Right, to further my computer education, I have decided to learn how to render. I am using 3DS Max, as that seems to be the most used here, so I can ask questions

Okay, lets show where I'm at (I've only had about 2 hours practice so far, and never done anything like this, so don't flame me for being an idiot).

I have:
1. imported CMX's.
2. changed the Material ID of the wheel rim to that of the wheel center so it all works.
3. assigned dds/jpgs to the relevent ID's, and colour parts of the dds's in black so they render correctly (or at least, acceptably)
4. Rendered a couple of skins with vaguely good results - I'm pleased with my progress.

However, my main 'problem' at the moment is the damn tyres! I have a texture on the tread area, but I am finding it impossible to work out how to put a texture on the sidewalls. making the texture itself will be relatively easy once I've figured this bit out.

I'm not looking for some of the uber impressive wheels and tyres you lot use/have made, as I'd rather improve my own work if you see what I mean.

it's a while since i've rendered but there is an option on the right somewhere, i just tried openig up 3DS Max to find the name of the option but it keeps crashing so you're goingto have to wait for a proper answer sorry

its good to see some self-learning! i'm a big fan of that

Select the sidewall, and give it its own material id. While you've still got the sidewall polys selected, look in the modifyer drop down menu, and find "uvw map", click it, and pic the option that looks the best (in my quick test, i used box.)

Then play with the uvw/tiling settings until it looks ok.

Heres what i just did, using the method above. Its not pretty, but it works, and it only took me 2 mins.

Cool, cheers Looney. Knowing this means I an forget trying to make reflections and shadows work

(Not using Brazil, maybe I should)

i dont suggest using brazil, (only if you want it for the speedy renders)
not now atleast; thats so much more you have to learn, best to start with the basics
keep in mind, the default materials are probably the best to work with with so many options (as compared to vray and brazil.. cant do what you want easily)
not sure about other material directed programs, but you dont see many of those

as for reflections/shadows lets begin with reflections
so you have your material.. lets work with a standard material
get to materials screen (M), and select the material you want
(this is where the best part of these materials begin)

specular highlights:
you have specular level (amount of light the material "sucks up")
glossiness (..obviously as it says; how glossy it is)
and soften (how much it blurs the reflections)
so for a basic paint material (not metallics) keep the specular level fairly low, and raise glossiness to full
if you have glossiness at a lower level, you will see the light your using (except skylight - will talk of that later) will be reflected; you dont really want this
for all that dont know how profesionals do this, find the point of reflection of your light, and put an omni where that reflection would be (from the point of the camera) and go to Rendering - Video Post, and at the top hit the yellow block with the arrow pointing right
label it whatever you want (omni reflection), and hit ok
it will take you back to video post, and hit omni reflection (or whatever you named it)
now at the top, select the yellow box with the ~ through it
under filter plug-in, on the dropdown menu and select lens effect flare
if you want, you can change your settings under setup
once you get what you want.. hit render (F9) and you have a basic car material with a basic lens effect
for a more advanced car paint material, use a shellac based material

now... before i type 10 pages let me get into lighting lol
lighting; its right up there with materials.. without good lighting and without good materials.. your render will look extremely cheap
for the default scanline you most likely will want to use a skylight (which will take around 5x longer to render.. but the end product will be better
(just go to create - lights - skylight : you can put it anywhere in the scene.. makes no difference where it is)
for a more realistic effect make the light a lightish blue color to give it that blue tint
as for the entire lighting, i suggest using omnis.. they are easy, and fast to render with. Depending on what type of shadow under the object you want will decide whether or not/what type of shadow you will use; if you want a large shadow like its cloudy outside, you wont really need one; if you want one like in my renders, set the shadow type to (can never remember this.. i believe its either mental ray, or ray traced) to get a hard shadow; dark in the center from the skylight, but lighter around the edges
pretty simple stuff for fairly good results

NOTE: (if your using default scanline renderer)
if you are doing a test render just to see your object, turn the skylight off (or delete it.. turning it off never worked for me), turn antialiasing off (will save lots of time) and/or turn of your advanced lighting plug-in off
as for advanced lighting plug-ins, i usually use light tracer
..gives good results if done properly, however it can be slower
as for radiosity, you can 'pre' calculate the shadows and it will render quickly (also good if your trying to do a quick render)
however when using radiosity, if you set the pre calculator up to 100%.. enjoy waiting lol

..end of post lol

Thanks XCNuse i think that will help me also...I can only do the basics myself....

