Jamie's Jewels

XBR - Update Webinar from Autodesk's Ken Pimentel

Hi All, 

Autodesk’s Ken Pimentel, is hosting an XBR (Excalibur) update webinar for 3ds Max/Design. I strongly recommend you attend one of the 3 important sessions outlined below.

Click here to register at Ken’s Blog.

“Join us for a special webcast where we’ll update you on Project Excalibur (XBR). XBR is a restructuring of 3ds Max and 3ds Max Design that is intended to occur over three phases. It addresses fundamental improvements in workflow, UI, and performance. This update will provide more detail about UI, dynamics and viewport changes. You’ll be able to post questions for the development team.

There will be three opportunities to attend identical sessions held at different times on February 8th, 2011. These webinar sessions will be recorded and those that register will be provided with a link to view the recordings.

Date: Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Time: 9:00 AM - 10:30 AM EST    
Time: 5:00 PM - 6:30 PM EST      
Time: 8:00 PM - 9:30 PM EST”        

Please help spread the love in the community by notifying your 3ds Max friends via twitter, blogs etc 

(By clicking here you can convert 'EST' time to your local time zone.)

Happy Max'ing

CGschool are offering 5 free, on-demand, 3ds Max webinars

Morning All,

Brian over at CGschool has just released 5 free webinars for your viewing pleasure. All of the new webinars have been produced by leading figures and experts in the design visualisation field, so are definately worth an indepth look.

 

Each video class consists of a 1-hour overview of the courses currently offered at the CGschool. The 5 free classes are:

• Texture Baking in 3ds Max –  Brian Smith
• mental ray –  Jennifer O’ Connor
• V-Ray 2.0 –  Torgeir Holm (Vray.info)
• Architectural Photography –  Lon Grohs
• Photoshop Advanced –  Lon Grohs

 

To view the on-demand webinars, you will need to register (free) or login as a free member here.

Happy Max'ing

3ds Max General FAQs

Hi All,

I've added a FAQ page to the top Navigation tab. This new page lists some of the most common questions I receive when speaking to 3ds Max users. I will keep adding to this, but for now, I hope there's something of use to you.

Click here to read more.

Happy Max'ing

Reading My Blog Within 3ds Max/Design

If you’re like me, you may get scared when using any application other than 3ds Max, so below you will find a way of receiving my Twitter feeds and Blog posts directly from within 3ds Max’s interface. Utilising the under-used ‘Infocenter’ toolset, this option is a great way of keeping 3ds Max up to date with the latest service packs and hotfixes, as well as, the powerful functionality of allowing you to search any custom help files or 'wikis'.

What's a RSS feed? This is a free online subscription to this sites content. The information is pushed directly to your chosen reader, such as 3ds Max, MS Outlook, Google Reader and more. CLICK HERE to find out more.

Be more involved with 3ds Max during 2011

Hi All

As we are about to approach a new year, why not take some time to help guide the direction of 3ds Max/Design? In fact why not do this for all the Autodesk design software you use.

Below is an easy away you can help shape the product, and it should take no more than a coffee break to setup.

The CIP, or Customer Involvement Program, allows you to automatically forward specific information to Autodesk about how you use 3ds Max/Design. The information you send is typically, what features you use the most, problems you may encounter and other helpful information which all goes towards guiding the future.

The immediate benefit to you is you are also able to view reports that can help you optimise your use of 3ds Max. Find out how below.

Follow these 4 simple steps to turn the CIP ON or OFF.

1. Navigate to the 'Help' menu,
2. Select 'Customer Involvement Program' from the drop down
3. In the  dialog box, choose whether you want to start or stop participating.
4. Click OK and your done.

  
 
 

How do you stack up?:

One of the other benefits of this program is it allows you to view how your hardware configuration compares to the 'average' user of the software. A great way of justifying that new graphics card or workstation to your boss. 

This data is collected from participating users daily, and you can then view this information at any time, comparing it to your own system. This information willl definately prove interesting.

