new to max - suggestions for improvement

[futureshooter]

hi im new to these forums and 3ds max - have spent a while trying to achieve a decent render using a model found on the net. could anyone offer any constructive criticism to help me improve texturing / rendering
thanks
nick

[TheAllusionist]

Are you using the scan line render engine or a third party like mental ray or Vray? Your cobblestone pavers look flat and washed out, you may need to adjust the gamma on the diffuse texture image in your material editor and add bump and displacement to it. The car itslef looks a bit bland, maybe tweak reflection and see about getting some specular highlights. It looks good just a bit flat.

[futureshooter]

many thanks for your suggestions - im using default scanline render engine bump is 30% - what is a displacement map?

[TheAllusionist]

Displacement map is like a bump map, but it actually displaces geometry, hence at rendering time your geometry would be bumpy, not just fake bumpy like bump maps do. I don't use scanline so I am not certain what your gamma options are, but you texture looks washed out to me.

Why not switch to the mental ray render engine if you are using Max 9 or above and if so you can go to my site for mental ray materials MrMaterials.com and get a cobblestone material and you can read Jeff Pattons blog entries on rendering with mental ray.

Good luck!

[Rod]

you'll find the displacement in the same area as your bump location. just a different slot. expect a bit longer render time, but well worth it no doubt.... MrMaterials very handy site and Jeff is a guru!

[rpadc2002]

if you are using scanline render, mitchell-netravali in the antialiasing section of renderer option will help a lot in rendering detailed and closed up render. try some test render on it.

you may also combined an hdri to your material reflections to give more reflection effects on the carpaint...