Selectively backup and restore 3dsMax.ini settings with my new tool

Selectively backup and restore 3dsMax.ini settings with my new tool .
It’s part of my scriptpack . Check out the installation instructions here.

IniFileBrowserDialogClick on a item in the tree. Use the ‘Save Settings’ button to backup that sections settings.

Use the ‘Load Settings’ button to import saved settings from a file. This will over right the current 3dsMax settings.

Use the ‘explore 3dsMax.ini location’ button to open the Windows Explorer at the folder.

Note: You could also type this code into the MAXScript Listener

shellLaunch ( GetDir #maxData )

There’s some more info on the GetDir function in this post.

currentdefaults.ini

A bunch of settings are base on class ids ( long hexadecimal numbers  ).

For example 0x795c4168 0x669a1835 is the Radiosity setting for Advanced lighting there’s more in docs.autodesk.com Market-Specific Defaults

Quick Mudbox study: Mr grumpy

I think I’m finally going to move away from zbrush. The Mudbox interface is simply fantastic. Especially compared to zBrush randomness. The mudbox colour layers are especially good and feel very familiar coming from photoshop.

This is pretty much my first mudbox model. Quite a nice way to spend my saturday morning. I hope you like it

Grumpy

Reduce Motion capture with the Crude Biped Key Reduction Tool

CrudeBipedKeyReducer
Motion capture is great but it almost never quite fits the location or the character rig. Often it requires a little tweaking or, worse still ,modifications are needed that take the data further and further from the source file ( Rifles are changed to pistols etc).

Animation layers are useful but only get you so far until your simply fighting the data trying to figure out when and where things are happening.

Eventually we have to dismantle that wall of motion captured key frames into something more manageable.
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The creative cycle.

Recently I was listening to a radio show. A panel of profession artists were talking about there work.

Asked about the creative process. She described it as:

Observe,Observe,Observe,Create.

There is a natural pattern to the way we tease solid ideas out of feelings and concepts. Many people have written about this.

I like to summarize my process as.

Consume, Collate, Copy, Create, Compare.

It reflects my first inspiration because consuming copying, and comparing are all ways of observing.

  1. Observe / Consume
  2. Collate
  3. Observe / Copy
  4. Create
  5. Observe / Compare.

Consume

First I consume the world around me. Actively collecting ideas from the books, galleys and Internet or passively noting things as I go around my daily life. My ideas germinate as I observe the world around me. I subconsciously absorb the information, and consciously seek out things that feel right.
Feeling right  is the key here. Our Brains are pattern matching trying to find things that fit new concept. I don’t need to justify the choices with too much reason. That will just get in the way. I need to promote the right frame of mind to help the subconscious process the information.

Soon I’ll have a pile of images which are a mixture of mood, style, overall design and interesting details.

Collate

Whilst I may like the feel of the ideas I’ve created. Not all of them are compatible. This may lead to different strands of design being developed. However if these two strands cannot be integrated a choice must soon be made over which route to follow. So while consuming I’m also sorting and categorizing.

UFO … example industrial vs alien

Copy

Eventually I start trying things.

 

Site Improvements

I’m working hard to improve this site. Now I’ve got a lot of content,  I’m seeing that my original category list doesn’t quite work.

I’ve started moving things around a bit so that it makes more sense. As a result your bookmarks may break. Please bare with me and hopefully things will settle down soon.