Re: A Sketchup to 3ds max & Vray discussion
Thanks for the resources dalomar and in depth explanations. Keep an eye out for this postl, because I hope for it to be an ongoing thing that people can continue to add to as they experiment and test.
Re: A Sketchup to 3ds max & Vray discussion
Steelers, thanks for starting this thread. I have lately been getting more involved into 3DSMax, its been a pain, mainly because my brain is so trained in Sketchup, its hard to break old habits :-\
This will be a very useful topic, its going straight to the favorites. Hopefully soon I will be able to contribute a little more when I get a little more well versed in 3DSMax. Thanks!
Re: A Sketchup to 3ds max & Vray discussion
The only thing that stops me learning 3dsmax is purely down to expense. In the UK a max licence is just crazy money and the main reason I learnt sketchup all those years back.
Re: A Sketchup to 3ds max & Vray discussion
yeah it is really hard to look past that. For many architects/they dont need the power of max, but I think it is one of the essentials when considering a full blown illustration & motion graphics service
Re: A Sketchup to 3ds max & Vray discussion
Hi Steelers
Do you work for yourself or employed by a company?
Cos I like EDONK have the same problem about the price of Max. But am really starting to need the power that Max can offer. Cheers for starting this thread Ive found it very helpful.
EDONK
Do you want to go halfs in robbing a bank. 
to fund Max.
Re: A Sketchup to 3ds max & Vray discussion
Hahah yer meet me down the Red Lion at 12 and we’ll go from there, I’ll bring the getaway car.
I’m still hopeful that if Autodesk make subscriptions compulsory, that as part of the service we will be able to ‘rent’ software whenever we need it. i.e. you pay one fee per year and you have access to several pieces of autodesk software within your subscription. I do own Autocad and I do have an annual subscription, and my reseller mentioned a couple of years ago that Autodesk wanted to get the price of their software down but in order to do so the subscriptions service had to be a success. We’ll have to wait and see, but until then the bank jobs still on!
Re: A Sketchup to 3ds max & Vray discussion
Holmes: I am employed by an architecture firm, , but they are a small-midsize firm that is trying to grow. They want to broaden their illustration capabilities so they are willing to invest some time and money into software and such, but like I said…they are still trying to grow so it is hard at times to convince them to purchase new software, especially when considering the expenses that max comes with. To add to it, we are trying to convert our office from autocad to revit and that transition is going to cost plenty of time and money. It sucks having to put so much money into new software, but the power of max should be worth it if you need it…not to mention, vray rt looks amazing. One unfortunate part of this business is that I think many people’s work is elvated or diminished by what they can afford or not afford to buy. Aside from software, a perfect example would be plant packages. So many images look amazing, because the user has access to an unbelievable plant package. I do not say this to take away from any of the artists, because you have to be good and knowledgable to have a good image and make your work stand out, but I think there are many people out there (plenty can be found on this forum) that are at that level, but can not afford to purchase plants, people, material packages, and etc… and it is not feesable or they do not have the time to put into creating a library of their own. I apologize for going off on this tangent, but I guess it is my way of saying…Im in for the bank robbing if your willing to split three ways I will provide the man power with my whole 5’11" - 170lb frame haha
Re: A Sketchup to 3ds max & Vray discussion
Italian Job?
Re: A Sketchup to 3ds max & Vray discussion
I really hope no banks visit this website. From now on I think we beter keep to PMing each other on the plans.
Re: A Sketchup to 3ds max & Vray discussion
Hey I’m a banker! Actually I’m not. I too dont like the cost of all of autodesk’s software. I work for a firm aswell as own my own business, and the cost can kill you especially when my annual revenue fluctuates quite a bit, and to take $6000 to $12,000 out of that for a piece of software is rediculous! But, if it means more jobs and more quality then its a plunge im willing to take. Anyways Im glad for this thread, it will ease the pain of switching from SU to Max. Thanks!
Re: A Sketchup to 3ds max & Vray discussion
I am using VIZ 2008, I really haven’t used 3DSMax enough or VIZ to notice any differences. Is the workflow still the pretty much the same, and will vray work with VIZ or do we need to upgrade?
