchy little fingers on these new features! They sound amazing. The best part of the year for me is when they release a new version.

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/index?siteID=123112&id=7658360

Vray

Here is an article on VRay. It talks about VRay's strengths and weaknesses. I had hoped the author would compare it with Mental Ray, but he didn't. He remained civilized.

http://www.cgchannel.com/news/viewfeature.jsp?newsid=8361

Benjamin Button

Check this video out. I was at SIGGRAPH a number couple of years ago, and saw this facial capture technique on display. I thought to myself it'll be a while before we see this in movies. I had no idea it was sooner.

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/ed_ulbrich_shows_how_benjamin_button_got_his_face.html