Nexus - Day 2

Continuing with some 3D Studio Max tutorials, I got round to finishing my toycar model; learning how to lay out UVs, texturing, lighting and rendering with Vray and HDR maps in Max. Again, its a similar process to Maya with things more or less hidden under different menus and commands. The Vray lighting system is certainly worth some more investigation as it produced some neat results even with my simple lighting setup.

The final render could do with some minor tweaks, though I'm pleased with the results so far. I ended up giving it a copper type texture where I tried to up the specular and bump settings for better results.




UVs


Moreover, I also got the chance to check out the workflow and structure of Nexus in how they manage and organise their range of projects across a vast network of computers. All in all, it stresses the importance of having naming conventions and sticking to a pipeline to ensure that projects run smoothly, as any number of projects could be going on simultaneously with several people working on each collaboratively. It sort of reminds me of our group project earlier on in the year, where specific attention was needed in simply organising a working structure that we all agreed to adhere to.

Nexus Productions - Day 1

I started my work placement at Nexus Productions today - exciting stuff as I got to meet the team and familiarise myself with the studio I'll be working at for the next five weeks. One of the big hurdles to overcome, however, is learning 3D Studio Max as it is the main CG software Nexus uses. Its certainly a separate beast from Maya as navigation, menus and hotkeys are all mapped differently. However, the two do share similarities with familiar terms with Graph Editor and Material Editor (aka hypershade) with mental ray settings returning.

So today, I set out learning the ropes of Max with some tutorials to get accustomed to the interface. I created a set of dice, as a sort of homage to our first Maya tutorials, where I've also modelled a toycar which significantly helped me learn the basics of modelling in Max - extruding, edge loops, vertices etc.





Max has the intriguing feature of using Modifiers when modelling, which essentially acts like a layer system similar to Photoshop. Modifiers affect things down the list hierarchy, where visibility can toggled to hide/reveal any changes to the model in a dynamic fashion. For example, a Symmetry modifier can mirror a current mesh object, which can then be easily turned on and off whilst continuing to work with the model. Max also likes to give different colours to newly created objects, so forgive the wacky colours below.



Its still early days yet with much to learn, but there are some nice features in Max which I'm slowly discovering.

Other than that, things are a little quiet at the moment as there are only a few minor projects going on. Hopefully, things will pick up as some bigger projects come down the line. I intend to make a post showing some of Nexus's previous work when I have a moment, so look out for that. Otherwise, back to Max for me!