Re: A Sketchup to 3ds max & Vray discussion
Some interesting info for the 2010 subscribers: For Max users | sketchucation
Re: A Sketchup to 3ds max & Vray discussion
so this whole SU to max & vray workflow is sounding even more promising…hmmmmm
Re: A Sketchup to 3ds max & Vray discussion
oh and thanks for the info thomthom
Re: A Sketchup to 3ds max & Vray discussion
Following this thread with interest. Sadly anyone wishing to make the leap from SU to 3DS Max will find it is exactly that- a leap… a gigantic leap. My former employer used 3DS Max and insisted that I learn it- the job was short lived so I only got to grips with the very basics, but other than the horrendous unintuitive interface the thing that shocked me was just how bad a program it is. Every time I had to make basic edits to a model I’d come against error messages (don’t ask me what they were, they were in 3DS Max-speak) caused by bad geometry (we’re talking about very simple orthogonal boolean solids made in Autocad) and my 3DS Max colleagues’ responses would be “Oh, it’s probably better to edit that in Autocad and re-import it”. Then I’d have to deal with Autocad’s awful 3D modelling tools and all its pathetic solid geometry bugs. Colleagues’ responses: “Yep, 3D in Autocad can be buggy sometimes, it’s probably just quicker to model it again from scratch.”… and these guys were 3DS Max/Acad fanboys! :
All in all, for animating, texturing, organic modelling and editing (especially the excellent soft selection function) 3DS Max does things SU can only dream of, but for pays-the-bills-day-to-day floors, walls and ceilings architectural modelling and design work I found it almost useless. Not remotely objective and plenty will disagree, but that’s just my opinion based on my experience. Like many SU users, I’m an architect first, CAD modeller second and my architect’s brain just doesn’t work the way Autodesk seem to think it should, how selfish of me. If Google could keep the SU interface, but rewrite it from the ground up to provide high-poly support, modelling consistency, a timeline, much improved UV mapping and organic modelling tools I would never looks at 3DS Max again… yeah, right, like that’s ever going to happen. 
As for Autodesk’s prices and licensing, they should be prosecuted by the Monopolies Commission.
Re: A Sketchup to 3ds max & Vray discussion
actually you can cahnge the material in max.. since you apply the material and residing ind diffuse box, all you have to do is to cahnge the bitmap there.
Re: A Sketchup to 3ds max & Vray discussion
Jackson
On behalf of all the people who don’t use 3ds max, can I offer you a great big thankyou.
Reading this thread, makes us ‘non-3dsmax users’ quite envious of all the magic things that can be done. You have now set the record straight and shown the other side of this software.
I know that using the industry standard will always give you an edge in certain aspects of presentation (high poly etc), but then you look at some of the great work shown on this and other sites using only SU and PS then I for one would be quite happy if I can reach those levels of achievement.
Thanks
David
Re: A Sketchup to 3ds max & Vray discussion
You’ve just described Sketchup Version 8! (plz God, plz God pllleeassseee1!!!1111)
Re: A Sketchup to 3ds max & Vray discussion
This was brought up a few posts ago by thomthom. I didnt search the site to see if there was video about it, but I found this youtube link that made me extremely happy last night. This may have several people looking more into this sort of workflow that we are currently talking about. I dont know about any of you, but this is the next best things I could here …other than if SU would actually incorporate the things Jackson was mentioning.
Speaking of…The frustrating part about SU & I guess a driving force behind why many people are more and more interestred in this sort of workflow with max is that even if SU incorporates all these changes we have been so desperately asking for, I do not have much confidence in the “progressive” attitude of the developers. As I have been getting deeper & deeper into the 3D world, I have defenitaly realized that we all will constantly need something new and will never be content (I am 100% guilty of that) because we want to make our work better. We think that these few changes made by SU will keep us happy…it wont…because while SU is trying to catch up to programs like max, the others will just be moving further ahead with a group of developers that actually want to improve the program EVERY YEAR with new and advanced features(this is not a defense of autodesk and their pricing by any means). Considering all of this, many of us will try and use this workflow solution, because SU does feel a lot more intuitive and quicker (for most of us) at the modeling stage, but eventually feel constricted by many of the previously mentioned SU issues. Who knows, maybe for architectural Illustration needs, these few changes are all we need though.
Re: A Sketchup to 3ds max & Vray discussion
Interesting discussion.
Steeler, whats your primary reason for wanting Max in your workflow? Is it increased polygon support, better available vegetation and other high polygon entourage models? From reading similar threads, Max is quite a complex piece of kit and it would be a shame to have to purchase it just so you can import SU models into it. That Youtube link looks amazing, but I think there is more work involved than the video shows.
When @Last owned sketchup I really felt like they were moving things forward very fast and putting in a lot of time and effort into developing it. Once Google got their mits on it, it seems like things have come to a halt. Its a shame, because sketchup had the potential to rival Max, and with @Last at the helm I’m sure it would have. I’m not sure it will ever catch up now unless Google really move things forward faster than they are doing.