Autodesk 3DS Max, and The Ultimate ArchViz Designer's Toolbox Technology and the Internet have opened doors in many industries that would have otherwise been reserved for professionals in those fields. One of the industries this has been most evident in is architectural visualization. With different 3d software now available for free or a relatively affordable price, and educational licenses offered by programs with a bigger price tag, students, and enthusiasts from all over the world have made successful forays into archviz, from finding sideline work or changing career paths in a few years time.
Programs update quickly and become more and more intuitive, and the resources available online are enriched by hobbyists and industry veterans generous enough to share their knowledge and
experience. Each 3d application has strengths above the others, and users have learned to maximize their productivity by integrating a number of programs into their pipeline, taking advantage of each's superior feature set to produce better quality work, faster. Some software development companies have taken notice, and have tailored a suite of apps to work seamlessly with each other cater to this demand. One such company is Autodesk, that offers a well rounded application called 3DS Max, which by itself is a formidable tool in any type of 3d production, but is also supplemented by programs that specialize in creating content that are essential in fleshing out a CAD drawing to a fully realized, photorealistic rendition of the construction. This article aims to explore the capabilities of 3DS Max and some peripheral applications and services that constitute an impressive set of tools for an archviz designer. The work of an archviz designer can be summarized albeit very broadly in a sequence of tasks. The designer provides or is first provided with a floor plan usually in the form of a CAD drawing, which delineates the regions and dimensions of a structure across space. The file is provided either in a format that is universally accepted by most 3d software or as a project file of the software used, such as AutoCAD by Autodesk. The designer then imports the drawing into a 3d program such as Autodesk's 3DS Max, where he or she builds the drawing out
into its full form, while faithfully and accurately keeping to its proportions. Once the structure is complete, the designer creates shaders for it to match the color, texture, and material of every surface and furnishing in the structure as specified by the client. He or she then proceeds to light the structure using the lights meant to be built into it, as well as natural exterior lighting, adjusting the lights to be accurate and aesthetically pleasing for the final output. At last, the designer configures the software for the final processing of the image, called rendering, where the structure, it's materials and lights are calculated by a render engine such as Solid Angle's Arnold, which now ships with 3ds Max, that simulates the physical behavior of light and surface, to produce a photo-real representation of the structure, which is used to advertise the development before it has actually been built. Though many capable 3d suites are available and can be used interchangeably, this article focuses on 3ds Max for the following reasons: Streamlined Solutions - 3DS Max, being part of the Autodesk catalogue of programs works smoothly with other Autodesk applications such as AutoCAD, as mentioned previously, Mudbox, which allows for fine sculpting of details onto structures such as sculptures or other ornamental furnishings, and the Arnold rendering engine. Autodesk also offers solutions for 3d scanning
such as 123D Catch, that allows the user to incorporate a real-world element into his visualization by means of photogrammetry, which is faster than recreating the element from scratch. Industry Standard - 3DS Max is one of the most prominent software used in educational institutions, training centers and studios around the world. Their user base outnumbers that of other programs, and as a result, the resources available for learning 3DS Max are more extensive than most other software. Autodesk is also one of the first distributors to be fully supported by powerful render engines and their providers such as Chaosgroup's Vray and Corona Renderer. 3rd party developers - The popularity of 3DS Max has also encouraged a number of developers to create solutions for the software to further its capabilities, such as Itoo's Forest Pack, which populates scenes with natural elements such as trees, and other flora, and AXYZ design's Anima, which is a crowd or character generation software that generates people to interact within or around a visualization for a public or residential area, for example.
Render Farms - The processing of a visualization, or any 3d scene for that matter, takes a considerable amount of time, even more so as the scene increases in complexity and size. An architectural visualization can be a single image, or a sequence of images (to showcase the entire work as though one were moving through it).To be able to meet a deadline, designers send their scenes to render farms - service providers that have a host of computers that can distribute a sequence of frames and render them simultaneously, or a divide a still image divided into segments that are recombined after they have rendered among multiple machines. Most, if not all render farm services support 3ds Max as well as other Autodesk products.
Architectural visualization is a fascinating field that is growing at a steady pace, and 3DS Max and other tools from Autodesk provide a complete solution to realizing any archviz designer's goals.archviz designer's goals.