To view this data, select the 'Preview my CIP data' in the bottom right corner of the above dialogue box. This will then display your results. An example is below.

 

To learn more about the Autodesk Customer Involvement Program, click here, and to view the Autodesk Privacy Statement click here.

Happy Max'ing

More 3ds Max Books Added to Recommended Reading List

  
Morning All,

I've updated the books list with a few extra personal recommendations and descriptions. These are books which have proved invaluable to me over the past few years. Click here to learn more.

Windows 7 Mouse 'Snap To' in 3ds Max

Afternoon All
 
Although this isn’t necessarily 3ds Max/Design related many of you have commented on the ‘annoyance’ of the default mouse snapping in Windows 7.
Below is an easy workaround for this to ensure you don’t get caught out.

This Windows 7 feature is enabled by default and can be convenient for most users as it will “automatically move the pointer to the default button in a dialog box” and inturn speed up workflows. However, some people prefer to not use have this enabled.
 
To turn this off:

1. In Windows 7 open the Mouse Properties dialog box.
2. Select the Pointer Options tab.
3. Under Snap To, un-check the box that says Enabling the Windows 7 "Snap To" feature to move the mouse pointer to the default button of dialog boxes.
4. Click OK to close the Mouse Properties dialog box.
5. For security reasons and to prevent accidental clicks, enabling this feature will not move the mouse pointer whenever a User Access Control dialog box appears.          

 
 
Happy Max’ing

Allegorithmic's Substance (3ds Max/Design 2011 Advantage Pack)

Afternoon All
 
To help with you when working with the ‘substance’ materials in the latest advantage pack, the nice people at Allegorithmic have supplied some thumbnails. As a reminder the ‘Substance’ 2d procedural textures, are now included as part of the 2011 Advantage pack.
 
More information on Allegorithmic can be found here.  

A few examples can be found below. The full thumbnail pack is available for download here as a Zip
file (2.6mb).
 

 
Happy Max’ing

3ds Max's Project Folders System

Hi All
 
Some of you have recently enquired about changing the “Project Folder” path without starting 3ds Max/Design.

 
You can do this by navigating to the below file location in windows explorer:
 
C:\Users\ {your user name here}
\AppData\Local\Autodesk\3dsMax\2011 - 64bit\enu\3dsmax.ini
 
And change the below path to suit the new project folder setting:
 
[Directories]
ProjectFolder=C:\ {add location here}
 
 
It is also worth knowing about the below macroscript.
This powerful script allows you to store folder locations and easily switch. I would always recommend performing a quick file reset whenever you change paths, to ensure all previously used paths and settings are flushed.This is great for when you need to quickly change between projects to complete those unexpected rush tweaks to “completed” projects.
 

Download script here. 

 
Happy Max’ing

HAVE A LARGER COMMUNITY SAY

Morning All
 
Ken Pimentel and Shane Griffith, responsible for 3ds Max/Design at Autodesk, have created a short 10 minute survey you should be aware of. This is designed for you to have a larger voice in the areas of 3ds Max/Design you most care about. This information is invaluable when development need to make decisions, So please ensure everyone is aware of this survey, by adding it to blogs, newsletters,
tweets and spray painting on buses.
Take some time during your much-needed-Monday-morning-coffee-break to ensure you participate in this important survey.
 
“….We're mostly want to understand where the gaps are in the product and what you think we should focus on. This survey will be one more method
we use to guide the product. It won't be a substitute for everything else we still do (validation, surveys to beta users, watching the forums, etc.) but it will help us focus the feedback and give us more of a data-based method of understanding the issues.
Once we've collected enough data, we'll share some of the results with all of you. We are also investigating some other techniques to unify wishlists and to allow voting of those wishlists, but we're not ready to go public with them yet. We're using them on
some efforts so that we understand them before we go public.
So please, let us know what you think…..“
 
Click here to participate in the Community Voice Survey.

Happy Max’ing