Chapter 52 Max and Special Effects 1185

Tutorial: Creating Icy Geometry with BlobMesh

The BlobMesh object can be combined with a geometry object to create the effect of an object that has been frozen in ice. Using the BlobMesh’s Pick feature, you can select a geometry object, and a BlobMesh is placed at each vertex of the object. I suggest using an object with a fairly limited number of vertices.

To create the effect of an object covered in ice, follow these steps:

1.Open the Icy sled.max file from the Chap 52 directory on the CD-ROM. This file includes a sled model created by Viewpoint Datalabs.

2.With the sled selected, choose Create Compound BlobMesh, and create a simple BlobMesh in the Top viewport. Set the Size value to 6.0. Then click the Pick button in the Parameters rollout, and select the Sled object.

3.Press the M key to open the Material Editor, and select the first sample slot. Change the Diffuse color to a light blue, and set the Opacity to 20. Then increase the Specular Level to 90 and the Glossiness to 40, and apply the material to the BlobMesh object.

Figure 52-2 shows the resulting sled, all ready to be defrosted.

Figure 52-2: BlobMesh objects can be used to cover objects in ice.

1186 Part XIII Max in Action

Tutorial: Using Caustic Photons to Create a Disco Ball

When using the mental ray renderer, you can see the caustic photons as they are reflected around the room to help you determine the correct settings you need, but these photons themselves can be used to make a good disco ball effect.

To create a disco ball effect using caustic photons, follow these steps:

1.Open the Disco ball.max file from the Chap 52 directory on the CD-ROM. This file includes a simple room.

2.Select Create Standard Primitives Sphere, and click in the Top viewport to create a sphere positioned toward the top of the room.

3.Press the M key to open the Material Editor, and select the first sample slot. Select the map shortcut for the Diffuse color, and select the Raytrace map type in the

Material/Map Browser. Then drag the Raytrace map in the Map rollout from the Diffuse Color to the Reflection map, and select the Instance option in the Copy Map dialog box that appears. Then enable the Faceted option; set the Opacity to 50, the Specular Level to 95, and the Glossiness to 30; and drag the material to the sphere object.

4.Select Create Lights Standard Lights mr Area Omni, and click in the Top viewport to create four lights that surround the sphere object. In the Modify panel, change the Multiplier value to 0.3 for each of these lights, and offset each light vertically from the others.

5.Open the Render Scene dialog box (F10), and switch the Production Renderer in the Assign Renderer rollout of the Common panel to the mental ray Renderer. In the Indirect Illumination panel, enable the Caustics option and the Radius option, and set the Radius value to 1.0. Enable the All Objects Generate and Receive Caustics & GI option. Then click the Render button.

Figure 52-3 shows the resulting disco scene with thousands of lights visible on the walls.

Chapter 52 Max and Special Effects 1187

Figure 52-3: This disco ball simply reflects the caustic photons around the room.

Summary

Special effects in Max can require lots of trial and error, but with some patience and ingenuity, the results can be worth it. In this chapter, you

Created a black hole using the Particle Flow interface

Covered an object in ice using BlobMeshes

Created a disco ball effect using caustic photons and the mental ray renderer

This concludes the final part of the book. The appendixes that follow offer information on configuring a Max system and the contents of the book’s CDs.