Here depending on whether you are using a mr area omni or mr area spotlight, the shape of the light can be chosen. In the area light parameters there is a type dropdown menu. When you are setting up your renders I find it useful to show the light in the renderer, especially if I am trying to duplicate the light coming from a physical source e.g. The area light controls for the mr area lights is found in itвЂ™s own section under Area Light Parameters, and as mentioned earlier, works in conjunction with the вЂњRay Traced ShadowsвЂќ type. They basically simulate the same shadows as you would get from the area lights in mental ray for scanline. They can be used with standard mr and standard omnis and spotlights under scanline rendering mode. Mental ray does not support them and you will get an error message to that affect when you try and render with area shadows turned on. To clarify, this is one of the dropdown options under the Shadows tab, not the shadows produced under the Area Light Parameters tab. It works the same way as the default shadow map but also has extra control for transparent shadows.ДЄlso of note, mr area lights cannot use the вЂњArea ShadowsвЂќ setting. This is a useful shadow type to use when doing tests and animation for faster renders. The mr area lights also have a further shadow type which is a mental ray shadow map. I will just explain a little about mr area lights in this section.Д«asically the mr area lights are fairly identical to the default max omni and spotlights except where it comes to area settings and mental ray integration for GI (Global Illumination). So when you have loaded the Area_Lights_MR_Set-up.max file you will see four light set-ups, two with mr area omni lights and two with mr area spotlights. But this is not a rendering tutorial so this will just be a brief look at best practice when using mental ray for rendering. I am no lighting tech though so donвЂ™t expect lots of physics jargon to back up everything I do!Д«ecause I use mental ray I will also cover some rendering settings when working with final gather and GI as this is also paramount to getting the best from your lighting. I will cover some basic lighting theory and show why I donвЂ™t use some of the default light settings in 3ds Max for this reason. The lights in question, the mr area omni and mr area spotlight are perfectly usable as scanline lights though and most of the settings I use will carry over other than the area light functionality. My renderer of choice is mental ray and so the lights I use have settings that only work with mental ray, these being the area light settings. It won't cover the whole gamut of lighting options in 3ds Max, but will instead focus on the lights that I most commonly use and the settings I use to get the most from them (version used 3DS Max 2012). Since we exported it according to surfaces, once we select one element, all elements of that will be selected, as follows.This tutorial is an overview of how I go about lighting my models or scenes in 3ds Max. Your model is now ready to be worked on in 3ds max! Go to Views > Viewpoint Configuration > LayoutsД¬lick on the layout you want, and right click to select вЂњPerspectiveвЂќ. Convert units.ДЄs an added bonus, you can change your viewpoint layout so that your 3d viewpoint is the only viewpoint. In the dialog box, change the вЂfiles of typeвЂ™ dropdown menu to вЂњall file typesвЂќ and open your file. You may or may not already have a project running. This workflow is recommended because it will help you click each element as a group for visualization. I have chosen the surfaces option for this project. This means the element will be exploded into faces and merged according to material. Surfaces вЂ“ This will create a file group for every surface material.Layers вЂ“ Surfaces вЂ“ This will create a file group for each layer and make internal groups for each surface element.Element Types вЂ“ Surfaces вЂ“ This will create a file group for every construction element and make internal groups for each surface element.ArchiCad Objects (native output) вЂ“ This will create the file without grouping, and the object will be exported as it is.

This will open a dialog box, each with a different setting on how you would like to convert your object: Step 1: Save your object as a 3D Studio fileД¬reate the name of your file and save it as a. It consists of three layers: External Walls, Internal Walls and Columns. This is the building I want to export to 3ds Max. Since our main model is being done on ArchiCad, there is a need for a smooth export into 3Ds max for later use. My project involves interactive virtual media, and later use of animation schedules and matchmoving on 3Ds max.

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