That, my friend, is AWESOME! And onl 3 'lol's! Thanks a bunch.

Okay, I did this without using your stuff above. My first ever render (no ground/shadows etc yet, only a few hours spent in 3DS

Quote from tristancliffe :

That, my friend, is AWESOME! And only 3 'lol's! Thanks a bunch.

Ahh, but he still used them instead of periods

everyones a critic lol

i think i should just copyright lol and make it my signature saying

This is where I'm at now... Still lots of flaws though, like the caliper texture on the wheel upright and suchlike. Might play with another car, or even build a garage and stack of tyres to put the cars in...

You noticed the artifacts on the tires and on the front wing, didn't you?

Also, the skin seems kinda blurry... Is it only 1024x1024?

I better shut up now, as I am nowhere near that...

ya that artifacting is.. very strange indeed? blue and pink dots on that tire.. ackward..

anyways, looks like you used an omni (can tell by the crappy shadow lol) cause you wont get good soft shadows like you would with a skylight using an omni (unless you have extremely high settings)

owell hey.. i think it beats my first render
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a392/XCNuse/817cae87.jpg

the dots on the tire/rim is because you have the wrong material and render settings so it cant calculate it right and rapes it...

are you using Vray? (Vray xpert here)

I had a skylight, and two omni's, and yes I was disappointed with the shadow. But it was taking so long to render I didn't fancy having another go last night. The overhead one was meant to be the finished article, but I had the wrong viewport selected when I clicked render. I've locked the usable viewport now

As for artifacts I'm confused by them too. Maybe I have roughness turned up too high. I'll have a fiddle and see what I can muster. But the tyres, as I've noticed in other render threads (which I do read, I just don't post in much), are clearly the hardest things to render right...

nice first renders u made!

Am making a pit garage at the moment to put the car(s) in. Have also made a stack of wheels and tyres (still need to work the sidewalls out), and removed the omnis.

But I'm too ashamed to post the result here, cos my 'making a garage' skills are crappy right now. Maybe in a few days.

couldnt be all to bad; here are my first 2 garage scenes (i didnt make the door, or... much of anything lol but the pipes on teh cieling and .. the box lol)
so it cant be to bad
(this was back when i was using a diffuse map for my shadows)

Got bored/pissed off/fed up with the FOX, so I turned my attention to the FZ50 GTR.

Also, whilst I was at it, I turned my attention to HRDI Lighting, using a probe I found on teh net.

Now, I have a few questions.
1. My shadows look a bit crap, and I suspect thats cos the skylight I'm using (with the HDRI map) isn't strong enough. Would 1.3 or 1.6 work better with it (the strength)?

2. I am extremely disappointed with my attempts at making glass (although I'm sure they looked better in the practice renders I attempted. Are there any secrets/tricks to make glass look good? Can anyone suggest some settings I can use for the glass?

3. Same goes for wheels - they don't look metallic imo, and I'm not sure how to tweak them to get them better.

4. Rubber - I think most beginners will struggle with making rubber look like rubber. I still plan on mapping the sidewalls to different materials so I can put a sidewall texture on, but for the moment I'm happy to leave them as they are (unless, of course, someone has easy tips for them too ).

Personally I don't think it's too bad for a few days learning, but any constructive critisism would be appreciated. The skin is just 1024, so don't comment on the low res or the artifacts in that. And I know it's too dark overall - I'm hoping the solution to Q1 will help with that.

Bit more fiddling. Think I am making progress and getting a better understanding of lighting. Other renders people do with HDRI, what HDR image do you use? Cos the reflections always looks clean and nice, where as mine (googled and Devianced) are quite bitty and fussy. Anyway, this is where I'm at. Been using a different camera angle for last couple of days, but have returned to this one as I like it more. Sorry

I have just downloaded 3D Max 8 and got no idea what to do to get a rendered car out of LFS.....what next!?

Quote from tristancliffe :

FZ50_4post.jpg

Looks cool

Done a bit more since then, but nothing clever, just more cars...

Still fiddling with lighting more than anything.

Mam_Racing - look around here, RSC and Master Skinnerz - there are lots of tutorials on how to render LFS cars, and if you google, there are lots of tutorials on how to model other stuff as well. Just gotta be willing to try things out.

Progress of sorts!

moin, where to get a converter for cmx -> ??? (3ds,dxf...)

or please post your conversions of the origs.