Normal Map 2

I created another Normal map this time making an AO with it, it's really cool that this detail is on a flat plane.

ndo crashing

       I'm having a couple issues with ndo crashing, I'm searching online to see if there's a cause to it or if it's just something ndo does

First time using Quixel

So I decided to take a break from 3ds MAX and open up quixel suite and learn some of the tools.

I started by drawing an ellipses using the marquee tool and converting it to a normal. 

Once the ellipses is converted to a normal options like size, depth, contrast, etc appear in the box.

Next I started messing around with the size, depth, and contrast options. 

The next tab contains bevel options for the normal you've created, You can use these to achieve the desired effect.

The following tab contains slant options which well either make the normal slant up or down.

This next tab I find one of the most interesting, it's called curve and it contains all kinds of funky effects you can add to the normal for some fast and interesting detail 

By clicking the toggle sculpt mode button you are able to click about the normal and add duplicates of the brush you have created  

I played around for a couple minutes and created this normal. A panel of some kind. 

I created a quick metal diffuse and made a material within UE4 using and added the material to a simple 2 tri plane. I can see the usefulness of this software and am looking forward to learning more about it and practicing further. It will definitely come in handy when creating hard surface props that are low on polys but high on normal detail.  

Getting the hang of it

I fell as if I'm starting to get the hang of a few things within the software, I still hit the wrong hot keys and don't yet know all the tools available but I'm getting there.

Materials in 3ds MAX frustrations

I am having one hell of a time trying to get a simple material to show up in the viewport.

What's next

   


      I've been looking at all the beautiful work done by artists using the Quixel suite and been getting really inspired and am looking forward to jumping into the software. I know there's going to be a learning curve just like what I'm experiencing with MAX, but I'm really looking forward to the challenges.

      For the next step within MAX I plan on farther familiarizing myself with the interface and what the software is capable of. I hope to be able to create some kind of weapon that's a little more complex than the "barrel" that I made the other day. I hope to have this step done as soon as possible.

       I have to work diligently and be efficient in the use of my time over the next week. I lost a lot of time over the last few weeks battling a bad sinus infection (at least I believe it to be a sinus infection) I have finally had enough and made a doctors appointment for Friday in hopes to get something to help relieve the symptoms.


Until my next update.

Max cont..

I've spent a little more time playing around in max learning some of the tools and just making shapes

3ds MAX is strange

So I've opened up 3ds MAX I expected something a lot similar to but the interface actually seems quite different.

One of the first things I noticed was the Create menu. The menu contains Standard Primitives which at this time I assume to be like your polygons in Maya.

I've also found a similar menu on the far right hand side beside the view port windows and created a cylinder primitive.

After some research I found out how to show faces on the primitive using F4 and was able to adjust the faces by playing with the number under the parameters section.

As a Maya user this next step seemed very strange to me. To be able to edit the shape you need to right click the model > convert to > convert to editable poly.  This to me seemed like an unnecessary step and I began to wonder why people use MAX over Maya, maybe once I dig deeper into the program I will learn the answer to this question. 

Now that the primitive has been converted to an Editable Poly there is a menu called selection that contains diagrams the remind me of 80's art, by clicking the one called polygon I was able to select faces on the shape and adjust them using the scale tool. Options for Vertex, Edge, Border and Element exist on this menu. At this point I'm wishing I was modelling in Maya. 

* I made a new shape because I pressed some wrong buttons that made me need to reset as I didn't know how to undo them. pro tip remember to save.

By using the tools mentioned above I created my first ever object in MAX.

 BEHOLD THE BARREL!

The next step is to make something a little more complex...

To Be Continued...

What to do

From my research component of my capstone I will create a small scene that will reflect the look and feel of the finished product. I wish to learn new modeling software (Zbrush, Max) and a new texturing software (Quixel) as well as improve my understanding of blueprints, particles and lighting within UE4.