Realistic Architectural Visualization - Reprint and Corrections

Good news and bad news.

Good news is the Realistic Architectural Visualization with 3ds max and mental ray book which I co-authored with Jamie Cardoso has now gone into a second printing. We were able to fix a few things in the book but unfortunately one was too late for the print / reproduction process (The bad news). So I'm posting it here and providing you a downloadable file to replace the exising file.

In Appendix 3, there is a file on the CD which is not referenced in the tutorial but which is provided to give you an idea of what the scene and file should look like once you are finished. Unfortunately, there is something wrong in the file which will give you incorrect results. In the file DOF_FE_Final.max Exposure controls have been turned on. To correct the error you can simply do the following:

1. In the Render pull down menu, select Environment.


2. In the Environment and Effects Dialog, go to the Exposure control rollout.


3. In the Exposure Control type pull down list, change the type to no exposure control.

Now you are ready to render the scene and get the same results as when you go through the tutorial in the book.

If you would simply like to download a corrected file it is contained in a .zip file at the following URL.

http://www.mediafire.com/?doukbyydpn0

Siggraph 2007

Well another year goes by and anther Siggraph goes into the books. Siggraph always congers up memories for me. Going to a show floor, being inundated by demos, stuffing a bag with product literature. Getting home filled with all these crazy ideas, your head filled up as that product literature bag. Then back to work, the ideas and product literature bag remain untouched.

In the last few years, I've tried to be more conservative to Siggraph. Do what is important, meet a few key people, get a few interesting contacts to follow up on, have a few key conversations rather than hundreds of superficial ones.

This year as in many others gone by, Siggrraph was about evolution. Sometimes we forget, how mature this industry is getting. It's about 16 years that 3D Studio has been on the market now. Well I missed anything revolutionary, but if it was happening it probably was in a back 10x10 booth.

It has been years that I've used Autodesk products, never regretted starting my CG career with AutoCAD, then 3D Studio. Last year I figured that the Alias acquisition would only help Softimage. People would turn to alternatives. Well it looks like I was wrong, It has helped Softimage AND Side Effects (Houdini). Softimage sales are apparently up 40%, The Houdini books were flying off the shelves in the Focal Press booth.

This year, Pia & Ken Maffei were kind enough to invite me to stay with them in their home. On Wednesday and Thursday, Amer Yassine and Michele Bousquet joined us for a pleasant day where we participated in a real 3D expereince. Golf at Redhawk.. My favorite..:-)