Book Review : 3ds Max Speed Modeling for 3D Artists

I've been using 3Ds Max for quite some time (about 8 years) and though i'm not an expert and and have not had any professional training i've been able to get by making the things i wanted to make by watching online tutorials and reading various books on the topic. I was recently asked to review one such book 3ds Max Speed Modelling for 3D Artists -Thomas Mooney. Let me start off by saying that I like this book. It is quite useful as a reference manual and might actually be used by beginners to understand as to how to get around using 3Ds Max. 

This book focuses on 3Ds Max 2013 which is currently the latest and greatest version of the software available. 3Ds Max is a huge software and many of the features have evolved over the years. This book does a great job of explaining the current feature set available in 3Ds Max and how to use it. It does not however tell from where these features evolved which would have been a nice touch to have though not necessarily in the scope of the book. Actually this book trumps my current favourite book "3DS Max Bible" in the area of modelling as a reference manual for a quick look-up when you get stuck somewhere. Don't get me wrong the Bible is awesome but it is a bit cumbersome (being 1200 pages and all) when it comes up to look at a problem. This is an area that i feel 3ds Max Speed Modelling for 3D Artists excels in.

I actually went through the whole book and did learn a few things i did not previously know so for me personally reading the book was worth it. 

Things that i liked about the book.

- Great for a quick look up.

- Uses 3Ds Max 2013.

- Well written with simple explanations.

- Can be used by beginners to get acquainted with Max 

- Price - At the time of writing the price listed on the website is Rs.166.20 (~$3.50) for a digital version which is a freaking steal. 

- Does not dwell on details but on the process of getting stuff done.

This book is a tool that if used properly can yield to great results. If you are a 3D artist (mostly a beginner or an amature like me) using 3Ds Max my suggestion would be to get a copy of the book.

GetVidya - Sambhav 2013

For the past 8-9 months i have been working with an NGO called "GetVidya". This is an awesome organization full of enthusiastic people who want to work towards making a difference in the world.The main charter of the organization currently is to provide basic education to autistic children. To promote awareness for the same we have organized an event  on the 7th of April 2013. Here is the poster.

Register here

Sambhav is a humble start by GetVidya trust to commemorate the World Autism Awareness Day. This event will focus on empowering people with the information that can equip them to better handle Autism related conditions. Sambhav – meaning “it’s possible” is a medium to demonstrate that special children are equally able.

Depth of Field

I was playing around with DOF(Mental Ray) in 3Ds Max 2013. Here are some sample images that i got:

Lego.

Trying out nvidia Mental Ray iray.

Rendering time: 1:00:00

Simulated using MassFX for 3Ds Max 2013

I like the new iRay rendering engine in 3Ds Max 2013. All you do is set the amount of time you want the render the image for and Ta-Da. Ya it not perfect (some white spots all over the image) but i like it.

MassFX is amazing. Super Easy to use and awesome results in very little time.

There is a Ferrari in My Rear View Mirror ...

Car : Ferrari Italia 458.
Total Rendering Time : 15 mins (4K)

We are men ... We make fire !!!

Time: April 2nd 2011, 3AM

Location: Shambhavi Palace, Manipal.

The whole building is asleep. Two engineers toil through the night building the quadrocopter. Hunger sets in and they decide to make some food. The kitchen cupboards are full. The eggs are plenty. There is bread . There is butter. There is cheese and there is Maggi. The only problem there is no gas lighter or matchstick that can be used to ignite the stove.

While in Manipal i have on occasion used the heat from my laptop to heat burgers (Only possible while rendering or playing a intensive video game). However in this case we (Mudit Gupta and me) needed fire to get the job done.

If you ever find your self in a similar situation the following things don't work:

• Trying to burn a resistor on the stove.
• Trying to blow up a capacitor above the stove.
• Trying to charge and then discharge a 470uF capacitor over the stove.
• Trying to charge and then discharge a 2200uF capacitor over the stove.
• Trying to grind a drill bit to a piece of metal to generate sparks over the stove.
• Trying to short a 6V lead acid battery over the stove.
• Using the heating coil from a Hot Glue Gun (What the hell were we thinking).
• Using a soldering iron.

What does work is shorting a 24V transformer to create sparks to ignite the LPG gas.

The stove in question:

Success (Sorry for the horrible video)

If you liked this you might also like : How To Make Omelette Using Power Tool and Demel-7700-Experiments

Demell 7700 Experiments.

I already own a cordless drill which has come quite handy in all the projects I have done ever since I bought it. I thought of increasing my collection and so decided to buy a Dremel tool (7700-30). This is a 7.2v cordless rotatory tool.

With the drill I made a an omelette/defrosted a fridge so for the Dremel tool I decided to go for a similar test. This time i decided to slice a pizza using the power tool.

Step 1: Order a pizza - Dominos Regular Margherita Pizza !! 

Step 2: Charge the battery for your Dremel. Technically this should be step 1. 

Step 3: Attach cutting wheel to the Dremel.

Step 4: Slice and Dice away

Step 5: Realize it did not work because the cutting wheel size was too small. Plan to order a bigger cutting wheel.

Step 6: Use a knife. Eat Pizza.

Anyway after that failed I decided to come-up with something different to show the power of the Dremel.

I have recently purchased a dart board and have been paying around with it quite a lot due to which one or two of the darts had become quite blunt so I decided to sharpen them. My flatmate who is a photography enthusiast (More like a photography maniac) decided to click some high exposure photographs of the same. 

The Tool:

The Victim: 

The Result

Exposure: 1/640 sec , ISO 6400

Exposure: 1/200 sec , ISO 6400

Exposure: 2 sec , ISO 1000

Exposure: 2 sec , ISO 900

Exposure: 2 sec , ISO 2800

Exposure: 2 sec , ISO 2800

Photography Credits: All the good looking ones by Rahul Krishna Upadhaya.