PDA

View Full Version : Toon Shaders and Creating a City

NeroGato
05-01-2009, 05:46 AM
Hey, I'm new to the forum and a new user to 3d programs and art in general, and I'm wondering if I could get some help with creating a cartoon shader and making a 3d city.

I'm using 3ds Max 2009 and a Mental Ray renderer.

Now I'm using Ink 'n Paint shaders right now on my models, but they're not working the way I'd like them to. The shading is off on the models and the ground is off, plus, the highlights are not working whatsoever. Also, I would like to know if there is a good way to make a cartoon window.

My second question is about having a time efficient way tom make a city in 3ds max without making it look too mediocre. I just need about one block and I need the rest to look like there are other buildings and a skyline. Also any help on how I could make a realistic sky/background for this purpose.

Help with any of these problems would be appreciated!

Thanks,
NeroGato
NeroGato
05-03-2009, 11:50 PM
I need to do this quickly, so if anyone has some quick pointers that would be awesome!
bonestructure
05-04-2009, 04:09 PM
Can't help with your texturing problem. I've never used ink and paint or cartoon textures.

As far as the second. There's a nice plugin called Greeble that might help you, and some nice tutorials on making cities with it on line.

On your third question, what you do is put an image in the environment slot on the render menu in the toolbar. The image should be as close as possible to your render dimensions so that it doesn't get stretched or pixilated. Two ways to do this. If your city is cartoon or sci fi or whatever, first set up your scene for the final render with your camera and lights placed where you want them. Then delete everything but the camera and lights. Save that as a blank scene. Then put a sky image you like in the environment slot, then use greeble or whatever to model the back of your city. Render that. Save it as layer 1. Open the scene with just the lights and camera again. Put that previous render in the environment slot, build the middle of the city in front of that. Render that. Save it as layer 2. Then open the blank scene again, put the layer 2 render in the environment slot. Build you block in front of that. It does seem complex but it's really not. You just have to make sure you have a scene set up you can work with that remains the same throughout so that everything ends up in the right place. Use the sharpest antialiasing you can get for the background layers.

I don't know if this is how everyone else does it. It's how I do it. I have a retarded computer with very limited memory, so I often have to render in layers like this. It lets me build far more complex scenes than I would be able to otherwise. If you take a look at my image War of the Whisperers, you can see what I mean. It was rendered in only two layers, but if I'd tried to render it all at once, it would have crashed Vray due to lack of memory.
NeroGato
05-05-2009, 12:46 AM
Thank you! This helps a lot. If anyone has info on the toon shaders that would be cool as well.
CGTalk Moderation
05-05-2009, 12:46 AM
This thread has been automatically closed as it remained inactive for 12 months. If you wish to continue the discussion, please create a new thread in the appropriate forum.