aaron dabelow

http://www.aarondabelow.com/v1/pages/maxscript/maxscript-lazyUVWeditor.html

To something that looked like this:

Now I realize that there are other ways to easily view or find lights from their color, like using the light lister, or the new max layer manager in 2015 to see these things, however in this situation it seemed pretty quick and elegant to go this route. In order to quickly set the wirecolor of all of the lights in my scene, I wrote the simplest of one off scripts that would handle it for me.

for i in lights do ( try (i.wirecolor = i.rgb ) catch () )

It simply grabs the color value, and sets the wirecolor to it. If you update the color of the light, and want to update the wirecolors, simply re-execute the script. And if you find yourself annoyed by the garish colors that you have created, you can always go back to the old wirecolors by simply executing this one line, to put them back.

for i in lights do ( try (i.wirecolor = (color 255 229 0) ) catch () )

Download DebrisMaker2.0.mzp ( 590k )

The DebrisMaker2 is a free procedural geometry creation tool for 3ds Max, that I have been working on for a while now, and lets you quickly create objects for your 3D scenes. You can create and customize the following:

If you like it or find it useful, but would like to have different modules made, or features added to existing ones, or unfortunately run into a bug, please leave a comment here, or a the support forum I set up.

Building brick, English Bond, regular medium

Cinderblock type 2, flemish bond, irregualr - light

One of my favorites so far, the meteor debris module. I used this one in the first few shots of the 'space shots' thing on vimeo: https://vimeo.com/55744842

Piles of gemstones and gravel courtesy of the debris maker!

Updated an improved the crystal module of the debris maker! 

Fourth in the series of speed and workflow tips for 3ds Max.

I hate doing things three times. Here is how to use Maxscript and the built in listener to make batch changes to things in your scene. Also how retrieve variables from objects quickly to develop scripts that actually save you time, the first time you use them.

A beginner should be able to follow this video, but it is pretty rapid paced, so if you may be interested in a previous video, where I cover tool creation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTk8Rh0a5ys

If you liked this video, check out the rest of the series in this playlist: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLnm9X1Cq_ImrOBsGAT_zjlv9uWY9j29-4

Get the macroscript here: www.aarondabelow.com/v1/scripts/slap_parent/SlapParent.zip

Using the 3ds Max select and link thing is terrible. Using the provided macroscript, when bound to the suggested keyboard shortcut makes this process a snap. Saves a bunch of time, and a real nice way to streamline your workflow. 

If you liked this video, check out the rest of the series in this playlist: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLnm9X1Cq_ImrOBsGAT_zjlv9uWY9j29-4

Second in the series of speed and workflow tips for 3ds Max.

This one covers a way to get around uvw coordinates of unusual objects. It shows you a technique on how to use multiple uvw channels to create a tile-less, seamless, unwrap free texture on your objects, without any visible stretching or pinching. It is a quick method that lets you power through an often undesirable task. 

Here is an example of an object with co-ordinates that are a little problematic:

The method in this video is a combination of using a spherical map for most of the mesh, and a planar map to cover the pinched poles of the spherical map. The texture is blended inside of a composite material, using the same map. For objects like rocks this is a quick and dirty way to make something without seams.

Once your have one material setup in this way you can easily swap out the maps for others and avoid repeating the moderate setup.

Hey everyone, I am starting a series of speed and workflow tips for 3DS Max that I have picked up over the years of working production. I have seen my fair share of tutorial videos, and am tired of slow paced ones that are 45 min long, and you only see 1 or 2 new things. So I've made an effort to keep these videos short and fast paced, and targeted at an intermediate experience level in 3Ds Max.

Alright, so you can get active type here: http://www.scriptspot.com/3ds-max/scripts/activetype And it appears to be in moderately active development / maintenance as of the time I made this video.

Some features of active type I would like to highlight.

Create objects

Add modifiers to one or many objects at once

Edit common attributes in one action ( not even instanced )

Access and execute Maxscript

Store and execute custom scripts

Make you a delicious sandwich

It stores a history, so after some use, it fits like a glove

So as you can see, it is an easy to install plugin that allows access to command panel items, maxscript, and object properties from anywhere in the view-port. A quick, easy, customizable tool that I cannot work without, and will be used in most of my videos. I have been asked about it in the past, and just figured I'd make this to cover what it is capable of.

I have gotten to the point where if I am ever unfortunately at a workstation without it, i'll just go ahead and install it. It takes much less time to install than it takes to even find one modifier in a heavy scene.

Before you watch, make sure your sound is turned up!

Here is this years AICP Minnesota sponsor reel! We were lucky to take the award for 'best professional work' in this years Minnesota Electronic Theater.

I worked on this with Mike Zugschwert, Tyson Ibele, Joe Kim, Romain Faure, Kevin Wisdom, Josh Clos, and it was poduced by Danny Robashkin, who got his hands dirty on a few shots as well. And all of it wrapped together with the always amazing work of Steve Horner, who did the audio.

I setup the 3D shading, lighting and 2D comp that was used across the whole spot, and personally worked on about half of the shots. Mike, Danny and I worked closely to work out the effects and how they would work on logo reveals, and we used a bunch of new tools in production that ended up working very well. 

For the official MAKE post, with some behind the scenes images, look here.