The thing is I started writing a tutorial for dummies using 3ds Max 9 to render LFS cars and just started thinking if there was any interest in it or am I just wasting my time?

It (will) feature a step by step process on how to import the model, get the materials to fit and maybe more without using any plug-ins like the CMX importer which doesn't work with version 9.


Should I continue writting it or press the delete button?

...why not use IanH's pre made scenes instead of manually importing the models?

To learn and motivate people to get into rendering. And I found that the pre-made scenes were made out of the *.3ds files which glued alot of car parts together and seperated them into vertex groups and chosen the multi/sub object material.

IanH's scenes are great, I use them all of time when I render, but I did import the models for the cars that I edited and used the writen and video tutorials when I got stuck on parts of it, that's all any one needs to get started rendering LFS cars, but good luck with your tutorial.

The thing is that the old tutorial on lfs wikipedia and the pre-made scenes don't work in 3ds Max 9 because you don't have the CMX importer and it uses mental ray which most people don't have compatible with version 9.

But whatever, if you would like to see this tutorial made then post here and say so. Otherwise it's all cool.

I like to see it ...and use it too

Keep up the good work.

Quote from kurent :

To learn and motivate people to get into rendering. And I found that the pre-made scenes were made out of the *.3ds files which glued alot of car parts together and seperated them into vertex groups and chosen the multi/sub object material.

Ummm, are you sure!? I never used a single .3ds file when I created those scenes and didn't "glue" anything together

The "vertex groups" (I assume you mean smoothing groups) are as they are in LFS itself.

By the sounds of it, you want to start modelling the cars from scratch, if not, you'll end up with exactly the same as I did. Remember, we're dealing with low-poly models designed for a game, not 400,000 poly meshes split up into every little segment of car.

There's also multiple rendering tutorials already available for 3DS, including Grudd's original and Davo's video companion that.



Regards,

Ian

Quote from Ian.H :

By the sounds of it, you want to start modelling the cars from scratch

No, then it would be called a modelling tutorial hehe.

Quote from Ian.H :

There's also multiple rendering tutorials already available for 3DS, including Grudd's original and Davo's video companion that.

I guess you're right. Not much interest in it anyway. Glad I posted this thread before making the whole tutorial for nothing.

3ds 9 is a bit of a lost cause atm, give it a good few months and there will probably be a lot more interest.

I am interested in such a tutorial for 3ds max 9!

Yes, I think you should. As much as I admire Ian for making these scenes a couple of years ago, all the renders produced with his scenes are the same, feature naff chrome wheels (no offence Ian), poor lighting (he's learnt a LOT since then, as you'd find if you read DS Autos forum), and Brazil (which some like, personally I don't).

A 'from-scratch' tutorial for novices would help people produce new renders, and enhance their quality, rather than just pumping out renders from Ian's old scenes.

That's all I needed, I will continue working. A bit short on spare time, but I'll manage.