When do you think this will be supported in 3ds Max 2013?

in less than 2 months, prior siggraph

Hello everyone

Im having an issue 3 point shader in max 2011, the relection mask is not apparently working ( im testing with a black mask with the word test in various shades of grey).

My box is amd tipple core processor, nvidia 8800gt card.

Any help with this would be greatly appreciated!!!

Thank you

the reflection mask is pulled from the alpha channel of that image. Please try a fileformat that has an alpha channel and make sure the proper data is in it.

Awesome thanks !!! Apparently NOT the shader malfunctioning it is my Brain

Anyone else get the "--No ""+"" function for undefined" when trying to install the script?

EDIT: Oh max 2013 isn't supported,

Hi guys, grab a Pro copy at 33% off before August 3rd.

http://www.3pointstudios.com/

Also, stay tuned for a number of non-3pshader announcements...

Hi guys
I bought a copy of the pro version around the time it was first released.

I've recently upgraded to Max 2012.
I just tried installing 3ps shader again and I get the error ZacD has.
"--No ""+"" function for undefined"
I see people talking about Max 2012 in this thread so I'm guessing it is supported.

Do I need to download a newer copy of 3ps shader for the installer to work?
If so where can I find it? I don't see a download link anywhere for the pro version on the website.

Thanks!

SideEffect: Mail support to receive a new, permanent download link.

The error is most likely because of entering the wrong registration info (there's no errormessage when you do, so extra care needs to be taken to enter the exact correct info upon install)

ok will do, thanks!
The error actually happens as soon as I drag or run the mzp script.

Is there any update on support for 3ds Max 2013?

Hey guys, small question which I'm trying to rack my brains on.

What is the difference between the Additive, etc and Maximum, etc. stuff for the Specular and Illumintion slots?

Is one of them more correct then the other? What's the math and idea behind them? I'm confused on how I can use them to my advantage my make my models looks nice and shiny!

Hey Ace this was discussed earlier on in this thread - those are the two posts here and here.

Ace: Like Disanski says. They're just options to give you more control over the result you get, which means you can also use them for special effects, particularly with illumination.

A good example is windows. If you use additive light, the window will look lit even in a daylight scene. If you use maximum, however, the light will appear to "turn on" only when the scene gets dark enough.

There's plenty of stuff like that you can do - the best thing is just experimenting with the options. Remember that the shader supports negative values, plus you can use illumination as opacity WITH the complex controls, meaning you can do all sorts of crazy stuff if you put your mind to it.

Originally Posted by redrise

helloo

I have question about shadow,
i try get nice hard shadow but i cant do it , any one have any idea ?

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

bump. i have the question/problem. is there a way to improve the quality of the shadows?

Originally Posted by thatnumpty

bump. i have the question/problem. is there a way to improve the quality of the shadows?

first of all i would try inverting the green channel of your normalmap.

secondly, i believe it's been stated before, the quality of shadows is down to the scale of your scene?

Hey guys, thanks for the quick replies! Cheers!

I'm still having abit of issue trying to understand the settings for some of the options, and if I may ask a silly question, when would certain options be used? I mean if I was to try and create a skin, rubber, metal and rock like effect, would any of them extra bits and bobs help?

An example of what I mean is the Specular ones, if I select Additive, it does the traditional 'add' Spec term to Diffuse term, which is pretty simple for me to follow and manage since I understand on how it works.

However, the when I disable it, it seems to be taking the color of my Diffuse instead? Which seems kinda strange.

Awesome shader, it's just that I'm curios if there is a guide or something that I missed that might help me better understand what everything is doing and how I could take advantage of them.

There is no such specific guide, as the shader is relatively "standard" (I.e. any shading guide around Blinn-Phong should do). The option for additive exists as some engines indeed use diffuse color for specularity (metals...). Some of the options are motivated due to the fact the shader is not "engine specific" but should still allow to resemble some techniques found in the industry (e.g. reflections being additive or blended on-top). The "physically" correct way is additive...

There is some good slides on how materials behave (check for film studios)

http://renderwonk.com/publications/s...hading-course/
http://blog.selfshadow.com/publicati...hading-course/

The main "specal knob" is the lighting settings that affect alpha and play with negative scalings. When you duplicate the mesh you can create some layered/transitional effects this way.

Oh, so it's standard, and you peeps put up the 'extra' bits and bobs as way to satisfy the diverse needs of the peeps that use the shader, implementing techniques usually found in the industry?

That makes sense, cheers!

Saw this shader installed on my friends computer and decided to try it out...I think I have everything on correctly but can seem to get the shader to display properly...he's not home so I figured I'd bug you guys

Notes:
The FAQ should cover you as we never receive any bug reports other than the ones listed.
http://www.3pointstudios.com/3pointshader_help.shtml

If there are still problems, send a full bug report with your specs, software versions, hardware to support.

Hey,
So I just purchased myself a copy, but I'm having some issues.
I just want to simply put in an ambient cubemap so that my model looks good, and I dont keep getting these ugly black shadows.


Honestly, I wish you would elaborate more on the help section on the website. Maybe a tutorial or two explaining the 3 point shader, and showing how you get it to work. I thought it would just be simple, plopping in a cubemap and bam adjust the sliders.

Originally Posted by BenHenry

Honestly, I wish you would elaborate more on the help section on the website. Maybe a tutorial or two explaining the 3 point shader, and showing how you get it to work. I thought it would just be simple, plopping in a cubemap and bam adjust the sliders.

Hi Ben.

It is that simple. You literally just plop in the cube then adjust values. Note the lack of bug/problem reports in this thread

If you experience anything else, try installing the latest 3ds update, newest video card drivers, reset your scene, follow all the advice on our site like disabling 3ds gamma, etc. Test the shader on a simple teapot object - do the harsh black shades still appear? Do other shaders give you the same broken result? Are you running an AMD/ATi card?

Try to make a material from scratch. Make it minimal, with as few maps and parameters as possible - at which stage do the harsh black shades appear? That will help you isolate the cause of the result you are getting.

I seem to have fixed the harsh shadow problem, but I still cannot figure out the ambient light/reflection cubemaps. Should I be opening a special type of cubemap?
And if it were to work properly, could the ambient light replace the current lights in the scene for a fast lighting setup?

BenHenry:

Those don't look like cubemaps, they look like latlong maps if I'm not mistaken.

There's a bunch of cubemaps included with the 3pshader archive, try those out first.

You can read more on the polycount wiki - second page here.

Cubes won't cast shadows, but otherwise the "ambient light" (second link above) creates the best kind of lighting. Typically you'll have one omni for the major light source (typically the sun) and an ambient light cube for environment light/light bounces and so on.

The reason we don't go into these details in our help section is that they're not related to the technical operation of the 3pShader material, but to general rendering techniques. Just like when buying a car it comes with a manual on the technical aspects on the car, but that manual makes no effort at teaching you how to drive.